Bucks Zone

Doc Rivers says the Milwaukee Bucks' offense went awry: "We chased points all night"

The Bucks failed to move the ball yet again.

Jonas Panerio

© Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

As head coach Doc Rivers claimed, the Milwaukee Bucks may have to go back to the drawing board to improve their offense. This comes on the heels of the 129-94 spanking Milwaukee received at the hands of the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. While a cursory look at game footage shows that the Bucks missed many wide-open shots, Rivers cautioned that it wasn't just the missed shots that caused the team's downfall.

Took plenty of bad shots

While the Bucks had good looks at the basket—especially Malik Beasley—the veteran coach said those moments did not paint a complete picture of the game. In truth, Rivers said Milwaukee's problem was its inability to make smart decisions on offense. He noted that the team took plenty of bad shots and didn't stick to its usual strategy of moving the ball around.

“Malik (Beasley) had some wide-open shots, so did Pat Connaughton but that’s all fool’s gold,” Rivers emphasized.

“The ball didn’t move tonight. We took difficult shots. Sacramento overhelps a lot because they have to, and we didn’t take advantage of it at all. A few times we did it, we did get good shots. But I thought the way we played offensively, I thought we chased points all night. Everybody.”

Contested shots

To make his point, Rivers noted his team's play on their first possession.

“First play of the game, I think a player pump-faked, got in the paint. We told ‘em they run at you, kick it out. We take contested twos,” Doc shared.

Rivers admitted he and his staff should have done much better to get the team mentally locked in. He overheard some players talking about other things in the shootaround, which troubled him.

“I thought our shootaround, guys talking about planes and leaving. As a staff, we talked about it after shootaround. It was like, if our focus is not better than this morning, it’s going to be a long day, and it was a long day. So, that’s on us.”

A report asks a crucial question with the NBA Playoffs on the horizon: When will the Giannis-Dame two-man game flourish consistently?

Published
Jonas Panerio
JONAS PANERIO