The Milwaukee Bucks made a desperate move, firing head coach Adrian Griffin and hiring Doc Rivers. After the NBA All-Star break, Rivers seems to have the team heading in the right direction, as the team is on a small win- streak here winning their last three games. What’s different? Well, the defense is better, and Rivers told NBA insider Chris Mannix why.
“You know look, one of the things that Doc told me was we got to simplify what we’re doing,” Manix said on The Crossover NBA Show. “He said he walked into a situation where they were trying like 6,7,8 different things to be successful defensively. That’s great in theory on a chalkboard but that doesn’t really work in the game when you got to know exactly what you’re doing and where you’re going in order to be effective.”
Rivers pointed at the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets as two teams that play simple defense, like he wants his team to. “He also pushed back hard on this idea that you know losing Jrue Holiday was some kind of death blow to this team,” Mannix shared.
The Bucks have beaten the best team in the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers, and the bottom-feeding Charlotte Hornets. During this stretch, Rivers’ squad held the Sixers to just 98 points while limiting the Hornets to 85 points.
The move from Adrian Griffin to Doc Rivers was a bold one, but if it continues to have Milwaukee playing defense like this, it is one that will be worth it come playoff time.
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