As the Milwaukee Bucks drop to 2-2 to start the new season, star Giannis Antetokounmpo reflected on the early struggles of the team as they're trying to get Damian Lillard acclimated to their ways.
After the loss yesterday to the Toronto Raptors, Antetokounmpo said that the team can't make excuses about there being a new player and head coach around and blame the growing pains on them according to Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“It's a struggle. OK, we can make excuses – there's a new player, there's a new coach, there's a new coach – we can keep on making excuses and think that it's going to be OK but that doesn't work in life. You have to figure out solutions and right now our solution is that oh, we have a new player and a new coach and oh, we're going to be better in Game 40. No. We have to get better. We have to play together,” Antetokounmpo said. “We have to be more clear on what we try to get from offense. We have to be more clear with what we're trying to accomplish defensively and who we are going to let attack us, because you've got to live with something. You cannot stop everything. We can keep on figuring out solutions. Right now we're not there yet.
Antetekounmpo talks about the right mindset to have amid struggles
While it seems inevitable that combining two superstars on the same team will result in some getting used to, Antetokounmpo believes that they need to find out how to make this work as soon as possible. It's only four games into the season for the Bucks, but the face of the franchise believes that if the team has the mindset of thinking it'll get better in the future, then that's a losing mentality.
“Hopefully we can get better in the future. But if we just stay with the mindset that we are going to get better in the future, we will not,” Antetokounmpo said. “We have to every day come to the court and figure out ways to get better. I believe that as a team we will get better. Hopefully.”
Damian Lillard touches on Bucks “still trying to learn each other”
When it comes to the new look Bucks, Lillard is a huge part of that as the dynamic duo is starting to build chemistry and get a good flow of the offense. For the former Portland Trail Blazer, it's important for the team to be “patient,” but to also know they're capable of playing at a high level.
“The hard part is just staying patient,” Lillard said after the game. “I think we've all been around long enough to understand it's a process and it's going to take time but I don't think that makes it any easier. When it's happening you're kinda like man, I know I said it's a process and I know it's going to take time but we're competitors and we've done this at a high level so we expect to get the kind of results that we put into it.”
He went on to say that it is frustrating, but the team is “still trying to learn each other” and made the comparison that it's one thing to accomplish that in practice and another to do it in a real game. Their next test will be against the New York Knicks as it'll be the start of group play for the In-season tournament.
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