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As the Milwaukee Bucks lost Game 1 to the Indiana Pacers, 117-98, in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the offensive side of the ball will be examined closely to determine what needs to be fixed. There's no doubt that aspect struggled, especially with Bucks newcomer Kyle Kuzma going scoreless in the contest, while star Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke candidly about the team's efforts after the fact.
Speaking to the media after Saturday's game, Antetokounmpo would come up with a possible reason as to why the offense didn't meet their expectations in Game 1. Whole Antetokoumpo would finish the outing with 36 points, the overall team shot 41.7 percent from the field and 24.3 percent from beyond the arc, with the leader saying the team was “anxious,” according to The Athletic.
“Our offense wasn’t good,” Antetokounmpo said. “Shots did not fall. It felt like it was Game 1. Guys get, like, anxious. They kind of inch in towards the ball because they want the ball, they want to make a play, they want to get themselves involved in the game, and I don’t think it’s from bad ego.
“I feel like everybody’s trying to do the right thing,” Antetokounmpo continued. “Everyone has the right intentions, but we just gotta be better, just having patience and just trusting. Trusting one another, trusting that the ball is going to find us, trusting that we’re going to make plays.”
Doc Rivers calls the Bucks' offense “awful” in Game 1
As the Bucks await the return of Damian Lillard, his presence was no doubt missed in the Game 1 loss as the team needed to catch up to the Pacers, who shot 51.9 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three-point range. Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers would not hold any punches as he expressed in his post-game press conference that the offense was “awful.”
“I thought our offense was awful,” Rivers said. “We just didn’t play the way we played during this stretch (to close the season) offensively. And I thought we had a lot of missed shots, which allowed them to have a lot of breakouts. We had our mistakes defensively too — they were shooting 60 percent — but I thought, as your defense is connected to your offense, your offense is connected to your defense, and we’re not gonna beat them scoring 98 points.
“We’re not going to beat them when we have 15 assists and 10 turnovers,” Rivers continued. “We’re just not. So we got to get back to our spacing, trusting, playing downhill, moving the ball. If we do that, we’ll go to the line more, we will make more baskets. We’ll be able to set our defense up, and I think we’ll be better.”
The team looks to get Lillard back in either Game 2 or Game 3 of the series against Indiana, according to Shams Charania as the guard is getting back after having a blood clot in his calf. At any rate, Game 2 of the series will take place on Tuesday.
