Malik Beasley’s scary take on Doc Rivers’ new Bucks defense should put rest of NBA on notice
As new Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers inserts a new defense, star Malik Beasley gives insight into the effectiveness.
By
Zachary Weinberger
Miami Heat Reporter & Associate Editor, All Sports
You may also like
Bucks HC Doc Rivers addresses Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury scare vs. Pacers
Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo available vs. Pacers
Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo ruled out for Hawks game
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s ‘Heat culture’ references add fire to possible Bucks offseason exit
Bucks’ Doc Rivers makes blunt admission on plan vs. Bam Adebayo
Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo ‘upset’ with himself after loss to Heat
Bucks’ Ousmane Dieng ruled out for rest of game vs. Heat with health issue
Is Tyler Herro playing tonight after Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game? Heat vs. Bucks injury reportESPN’s new mock draft pick for the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s situation up in air
Kyle Kuzma’s heartfelt reaction after reaching 10,000 career points
Giannis fires back at haters criticizing how Heat’s Bam Adebayo got his 83 points
Bucks’ Bobby Portis, Jericho Sims out with injuries for Suns showdown
There is no doubt there has been a huge change to the atmosphere of the Milwaukee Bucks ever since they fired Adrian Griffin and hired Doc Rivers to be their head coach. However, the team seems to have picked up on aspects of Rivers' game plan faster than someone might have imagined as said by Bucks star Malik Beasley on his defense according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“That was definitely one of the first times in my career where we put something in one day and it’s been executed to an exact T the next day,” Beasley said. “And that shows how great Doc is and it shows how great our players are in understanding that and doing it.”
The defense especially worked in Saturday night's win where Milwaukee beat the Dallas Mavericks. While star Luka Doncic would score 40 points, recorded 11 assists, and collected nine rebounds, the Mavericks never got into offensive flow with the new look of Rivers' defense and said after the game that he adored the way the Bucks switched and trapped the opposing team in the second half.
“I loved the switching, but I loved the trapping,” Rivers said. “We put that in yesterday. We literally worked on that defense yesterday — not just for this game, (but) as part of our defense. It’s called something and they were all yelling it after the game because they enjoyed it. Guys come from different spots. It’s hard to predict where guys were coming. I thought you could see Luka at times, just holding it and trying to figure out where they were coming from. And I thought our guys enjoyed that. Like, it was fun for them. It was like chess for them. And that was fun.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo talks Bucks defense against Mavericks
Other players buying in to the system by Rivers has been the face of the team in Giannis Antetokounmpo who was exceptional against Dallas as he scored 48 points, recorded 10 assists, and collected six rebounds. He talked about getting the ball out of Doncic's hands after the game to the media.
“We knew what we were trying to accomplish from that, which is get the ball from the guy that makes the most plays for the team,” Antetokounmpo said. “And then everybody’s gotta be ready. Everybody behind (has) gotta be ready to rotate and make them make a play, speed them up a little bit. Sometimes, it works. Sometimes, it doesn’t work. But now, nobody’s sitting down, not participating on defense, everybody has to be alert.”
Damian Lillard talks new system under Rivers
While it should be obvious for any team facing the Mavericks that the goal is to slow down Doncic, every team has not had the ability to do it. It is incredibly hard to contain the young star, but Milwaukee maintained him enough where everyone else on the team was a non-factor, a game plan that Bucks star Damian Lillard praised.
“I thought it was a great decision to throw it out there and slow him down a little bit,” Lillard said. “Put the ball in some other guys’ hands instead of Luka and make them make decisions and make them beat you. And we got back into (the game) like that.”
As Beasley and Antetokounmpo expressed, Lillard is also celebratory about Rivers and his implement of the defense that the Bucks will run. Lillard calls it “exciting, just having something new that you put in” and that it came in “handy” right away for the team.
“I think it’s exciting, just having something new that you put in,” Lillard said. “We spent a lot of time going over it on the floor in practice, and then having it come in handy right away. I think having vets on our team and experience really helped us be able to execute it in a game like this, but we found another layer to our defense that we can go to.”
After the victory to the Mavericks, the Bucks are 33-16 which puts them second in the Eastern Conference. Their next challenge is against the Utah Jazz Sunday night on the tail-end of the back to back.