The dollars lose to Knicks, go down to 0-10 against the first three in the east

MILWAUKEE – On November 8, the Milwaukee Bucks went to New York City and lost 22 points. After the game, the star of Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo told journalists who believed His team did not compete While they went down to 2-7 in the season.

Following a 34-point Drubbing on the second trip of the Bucks to New York, a loss that dropped the Bucks at 0-8 against the first three teams of the Eastern Conference, Antetokounmpo told journalists that his team needed “Put our things together“And find a way to play much better against the best teams in the East.

In the first Matchup of the Bucks against the Knicks in Filed Forum, the Bucks showed much better, but they still didn’t have enough for the Knicks in a defeat of 116-107 on Friday. While the Bucks kept him much closer at home, Antetokounmpo did not think of most of the Milwaukee performance against New York.

“It was good, but it wasn’t enough,” said Antetokounmpo (30 points, nine rebounds, seven assists). “They were more physical. They played more effort than us. And I’m a better team than us, simple.”

With the loss of Friday against the Knicks, the Bucks have now completed their regular seasonal list against the first three teams of the Eastern Conference. In ten games, the Bucks were without victories against Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and Knicks this season. After Friday’s game, Antetokounmpo defined what he thought was missing from the performance of the Bucks.

“If you play a team that is – I don’t know what they are, two in the East, three in the East, whatever they are – and they have beaten you twice, you have to go out and play with a higher level of intensity,” said Antetokounmpo. “You have to hit first; you have to put your body in line. You just have to want more. Play with more energy than they. And I don’t think we’ve done for 48 minutes. We have to do it more.

“If we have the opportunity to see them, perhaps in the playoffs or anyone who we see in the playoffs, we must be the toughest and most bad team out. We have to do it. This is the only possibility that we will be good.”

Both teams played without their leading guard on Friday. Damian Lillard has lost the game with the trombosis deep vein of the right calf, while Knicks Jalen Brunton’s star lost his eleventh consecutive game with a distortion to the right ankle. But Friday’s matchup was once again dictated by the cities of the Knicks Center Karl-Anthony.

In the first matchup of the team season, the Bucks tried to defend the cities with Brook Lopez. The cities used its 3 -point elite shots and the speed to torment the dollars on the road for 32 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. After Rivers called to put Lopez in the city a stupid decision, the Bucks made antetokounmpo the main defender of the great man in the second matchup, but this did not get the city (30 points, 18 rebounds, four assists) or anyone else under control while the Knicks went for 140 points.

Friday, the Bucks did a much better job in the cities, which ended at the night with only 14 points (with the shooting of 6 out of 16) and 10 rebounds.

With antetokounmpo in the city for most of the night, the Bucks performed a relatively simple plan. The two -time Mvp of the Bucks would remain in contact in the city at all times. On a pick-and-roll, Antetokounmpo (or anyone who was looking for it) was glued to the city and pushed him as far as possible from the basket. With the cities pushed further from the basket, the guards and wings had to go under the patch of great men.

This did not happen quite constantly on Friday.

Here is the first example of an error in that coverage:

Instead of going under Antetokounmpo, Kyle Kuzma (20 points, five rebounds) came across the cities screen and crumbled while OG ANUNOBY has reached the uninterested edge.

“We had to go under, and that’s all we worked on this morning,” said Rivers. “And, I think that in the first half we had six times when our boyfriend went to the top. And if the big one is going upwards, and you are going over the top, you’re just looking for it in the basket.”

But while the poor execution of the bucks of their defensive game plan played a role in their third loss of the season against the Knicks, the errors that in the end sank them on Friday were much simpler to see in a superficial look at the score of the box.

“It was not only the turnover; they were the rebounds and offensive turnover,” said Rivers. “I think it was the combination of these two things, and this was the difference in the game. It is impossible to win that game.”

Friday, the Knicks tried 18 shots more than the Bucks. They were able to create that advantage in the attempts of Field Goal through 16 turnover by the dollars and grab 14 offensive rebounds for themselves.

The turnover were a problem for Kevin Porter Jr. Throughout his mandate with the Bucks, but his first two turnover on Friday were particularly painful because they occurred in consecutive offensive goods and helped the ball from the head from the six points to 12 points in the first two minutes of the second quarter.

“We are just trying to do too much,” said Rivers. “I thought of many of our boys, Kuz was much better offensively, but four turnover are too many for him. Three turnover are too many for the scoot, especially in 13 minutes; three turnover are too many. And then, I thought we are a team that really has confidence overall. I thought that there were taken in the game in which we took the first average blow instead of looking for the big shots. We did not play well.”

For the third time this season, the Knicks have played Bucks more hard, and this showed up again on the offensive glass.

Look at this possession of the first quarter:

Lopez’s pressure on the ball against Mitchell Robinson created a 50-50 ball, but Lopez or Gary Trent Jr. were able to reach it. Once Robinson tracked him down, he threw a wild shot from the glass, but Josh Hart beat Antetokounmpo on the ball and kept him alive to transform him into a 3 for Delon Wright.

“They beat us three times,” said Rivers. “Today was the closest of the group. But all three times, the game of the game seemed like the same. They were much more physical. After three times, they believe it now. And so, we will have to try to change it in some way, if we see them again.”

If the Bucks are successful post -station, they will have to find a way to drastically change their results against the best teams of the Eastern Conference. And this would be a serious problem, considering the current ranking.

The Bucks are currently the sixth seed of the East. With the loss of Friday, there are now 1.5 games back of the Detroit Pistons for the fifth seed. If the playoffs started today, Bucks’ path to the NBA finals could include the three best teams in the East. In the first round, the Bucks appeared against the Knicks. If they had won that series, they could face the Celtics in the second round and the knights in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Bucks do not have a single victory against any of these three teams this season, but Antetokounmpo has not had much interest in considering the low probability of advancing in that situation on Friday evening.

He recognized the Bucks record against those teams, but he also reminded journalists that the Bucks were the no. 1 seed in the East several times during his mandate and was unable to make the NBA finals. He reminded journalists that Miami Heat beat them as seeds n. 8 and then made the NBA finals in 2023. And reminded journalists that, when the Toronto Raptors beat the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals of 2019, the Bucks had gone 3-0 against Toronto in the regular season.

“Everything you need to think about is that we have the regular season, there are nine games left and then we have two months to change our lives. It is practically everything,” said Antetokounmpo. “You have to block two months and stay healthy and go out there and compete. This is all you need to think about now.

“I will not think about what happened in December when we lost from the Knicks or we have lost, I don’t know, Boston. It doesn’t really care. When you enter the playoffs, everything can happen. You know, if you are blocked and play together for 48 minutes, everything can happen and I have been a part of these times.”

As Antetokounmpo established, it is possible for the dollars to make a deep race to the playoffs, but things will have to go very different from those they have during the regular season to make it do.

(Photo: Jeremy Chen / Getty Images)