The Milwaukee Bucks took a 73-55 lead to halftime in Atlanta but a lackadaisical third quarter put them in a hole they couldn’t dig out of, flying back to Fiserv off a 115-110 loss.
Doc Rivers was not at all impressed with his team’s second half play. Outscored by 20 points in the third period, Milwaukee mustered only 37 total after putting up twice that in the first 24 minutes.
“Our casualness in the third quarter was ridiculous,” he said. “Then we couldn’t turn it back on. That’s happened three or four times this year. So that’s what I saw.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his third straight with a left calf strain, but Doc didn’t put an ounce of the loss on his absence. “Being short-handed had nothing to do with it. That first group came out and set the tone and we could never get it back.”
The Bucks are now 1-5 in the past six games, their sole win Wednesday over the 12-37 Hornets. They now sit 27-23, fifth in the East 1.5 games behind the fourth-place Pacers. Their Friday night meltdown was a painful way to extend recent struggles.
Doc Rivers Says Milwaukee Bucks Found Rhythm, Then Lost It in Collapse Vs Atlanta Hawks
It was also a disappointing waste of another powerful night from Bobby Portis, who finished with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists in 38 minutes of floor time. He has scored 20+ in both games back from his six-game absence.
Kyle Kuzma also showed out in his first game as a Buck–at least in the first half. After going into the break with 12 points, he was held scoreless the rest of the way, missing all four of his shots (4-13 for the game).
To differing degrees, it was that kind of night for just about everyone. Portis accumulated 16 of his total in the first two periods; Gary Trent Jr. finished the game with 19 points but scored only five in the second half.
Doc offered a game summary from his point of view. “I thought we played with zero pace in the first quarter and then we started moving the ball–I mean, we played beautiful basketball in the second quarter. The ball was hopping.”
Milwaukee destroyed Atlanta 47-19 in that stretch and seemed poised for a comfortable win. Clearly something went very wrong.
“Third quarter: no pace, walked the ball up the floor, had five turnovers,” Doc continued. “Took horrendous shots, no passing. I bet I’ve said this probably twice this year: It would have been a joke to basketball if we won the game tonight. We didn’t deserve it, we didn’t deserve to win.”
They got within four, 114-110, with a minute remaining, but they’d put themselves too far behind the sticks to convert the victory.
“On All of Us”
Rivers didn’t exempt himself from blame, saying it’s “on me” to show his guys “that you can’t be casual in an NBA game and expect to win.”
One reporter brought up the sequence following a Trent three that cut the deficit to one, 106-105, at the 3:34 mark. Due to discombobulated play, Doc called two timeouts within the space of 80 seconds, at which point the Bucks were back down by seven with things slipping away.
He was visibly frustrated recalling what happened. “We came out of a timeout and three guys forgot the play…It’s a play we’ve run 50 times. Three different guys went to the wrong spot. We’re not talking about our rookies here.”
While it isn’t fair to say that a less than two-minute period cost the Bucks the game–not when they played with their heads in the sand for a whole quarter–if it wasn’t over before Mouhamed Gueye’s dunk with 1:49 to go, it was after.
“Again, that’s on all of us,” Rivers emphasized. “I gotta do a better job of getting our focus. You could see it early, I called an early timeout. I gotta do something to shock us into the right spot. We’re too good of a basketball team to act like that.”
Especially with Giannis out, the first half showed how good the Bucks can be when the offense is humming, even with modern pieces like Kuzma inviting potential disruption. For Doc, it was all about the offense as he credited the sloppy third quarter tempo and decision-making with opening the door for Atlanta.
“We literally dragged them back in the game. That’s how I felt. Like, come on, we dragged them back in the game.”
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