Bucks Zone

Doc Rivers says the Milwaukee Bucks have been emphasizing defense more

The Bucks are locking in on defense.
Jonas Panerio|
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Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks have come out of the All-Star break in rhythm and seemingly locked in on playing terrific defense. Their latest performance emphasized this further as they held the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers to 37 percent shooting in a 119-98 win—the Bucks' second in a row after starting 3-7 since Doc Rivers took over.

Focusing on defense

Milwaukee's defense has been a huge question mark all season. However, they've put together two impressive performances lately, starting with the huge win over Minnesota and then carrying the momentum over to the victory against a Sixers squad that did not have reigning MVP Joel Embiid.

"We had been putting such an emphasis on defense," Rivers said.

"The last few games, we've been terrific. When you have Giannis on your team, if you can get stops and get him in transition, Giannis in transition is a problem for everybody."

Bucks two-guard Malik Beasley also credited the team's better communication for their improved defense.

"It all comes down to communicating," Beasley added.

"Today was one of the first times we all were communicating. (Before) we were getting mixed up making sure we stay with our own guy or switch. We did a great job with that today."

Keep the momentum going

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo recently lamented how the team hasn't been able to string stellar performances together. However, he feels Milwaukee is on the right track with this latest effort.

"We just gotta carry over, carry over, carry over. It's gotta be the keyword for us. But at the end of the day, I feel like we're feeling like ourselves. Playing hard, we move the ball, we are defending better. We're just playing, we're just playing hard. We're playing hard. So, from the Minnesota game, where in the third quarter we kept them to 13 points, today we kept them in the fourth quarter to 16 points. That's what we do. We have to keep on doing that," Giannis remarked.

Giannis Antetokounmpo explains the differences between Doc Rivers and former coach Adrian Griffin

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Jonas Panerio
JONAS PANERIO