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The sudden dismissal of Adrian Griffin jolted not just the league but also the entire team of Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo said. He said Griffin helped the Bucks forge a strong bond by advocating unity the moment he took over as coach of the Bucks in June.

That’s why for the Bucks, seeing Griffin leave 43 games into his coaching career was tough for the entire team, Giannis said.

“For a coach like Griff, from Day 1, everything was about togetherness,” Antetokounmpo said. “He was always leading this group into the direction we set at the beginning of the year. Him not being here, at the end of the day, we’re humans. It hurts everybody.”

Staying focused

While Griffin’s exit was a shocking one, Giannis said the Bucks have no choice but to move forward and focus on the task at hand.

“But we’ve got to keep on moving forward. We have a goal in our head, which is to be the best basketball team that we can be,” said Giannis.

Moving forward won’t be easy

The Bucks looked just fine in their first game since Griffin’s firing as they scored a 126-116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

Joe Prunty, who is calling the shots for the Bucks on an interim basis, said the Bucks will move forward from this shocking episode. Prunty, however, admitted it won’t be easy.

“It’s not easy, but you do have a job to do,” Prunty said. “That’s one of the things that we talked about as a team, just talked about, ‘Look, we still have responsibilities. We still have roles. We still have jobs that we have to do on the court.’ So you just do. You move forward. But it’s not easy. It really isn’t.”