© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
"Good to great" – How Doc Rivers' mantra is helping the Milwaukee Bucks play better basketball
On a team filled with elite scorers like the Milwaukee Bucks, players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard can get theirs at any moment in the game. With their incredible skill and talent, they are often the go-to options for the Bucks. However, Milwaukee has also been focusing on improving their overall team play and efficiency, and that's where Doc Rivers' “good to great” has come into play.
Sacrificing good looks for great ones
Although Giannis was out in the Bucks’ last game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Lillard was in uniform and on fire, scoring 41 points. His lethal scoring ability also opened up good looks for his teammates. However, as Rivers pointed out, when the ball keeps on moving, it will almost always end up in an even better look at the basket.
“Good to great. I mean, that was as good to great as you can get,” Rivers said, referring to a play in which sophomore sharpshooter AJ Green had a decent look at a triple but opted to pass the ball to Bobby Portis, who was having a great shooting night.
“Because AJ could have shot that. They were going to close out on him, but to make the next pass — you know, we show it. That’s what we start every film session with since I’ve been here. With good to great, good to great, good to great. And you can’t get a better good to great action than that one right there.”
The Bucks trust Lillard and vice-versa
Quick ball movement not only gets the defense scrambling but also allows teammates to handle the rock, eventually building their confidence. Against the Clippers, the Bucks kept at it, and in the fourth, they found the perfect opportunity to exploit their ball movement.
“Eventually, when you just keep trusting in it, it’ll turn around,” Lillard said.
“We hit a couple of shots. Bobby had a big-time game. But I would say, I just kept trusting it.”
