Hitting rock bottom puts Milwaukee Bucks in fight-or-flight mode

With Giannis Antetokounmpo's return weeks away, Doc Rivers must get the rest of his roster to respond.

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers blamed himself for not having his team ready to play in a 45-point loss to the Brooklyn Nets and now faces a crucial final two weeks of 2025 to get back on track. | John Jones-Imagn Images

Good vibes surrounded the Milwaukee Bucks following last Thursday’s impressive win over the Boston Celtics. Kevin Porter Jr. set the table with a triple-double, Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis played their best games of the season, and the hope that they could survive multiple weeks without Giannis Antetokounmpo felt realistic instead of foolish.

That’s why Sunday’s loss in Brooklyn was so disheartening. Not only did the Bucks lose to a bottom-five team, they did so in the most embarrassing fashion possible. How can you describe falling to the Nets by 45 points as anything other than a no-show? The 2025-26 rebuilding Nets? They tied the franchise-record for most lopsided win in their history.

Milwaukee didn’t score for the final 7:05. Brooklyn closed a game it already led by 26 on a 25-6 run. You don’t have to take too much of a leap to say the Bucks quit. 

“I thought that was awful. Awful all around,” head coach Doc Rivers told the Athletic. “On me because I clearly didn’t get them ready. And on us. Give Brooklyn credit because I thought they played hard as heck. They moved the ball. They played right. We didn’t.”

Rivers has been coaching for a quarter-century. He started at the helm of the “heart and hustle” Magic, coached the Boston Celtics to a championship and never had a losing season with the Clippers and 76ers despite never advancing past the conference finals, so even though he’s drawn plenty of criticism, he’s in unprecedented territory as far as lows are concerned. To hear him call this latest loss “one of the more disappointing games I’ve ever been involved with” while adding “no one wanted to play hard” should ring alarms. 

We’re about to see if the Bucks are ready to be done before 2026 even arrives. WIth Giannis Antetokounmpo entertaining a trade demand and the front office holding firm on their desire to keep him as the face of the franchise for the rest of what’s already a Hall of Fame career, this supporting cast must show it hasn’t tuned out Rivers and remains engaged.

Raptors' visit offers Milwaukee chance to show heart, resiliency

One bad game can be just that unless it snowballs, which is why this Dec. 18 clash with the talented Toronto Raptors is suddenly massive. Following a lengthy layoff with plenty of time to practice, Milwaukee came out and defeated Boston behind one of its best efforts of the season. There are another couple of days in between the debacle in Brooklyn and this next game against a team with the East’s third-best record to get on the same page and flush a brutal effort.

Putting even more pressure on the Bucks is an impending five-game road trip set to begin Sunday in Minnesota. On paper, the test against the Timberwolves is the toughest Milwaukee will face prior to stops in Indiana, Memphis, Chicago and Charlotte, but heading out off consecutive losses will add to the burden of attempting to get wins in opposing arenas.

Kuzma told the Athletic the performance in Brooklyn was the low point of the season. How does this team bounce back? Do they care enough to make the effort?

Getting back to .500 is Bucks' driving force entering '26

“Each guy has to look in the mirror and say, ‘what can I do better to help the team? What can I do better to impact winning?,” sixth man Bobby Portis said. “What can I do better to help us get back to .500? One game at a time, obviously, but we have about seven games left (until 2026). Six and one, right back at .500, so I think that should just be the goal, man.”

Portis is being awfully optimistic given what his team has looked like without Antetokounmpo. Still, you can see where his mind is. Get back squared up before the MVP returns, get him excited about contending in an Eastern Conference that lacks a clear favorite, and make the new year great. 

Hope springs eternal when that calendar hits Jan. 1, but there’s still two weeks to get there. Teams like the Pacers, Hornets and Wizards are on the schedule, but like the Nets, they’ve got pros, too. Milwaukee has to be ready to play. 

If the Bucks get embarrassed on the floor, everything is in play off the floor. Ownership has had Rivers’ back and obviously wants Giannis to stay, but a rebuild will be hard to stave off if this team continues getting humbled by teams they’re supposed to beat.