NBA: Giannis Antetokounmpo saga continues as Bucks sink deeper

The Milwaukee Bucks were humiliated on Sunday on the Brooklyn Nets' court, 45-point winners, whilst behind the scenes the Giannis Antetokounmpo case has not been settled.

We thought the Bucks were back on track, reinvigorated by the NBA Cup break and a convincing victory against the Boston Celtics on Friday. But Milwaukee have just strung together one step forward... and three back. On Sunday, the defeat against the Nets turned into humiliation: 127-82, a shipwreck against a bottom-of-the-table Eastern Conference team, which plunges the Wisconsin franchise back into its doubts.

Antetokounmpo's absence obviously weighs heavily. Milwaukee have only won two of their 10 matches played without the Greek star this season. But that does not explain how a team that was aggressive and committed 48 hours earlier could become so apathetic. "It was awful, awful everywhere," Doc Rivers said at a press conference. Like Kevin Porter Jr, he pointed to unusual preparation, far from expected standards.

"45 points against a team trying to lose..."

"It was awful on my part, because I clearly didn't get them ready. It's probably one of the most disappointing matches I've been associated with, in the way we played and fought. We were looking for someone responsible... except ourselves. We blamed the referees, we looked at each other. Nobody wanted to play hard. We have some serious soul-searching to do."

On Sunday, his players delivered an indigent defensive performance, from which there is no positive to draw. "It's one thing to lose, it's another to lose by that margin," Bobby Portis reacted in the locker room. "It's hard to even put words on our performance tonight." Kyle Kuzma had some.

"Is this our lowest point of the season? That's not even a question: absolutely. 45 points against a team trying to lose... They have four wins, five, whatever. I don't want to disrespect them: that's the NBA too. There's so much talent, and if you're not ready, you can get your backside kicked by anyone. Tonight, we're proof of that."

Starts that weigh down, a team that falters

For Kuzma, part of the explanation lies in the starts, a recurring Achilles heel, especially on the road (three wins for nine defeats). The score was still 19-18 after seven minutes, but the defence was already giving worrying signals. Then the gap swelled, to 37-25 at the end of the first quarter.

"Mike Tyson says that when you get in the ring, everyone has a plan... until they take a punch in the teeth. Very often, it's us who take it. You're stunned, you try to come back, to fight. And by round seven, eight or nine, it's too late," the former Wizards player explains again.

Doc Rivers hammered the point home: "It wasn't until the start of the second quarter that we finally looked like a team that wanted to pass the ball. But in the meantime, the basketball Gods had decided we wouldn't make another open shot. Because we didn't deserve it."

Inconsistency, the real poison

Against Boston on Friday, activity and toughness had been the basis of everything. In Brooklyn, even without their manager Jordi Fernandez (ill), the Nets faced an opponent without these ingredients: no energy, no rigour, no reaction.

"Our performance as a team, as a group, was very disappointing," Kuzma repeated, bitter. "What's killing us this year is inconsistency in our efforts. And that's unacceptable. We simply didn't play hard. We let them do what they wanted on offence. We lost a lot of balls. That's where we are. We need to mature: in our play with and without the ball, in the energy we put in night after night."

The comparison with the East's best teams - a status Milwaukee claim - stings all the more as the Bucks are now five matches under 50%. "When you watch the NBA Cup, OKC-San Antonio, it looks personal, like a play-off match," Kuzma observed. "Obviously it's only the NBA Cup, but it's December, like them, isn't it? We need to get ourselves together. We're extremely talented, but talent that doesn't bind together, that's just talent. It's not a team."

And the Giannis question in the background...

Milwaukee conceded their worst defeat of the season, recorded their lowest points total and even their least prolific quarter. Giannis Antetokounmpo could have, at least partly, limited the damage. Still absent, he is not much further ahead on his personal case, according to Marc Stein, and uncertainty continues to hang over his future.

According to the insider, Milwaukee have still not indicated that the "Greek Freak" is clearly on the market. The tendency would even be to want to keep him and attempt to continue adjustments around him, despite work without real success since the 2021 title. An indecision that could push certain franchises (Spurs, Rockets, Thunder...) not to invest too much in the case, Stein continues.

This article was originally published on Basket USA.