Milwaukee Bucks’ All-Too-Familiar Issues Return in Embarrassing 126-123 Wizards Defeat

Milwaukee Bucks’ All-Too-Familiar Issues Return in Embarrassing 126-123 Wizards Defeat

You know, heading into this game, I did not want to call it a must-win against the Wizards. I said, “This is a you better not lose game.” And here we are. The Bucks messed around, found out, and caught arguably the worst loss of the season. We’re going to break it down on today’s Locked on Bucks. You are Locked on Bucks, your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What it do y’all? Welcome to Locked On Bucks, part of the Locked On Network. Now the number one sports podcast network out here, your team every day. I’m Camille Davis, an NBA analyst with the Locked On Network and the co-host of the Technical File podcast. Joining me is Frank Madden, longtime voice of the pod and the founder of brewhoop.com. And we truly do appreciate you for tuning in even after losses like this one and making locked on bucks that first listen every single day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as on YouTube. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So head to fanduel.com to get started. On today’s show, same issues, different game for the Bucks. We’re going to discuss how the same issues just continue to plague this team and if the Bucks have any on roster solutions to these problems. Uh Kevin Porter Jr. had a big game himself, but left in the fourth quarter with back spasms. So, we’ll let you know the latest on that injury. We heard from Doc and Kevin Porter Jr. after the game. But first, Frank, I just got a question for you just straight up. Was this the worst loss of the season for the Bucks? Because I mean like the Kings loss was like, “Dang, that’s that feels like one you shouldn’t have let slip away.” The Sixers loss without Giannis was like, “Dang, you were right there. It could have won it.” Heaton Knicks also felt in the same boat to me. Kind of like the Sixers of like it’s a winnable game. You let it slip away. this game against the Wizards tonight, winnable for sure, but there were so many different lapses over the course of this game that had me just being like, “Okay, they just can’t seem to put the Wizards away. They just can’t seem to put the Wizards away.” And then here you have it, a threepoint loss to the Wizards where again, in addition to the turnover problems, in addition to the rebounding problems, in addition to the Wizards having more field goal attempts than the Bucks, a problem we’ve seen in other losses to the team, they had a chance to win it and yet and still execution down the stretch just came up short. How do you feel about this loss? Was this the worst one of the season in your opinion? Um, I would say probably yes because like they so clearly needed this one in a way that like you know not that you I mean like losing at home to the Kings, you know, the way they were playing that was like a terrible loss. Um, but you know, like you were okay. You were like doing okay record-wise. Like now it’s like you just lost was it that seven in a row? Sorry. I can’t even like recall like how many like losses they strung together. So, you just lost seven in a row and then it takes like, you know, whatever it was an 18-point win over like literally a Nets team that isn’t trying anyway and benched like like didn’t have half their team. Like, you got cocky after that game, you know? Um, you win one game and then you go on the road and you look like teams can like you can have games where, you know, you just can’t hit the broadside of a barn, you know, and and the three-point shot just isn’t there and the other team just makes a ton of shots. That that was the opposite of what happened in this game. And I think that’s what really and that’s what I think really makes this such a like indictment of just the way this team is currently executing and the issues that they have ending possessions on defense and the possession math that we’ve talked about for over a year. You know, we’ve talked about their their math problem going back to last year. Um, so so much of this is just, you know, the same the same crap that we’ve been hearing and seeing forever. Um, and it just manifested today in like kind of the most comical way possible because you shoot what 55% from the field or 55% from three. The Wizards didn’t shoot that well from three. So, how do you lose this game? And it’s just like you just un you’re just an unserious team, I think, is what it comes down to, right? I mean, how many tippins slashwide open dump off passes did Marvin Baggley get tonight? Um, season high for Marvin Bagley tonight. Yeah. And you know, like the guy that is normally above reproach, Giannis, I mean, this is one of the worst kind of like like effort games that I’ve seen from him. you know, he was like there was so many like halfass defensive possessions from him, swiping at the ball, letting guys blow by him. Um, and then, you know, late in the game he started to exert his will a bit. I think he got fr I totally get it. He might have gotten frustrated early in the game with um some of the lack of calls and kind of sucked in general. Um, but you know, the the the backbreaking play was at I think they were up one and I forget the time left in the clock, but he gets Chris in the post and he settles for a derk step back, which look, Giannis can hit those, but that is absolutely him getting too cute because he wants to hit a skill shot over Chris and he completely shortarms it and then Chris kind of falls over him and Giannis like stays on the ground and it was hard to see exactly kind of what happened but like I don’t know 10 seconds go by before he even gets into the picture and by then I think Chris was the one that hit a trailer three that was gave them the lead and that was it. um you know like this is the kind of like game like the visibility of this loss losing to a two- win team and the way that Giannis kind of carried himself defensively and the frustration that it seem you seem to have. I mean, this is what sparks like, you know, the next Sham’s report or whatever random person wants to be like, “Oh, like teams are circling like Giannis. Does Giannis want out?” Like, because this is, you know, this was this is not like a Jimmy Butler game, you know, in Miami or something like that. But like this is as close as you’ll find to Giannis just like having a like I don’t want to be out there tonight type of effort which is obviously not something that you know you ever think of of him of him doing. Again I’m not going to say like this is the first time we’ve ever seen him like halfassid on defense or just gamble a lot. Like there have been more than a few games like we love Giannis. His effort level is generally like great compared to anybody. But he’s not a go 100% every possession guy. He can’t be. But like tonight it felt like this was a game that they took for granted and Giannis took for granted and they got burned and in a very very visible way. And you know it it really just like highlighted like that this team just kind of stinks right now and they have to again they have to like do some soularching, you know, like this is a like have a players only type of meeting type of effort, right? which you know I think losses like the Miami game or you know where you don’t have Giannis or even you know like the the game in New York where you were competitive till the end with Jiannis coming back. I mean those are like you can live with those. Yeah. Um but a game like this like you know a lot of reminded me Camille of like two years ago they went into Washington and lost. Um Dame was out but they lost a game where Yiannis was really good but they lost a game to the Wizards who were terrible of course at the time and that was the first of a four-game losing streak. They came went back the next night and lost at home to the Grizzlies who had a ton of injuries. Um the difference is that team was 47 and 28 at the time. You know I think we remember that game that they lost in in in Memphis when the Grizzlies had like no players. The CVS game. Yes. Yeah. The the Cancun game before the All-Star game that year. Um, but that team like actually still won a lot of games. This team is not winning games and so like they’re like literally like, “Hey guys, you want to win some games so that you’re at least in a playin spot?” Cuz like right now you’re not even the playing team. I I don’t think. So there’s a lot there there’s a lot of I mean there’s a lot of stuff that this team like needs to take a long look in the mirror about. And you know, it’s coaching staff for sure. Um, but it’s also players. is like I don’t I mean the players aren’t helping themselves to a large extent either. Um I think the coaching staff is leaving a lot to be desired to say the least, but um this is just a top tobottom kind of fail game. Yeah. I’m going to come back to the the coaching and the players a little bit later too because one thing that really like was disappointing you mentioned like the the energy. It felt like a game where the Bucks felt like we’re going to be able to win this game because it’s the Wizards and they just did not put the effort out that they needed to. And I felt it early in the game like in the first quarter and I couldn’t tell at that point was it because it was just like no one in the building. So like there was naturally kind of like a deficit in energy in the building or if it was a Milwaukee Bucks thing where they just weren’t playing the way they needed to. And as the game continued and the building started to come alive with the fans that did make the trip out there, I was like, “Okay, like this is a Milwaukee Bucks problem again.” And as we mentioned, it’s been the same issues, another different game. I want to dive a little bit deeper into the same issues. Every day know at this point, the turnovers, the rebounding, the second chance points, the point of attack defense, breaking those down and starting to try to figure out how do the Bucks get better from this. So, we’ll talk about that right after this. But first, a word from our friends over at FanDuel. Because NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. And that is what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver can get hot or a defense can tighten up or the momentum flips after a turnover and FanDuel lets you jump in in the moment. You got the live spreads and the money lines that adjust instantly. You got player props that update as guys heat up and you can bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, and every single possibility. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Thank you for making Locked On Bucks your first listen of the day. Thank you for making Locked On the number one sports network out here. Uh special shout out to the Everydayers as well who tune in Monday through Friday. Frank, I mentioned same issues, different game. I’m feeling like a broken record at this point during this season. And honestly, some of these issues are not new. We’ve had these problems last year. We’ve seen some of these problems the year before as well. Uh the turnovers, the second chance points, poor point of attack defense effort. And it wasn’t even free throws tonight. Like, yes, there were times where I felt like the whistle was a a little bit off my, hey, Giannis should probably be heading to the free throw line here. But the Bucks actually took more free throws in this game than did the Wizards. They shot 21 of them. The Wizards shot 15. Like, we don’t see that too often for the Bucks. So, it’s like in a game when free throws weren’t even the issue, in a game where you shot 55% from three, 55% from the field, you lost because of turnovers, you lost because of rebounding second chance points, you lost because of point of attack defense. Like, the Bucks had 17 turnovers in this game, led to 17 points for the Wizards. And the crazy thing is the Wizards only had 10 turnovers of their own, but it led to 18 Bucks points. So, like the Bucks were able to score off Wizards turnovers. It’s just like their own offensive flow was getting messed up with how many stoppages and turnovers they had themselves. Like this was a Wizards team without Alex Sar. The Bugs were still outrebounded by the Wizards 4235. The Wizards had 15 offensive rebounds and scored 20 second chance points with nine of those second chance points coming in the fourth quarter. Like it it’s one of those things where I look at it and I’m like I just don’t get why they continue to be this bad at it. Frank. Yeah. I mean I don’t really know. I mean defensive rebounding it’s kind of like you know box out. I I don’t know. Like there’s too many times they don’t even do that where you see guys just watching the ball. Yeah. I mean, they and the part that’s kind of the the part that I struggle with is it’s like, okay, what changed versus last year when they were a good defensive rebounding team? Um, you know, Brooke was obviously like always a box out guy. Um, you know, Miles, like it’s I was looking at Miles numbers. I mean, their defensive rebound rate with Miles I don’t think is like terrible. Um, they’re better with him on the floor in terms of defensive rebounding than they are with him on the bench. Um, so I think it’s just kind of like honestly like a kind of death by a thousand cuts. Um, you know, they’re not defensive rebounding well with Giannis on the floor. They’re not defensing rebounding well for sure without Bobby Portoris. I think there’s been a drop off in Bobby’s defensive rebounding and activity level. Um, so even though he’s shooting the hell out of the ball from three kind of everything else just looks like he’s kind of older and even slower than he was, which is a problem because it’s not like he was doing anything defensively before either really. So, um, and I think, you know, putting the bigs aside, uh, the other issue is like, you know, you’re just constantly undized. You know, you’re on your wing. Um, they basically have no like true small forwards, right? Like Kuz is playing a lot of three and, you know, mostly this has been mostly a good Kosma season. like this is his most efficient scoring season, but then you know you have these games like tonight which is just a complete no-show. Um, and I think the thing that gives me the most pause with Cuz too is I I just don’t know how to solve I I think they’re they’re they have a fundamental problem because when they go small to start, I think the issues around, you know, rebounding and, you know, allowing free throws and just getting physically overwhelmed has obviously been a huge problem. Now, we’ve only seen a couple games now with this Kevin uh Kevin Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins starting together with AJ Green combination. Um, is that like an unlock that they can better play defense than, you know, when they were starting Gary Trent? Like I mean KPJ is like bigger. He’s bigger, more more athletic, but like he’s not, you know, a six 67 220 pound wing who’s going to defend big wings. Um, so you know, uh, I I, you know, again, like does that is there a version with him starting with Ryan that that makes sense? Um, we’ll see, right? I mean, basically the KPJ minutes were very good again tonight. But KPJ’s now played three games. Two against the Wizards, well, one and a quarter against the Wizards and one against the Nets. So, he’s basically only played against the worst, you know, teams that the Bucks have faced. Of course, you the Bucks lost one of those games now. Um, but it will be interesting to see kind of what this looks like playing against more like quoteunquote normal teams. Um, but I mean KPJ, let’s not bury the lead. He was fantastic. He’s like basically the only guy that like doesn’t have much culpability in this loss. And unfortunately when he got hurt in the fourth and had to leave the game, that’s when, you know, stuff kind of unraveled. And, you know, Rollins, I think, has basically become more much more of an offball guy with KPJ. like it’s very clear which of those two guys is the point guard when they’re playing together. Like Ryan’s generally spotting up and KPJ’s got the ball and we can debate whether you know it should be more balanced which you could certainly make an argument given everything we’ve seen from Rollins. Um but you know like yeah I mean KPJ did what he could. He was a big plus tonight and everybody else you know kind of apparently was just riding KPJ’s coattails tonight which you know is not a thing that you know we were hoping for. You know I was always a bit wary of how much like people when the Bucks were struggling I was like well you know we’ve missed Giannis and like oh we haven’t KPJ at all and it’s just sort of like man if KPJ is like central to this team like having any chance of doing anything it’s like it’s not a great place to be. But obviously Cole Anthony has struggled a lot and you know I I didn’t really understand the first half rotations in the sense that you started Rollins and KPJ and then you had that run at the start of the second quarter with with Cole Anthony and you immediately saw like an eight-point lead pretty much evaporate and it’s just like you have to figure out a way to keep one of Rollins or or KPJ on the floor at all times I think. And even if Cole Anthony is out there, like put Ryan Rollins out there as well because again like turning Ryan into just like a guy standing in the corner like is not a good use of his skill set either. Although he has been a great spot up shooting guy. So um I did wonder in this game if we saw the more Cole because of Ryan’s early foul trouble in this one too because he picked up that could be true. Yeah, that could be that could be part of it. We didn’t see him we didn’t see Cole in the second half but yeah I thought part of that spin in the first half. Yeah, I thought maybe that was also just because like basically like second half is like, oh crap, we have to kind of buckle down. But I mean the crazy part I mean they they got that big lead in the third quarter and you thought like oh like you know maybe this is where they just sort of kind of put this game out of reach. But you know it’s the NBA. I mean you just that’s just not how the sport works. Um, and you know, again, like I think this is a team that we we’ve seen it when they take their foot off the gas, especially defensively, especially with, you know, the efforts on the defensive glass. They have to gang tackle and the defensive glass. When they don’t do that, you know, they just look like they’re standing around and other guys are just sort of pogo sticking around them, right? I mean, yeah, like it’s weird looking at their offensive rebound stats because only three guys had offensive rebounds for the Wizards. Baggley had seven. Um, Justin Champeni had six and Cam Lmore had two, you know. Um, so it’s I don’t know what to say, right? And, you know, meanwhile on the other side, like Miles is three for 10, nine points, three rebounds. Um, he was a plus 10, so at least he wasn’t on the floor for, you know, some of the bad bad runs. But, um, you know, again, like you just obviously need a higher floor from Miles, I think, night to night. Um, and you know, especially the offensive side of the game has has obviously been way more inconsistent than I think anybody would have wanted from him. Yeah. And I think they got to still figure out ways to try to utilize him best. Like I loved how he was used against Miami, but again, Miami was a smaller team, so they were being very intentional about getting him those post touches and letting him work inside out a little bit more often. But maybe the Bucks just have to find ways to work inside out with Miles Turner more often instead of having him just be more of a spot up three-point shooter. But the runs that you mentioned, I I couldn’t believe it. Up 13 points in the third quarter. It was 534 left. I had to I wrote this down because I couldn’t believe it because the Wizards went on a 2111 run to end the third quarter. The Wizards outscored the Bucks 3328 in the third quarter, which is crazy when you think about the Bucks were up by like 15 points at one point in that quarter. And then to end the game, 146 run for the Wizards to end the game. Really like a 14-3 because AJ Green hit that last three at the the buzzer to end it. But like just disappointing seeing that the Bucks would punch and then when the Wizards punch back, it was kind of hard for them to keep up. That’s just not what’s expected um against the Washington Wizards who prior to tonight had only won two games this season, but that third win came against the Bucks. So, I want to talk about if there are answers on roster. Frank, you mentioned something earlier about coaching or roster and I kind of want to play through that a little bit of like what we are currently seeing. Is this more of a byproduct right now because of roster construction or because of coaching? Uh, want to talk a little bit more about that right after this. This episode is also brought to you by Prize Picks. The holiday season is one of the best time for sports. Bowl games, big basketball matchups, playoff pushes, it’s all happening at once. And while we’re making choices every day, one of the most fun places to make the right call is Prize Picks. Prize Picks is the easiest way to get in on Daily Fantasy. Just pick more or less on at least two player projections. Lock in your lineup and you’re in the game. 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But before I even get to the question of more of a byproduct where we’re seeing from the Bucks of coaching or roster construction, never really gave the Kevin Porter Jr. injury update, Doc Rivers initially said like, “I don’t really have too much just happened.” But when Kevin Porter Jr. was interviewed after the game, he made mention of he feels like it’s just kind of his body adjusting to playing an NBA workload back spasms. He felt pretty confident himself that he’d be available on Wednesday against the Pistons, but we know sometimes players can feel a little bit better about where they are than where the medical staff deems them. But ultimately, it does sound like hopefully something that won’t keep Kevin Porter Jr. out uh for a long time, but rather he’s just trying to get his body back into shape because he mentioned that he first felt his back kind of tightening up against the Nets and it really kind of started to act up there down the stretch against the Wizards. So, something to keep an eye on going forward, but Frank, we’re about a quarter of the way through the season now. Um, we’ve talked about the problems that the Bucks continue to face so much this year. And earlier you kind of mentioned feels like it’s a bit coaching and a bit of the roster right now. Do you think it’s more one or the other or do you think it’s just kind of like a a perfect bad storm in the sense that both of these things aren’t being optimized to their full potential? Um, well, I mean, let’s start with the roster. I think um you know I think we’ve talked about it right like you obviously had a a decent sample size last year that you could you know win with that smaller you know kind of featuring heavily kind of like that smaller group now they still weren’t really starting that until basically the last game of the playoffs um which I think is different right I think it’s different to play you know a small lineup in the flow of a game being able to pick and choose versus, you know, starting games that way and like having that be like the the on the top of the scouting report. Um, but, you know, the the three guard lineup had kind of disastrous results earls like the national debt at this point. It’s it’s just, you know, negative a billion. Um, and I I was talking with Eric about this, Eric Neam about this, and like, you know, Eric was kind of pointing. I was like, look, you know, AJ’s looks way better, but AJ’s already like AJ also was the guy that got to stay in the starting lineup when they started playing bigger with like Koosma. Yeah. Um, and and Giannis and stuff. And so, like, you know, maybe that has excuse the numbers has made has made Yeah. Gary’s numbers look look especially bad. Um, and so I think you’re left in this weird position where it’s like I think to to to compete defensively. I think definitely your best chance of competing defensively features Koozma at the three because honestly Koozma is like the closest you have to like a guy that can just be like the annoying wing stop type of guy. Now, you know, I was thinking I was thinking a little recently about like, well, what kind of player like what’s like a non-allar type of guy that like, you know, would be your ideal addition to this roster. The first thing I thought of was like, well, you definitely need a small forward because you have literally like no true small forwards like left on this roster basically. Um, and so I thought of like a Jaylen McDaniels or I guess Jaden McDaniels. Sorry. Jaylen’s the the worst of the the McDaniels brothers. Jaden, the Timberwolves, McDaniels. Um, and it’s funny because like on his on good nights like Koosma actually does maybe he’s not as consistently I mean look he’s not as consistently defensively great as as McDaniels is but like you know he kind of like coplays as like a cosplay coplays um as a like like reasonable faximile considering what we all thought Kyle Koozma was going to be when when he got here. That’s fair. And so, you know, there there are versions of Koozma where I think defensively you could look at it and say like, hey, I actually like Koozma, you know, Rollins, AJ, Koozma, Giannis Turner, like that is like a talented enough defensive group and has enough like mixture of size and, you know, ability like you should be able to defend with that group. And you know, last year like their defense was not bad, you know, um, as much as it was not great. Um, it was basically average, right? They had basically an average defense and that was with, you know, Dame and we’ve obviously talked a bit about like the lack of flexibility they had, you know, given Brooke really needed to play one style. So, um, so I think they’re in this spot where I think you have at least like some lineups that you could in theory defend with. And I think again like that group should not be like a bad defensive rebounding team. And to be clear too like their defensive rebounding at least prior to tonight was like kind of middle of the pack. So it isn’t quite as bad as sometimes it feels. Tonight did not help. Um but you know I think they at least like there’s I could see this team like cleaning things up a bit there. I do wor I also think like they should be better at this fouling stuff. Like this is mostly the same guys you had last year. It’s not like Miles Turner is fouling three-point shooters left and right. Like, you should be able to cut out a lot of the fouling because that was a strength last year. They were one of the teams that did well not fouling. It’s the same coaching staff. It’s mostly the same roster. It’s not like Dame was the one bringing them discipline uh on the perimeter defensively or something like that. So, there’s got to be a way that you know you you have I think the talent to not be bad defensively. Um I think the hard part is offensively. I think Koozma is good when he’s being sort of improvisational and getting out in transition and you know being opportunistic. I think when you have a half court set and the team is keying on Giannis. I think Kuz being out there he’s shot the three ball better of you know kind of recently but like they are never going to guard him when has the ball. They don’t respect him. So you’re in this bad spot I think where it’s like your ideal version. You have to be very creative I think with cutting and Koozma moving. He wants to occupy some of the same same spots that Giannis does. Um, I think you have to be very clever and creative to kind of find that balance and know when to play coups with Giannis, when to not play him with Giannis. Um, obviously he doesn’t close that many games, you know, given given some of those concerns. Um, and so offensively, you really need like those small guys and those shooters out there with Giannis because we’ve seen like when Giannis is out there with shooting like the stats don’t lie. He’s like a 125 126 offensive rating like you know in all of Giannis’s minutes like it’s worked really well. So um so I I don’t worry that much about the offense so much because like when Yiannis is healthy like they’re going to be great when he’s on the floor and then you know when he’s not off the floor I think fair to be concerned. Um but you know it it does again just feel like looking at this team and sort of pivoting it to coaching a bit. I mean, if you if Camille, if I told you before the year like Koozma statline and I told you what Ryan Rollins sort of evolved to and that Ryan Rollins averaged, you know, 18, five and five or whatever over the first month of the season and that Giannis was doing Giannis stuff, would you guess that the Bucks would be as bad as as they’ve been? No. I would have guessed they were a few games over 500 at that point, right? At the very least, you would guess that they’d be like solid to pretty good. Yeah, and I think this is kind of like the problem is just like once again, you know, even looking at the stats, you know, let alone just the talent, but even looking at the stats, like it’s just like another the third year in a row where it’s a doc team that you just look at it and be like, wait, you got this guy doing this and this guy doing this, you know, last two years it was like Damon Giannis are like the best two two, you know, like most dominant offensive kind of combination in the league, blah blah blah. you had like again you didn’t have necessarily great defensive talent especially with Dame and you know like Chris when Chris was you know still here and things like that but like it just always seemed like again this team is less than the sum of its parts and and you know again like now you can argue like well the parts aren’t fantastic um and you’re getting even less than than p less than less than fantastic um so yeah I mean again it’s just like I just don’t think Doc has really I just don’t know that Doc is going to figure out any bright ideas to do that. And I think, you know, I mean, we can kind of could a would a shoulda around, you know, well, horse wanted to hire Kenny Atkinson twice. Um, and and wasn’t able to do it either time and now you’ve kind of gotten stuck with stuck with Doc. I mean, again, like what are you going to do? Like, you know, are you going to fire Doc and, you know, make Darvin Ham your head coach the rest of the season? Like, is that is that going to like do anything? Does it make the team better to uproot the coach in this situation? I I mean, look, I like Does it It’s You can argue it’s just like all just deck chairs on the Titanic regardless, right? Like, you know, is firing Doc like going to really hurt you? Like, probably not, right? I don’t I don’t think he’s like the lynch pin of of any of this, but it’s just this weird situation. It’s like Doc seems like a guy that’s very good at kind of keeping a locker room together, but he’s not very good at getting the most in terms of like results from that locker room on the floor. So, you’re just sort of like stuck in this like, again, I’m not going to call Doc like the the worst coach in the league or something like that. But, like, you know, he’s got to be below average in terms of like just getting results. And you know, you look at just some of the other teams again, whether it’s, you know, what Atinson did in Cleveland, which not that Cleveland’s had a great year this year, um, but or JB Bicker staff, you know, just figuring stuff out with the Pistons or, you know, what’s going on in Phoenix right now with like, you know, like them getting rid of their, you know, former Bucks head coaches and now like finding some some respectability and just some like fresh sort of, you know, energy. Um, so yeah. So, I mean it it sucks. This team is like, you know, pretty pretty damn uninspiring right now. And I don’t know what, you know, is going on in Giannis’s head, but um I I will come back. My my glass, you know, I don’t know if it’s still half full, uh Camille, but my glass half full is the thing we always say, the season is long. Yep. Um, and you know, by the same token, like we’re now over a quarter of the way into the season, which is like kind of went by quickly. You’ve burned a bunch of home games already, um, and lost a bunch of home games that you would have wanted to win. Um, but, you know, again, if you can write the ship, then there’s still a I don’t know, could you get a six seed? Like, maybe that’s maybe there’s still a version of the world where you could scrape out a six seed or something like that. But again, you you have to you have to figure out a formula here pretty soon. And right now, it just feels like they’re kind of, you know, throwing darts blindfolded and, you know, it’s it’s it’s not great. Yeah, they got to figure out the identity and really stick to it. Again, like you mentioned earlier, it’s disappointing, especially after having a sevename losing streak uh to come out with the energy um and execution that they did in this game against the Wizards. So, they got to be better and they’re going to have a test on Wednesday against the Pistons. So, we’ll wrap up the show here for that next lesson. Make sure you check out Locked On Fantasy Basketball. Josh Lloyd has all of the stats, tips, advice, everything that you need to try to win your fantasy league. So, for Frank and myself, we’ll catch you later.

Milwaukee Bucks suffer their most frustrating loss yet, falling to the lowly Washington Wizards despite shooting 55% from both the field and three-point range. Can Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers steer the Bucks out of this slump before it’s too late?

Camille Davis and Frank Madden deliver a candid analysis of the Bucks disappointing play, spotlighting persistent issues—turnovers, rebounding woes, lackluster effort, and poor point-of-attack defense. The conversation discusses whether coaching, roster construction, or both are at fault for the Bucks’ slow start and lack of execution in critical moments. Can Milwaukee right the ship before the next clash with the Detroit Pistons, or are deeper changes needed to save the season?

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