Even though the Milwaukee Bucks started the season by losing eight of their first 10 games, coach Doc Rivers believed it was only a matter of time before his team would get back on track.
As expected, the Bucks have now won four out of their last five games heading into an NBA Cup match against the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
While Milwaukee is improving, Indiana has struggled recently, losing four of its last five games. The Pacers shot only 5 of 22 (22.7 percent) from 3-point range in a 130-113 loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
Indiana will try to bounce back against the Bucks and their star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 41 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out eight assists in a 122-106 home win against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
Brook Lopez, who had also struggled during the team’s rough start, has been performing better lately, averaging 19 points on 55.4 percent shooting in his last five games.
“We know the team that we are,” Lopez said. “We’ve known the team that we are all season long, we just had to prove it by winning games. It’s gotten better and better. Obviously, the last few, we’re happy with winning, they were close ones but we put in a lot of work, we’re doing great.”
The Bucks showed their championship potential late in Wednesday’s game, finishing with an 18-4 run. After the win, Rivers reflected on his team’s tough start to the season.
“I felt good about the team, I just didn’t feel good about our record, to be honest,” Rivers said. “I still feel that way — I don’t feel good about our record yet — but I do feel good about this team. I feel really good about this team.”
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle isn’t as happy with his team and suggested that changes might be needed after another disappointing loss on Wednesday.
“We’re not playing well. That’s obvious,” Carlisle said. “Our connectedness is not where it needs to be. Our collective spirit is not where it needs to be. I’m going to look very closely at the film tonight. The coaching staff is. We have to come up with answers.”
The Pacers need more from All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who struggled against Houston, scoring just four points on 1-of-7 shooting, including 1-of-5 from 3-point range. Haliburton is averaging 12.6 points while shooting 30.3 percent from the field and 30.8 percent (12 of 39) from beyond the arc in his last five games.
One positive from Wednesday’s loss was guard Quenton Jackson, who scored a career-high 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting in his first career start. Jackson also added three assists, two rebounds, two steals, and a block in 27 minutes.
“Quenton Jackson is an example of where we need everybody’s spirit to be,” Carlisle said. “The guy is flying all over the place, playing at a ridiculously high level of intensity and unselfishness and totally surrendering to the team, you know?
For us, we just have to work at adopting that on a full-time basis and really being there for each other.”
