Doc Rivers fell to a 3-7 record with the Bucks after their embarrassing 113-110 loss to the Grizzlies’ B Team on Thursday night, but he’s solely blaming the players for the loss.
“First play of the game, we gamble for the 50th time in the corner. Guy drives, we have to help, leads to a 3,” Rivers explained after the game. “On our set, two guys forget what we’re running. Then we missed a shot and nobody gets back. That’s how we start out the third quarter. That tells you all you need to know about where our heads were.”
“We had some guys here, we had some guys in Cabo.”
Even so, Cabo or no Cabo, Memphis are 20-36 on the season and just played their ninth game in 15 days, so it should have been an easy win for Milwaukee (35-21).
The make the loss even more embarrassing, it wasn’t even close to the Grizzlies starting lineup that took the court.
The team was missing Ja Morant (shoulder), Marcus Smart (finger), Jaren Jackson Jr. (quad), Desmond Bane (ankle), Luke Kennard (knee) and Brandon Clarke (Achilles).
The starting lineup was Santi Aldama, Ziaire Williams, Trey Jemison, Vince Williams Jr. and Jordan Goodwin – none of which have been in the NBA longer than the 2021 season.
Let’s compare that to the Bucks starting lineup of Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Malik Beasley, Brook Lopez and Jae Crowder.
Rivers will also now be the coach of the Eastern Conference team in the 2024 All-Star game.
Some would argue the Eastern Conference team are already at a disadvantage, since the Western Conference team is stacked with the likes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic.
The more games Doc seems to get under his belt for the Bucks, the more concerning the situation is becoming.
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