The Milwaukee Bucks’ five-game successful streak got here to an finish on Wednesday with a 119-116 defeat by the hands of the Boston Celtics. Although the ultimate rating signifies an in depth sport, the Bucks had been down by as a lot as 21, and spent a lot of the night time trailing by double digits earlier than mounting a determined comeback try.
It was a irritating night for everybody within the Milwaukee contingent, particularly Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was restricted to 21 factors on 7 of 20 from the sector. Along with posting his worst capturing night time of the season, he appeared to have an odd mid-game argument with head coach Adrian Griffin.
In the midst of the third quarter, Antetokounmpo was referred to as for a palming violation, and Griffin subbed him out of the sport. That appeared to upset the two-time MVP who by no means went to the bench, however as a substitute sat on the scorer’s desk having a contentious dialog with the first-year head coach. Antetokounmpo then checked again into the sport on the subsequent useless ball.
Publish-game, Griffin downplayed the incident.
“He wished to remain in, I wished to offer him a breather. That is all it was,” Griffin said. “After which I informed him to remain on the desk for one possession, and he received proper again on the market.”
Antetokounmpo, in the meantime, refused to debate it.
“No,” was all Antetokounmpo provided when requested for his perspective.
In a vacuum this is not an enormous deal. Gamers and coaches have impassioned discussions and debates on a regular basis all through the course of a season, and the Bucks had been in the midst of a tough night time.
It’s most likely price submitting this second away, nevertheless, given Griffin’s tumultuous begin with the Bucks and the stress the staff is below to compete for a championship this season. Veteran coach Terry Stotts give up in the course of the preseason after an incident with Griffin throughout a shootaround, and the Bucks gamers needed to have an intervention to persuade Griffin to alter his defensive scheme.
Regardless of the staff’s 10-5 document, there have now been various warning indicators about Griffin’s potential to deal with this accountability.
