Bucks quiet early season concerns, storm into NBA Cup knockout round with dominant win over Pistons

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DETROIT — The principal figures of the Milwaukee Bucks insist there was no panic, no rush to call the fire department following a ghastly, alarm-worthy 2-8 start.

Well, at least two of them say so.

“Like, nope. Zero,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday night. “Our panic meter and everyone around here said zero and that’s where it’s always been.”

“Frustration, but not panic,” Bucks guard Damian Lillard said. “We had a good camp. Everybody came in, in shape. We was ready, and it just didn’t click right away. There was frustration but there wasn’t concern.”

The most important man in the Bucks organization, the reason why the two decorated men reside in Wisconsin and not elsewhere, has a unique take on it.

“People panicked. I know they did,” Giannis Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports with a big smile that somewhat belies the seriousness of where the Bucks were a few weeks ago. “That’s what I’m saying, people panicked. Me? Get your backs ready, lift a little bit more weight, lat pull down, get your lats going. Tie your shoes up and let’s go. We here now.”

“Here” is advancing to the knockout round of the NBA Cup with a convincing 128-107 win over the previously Cup-unbeaten Detroit Pistons. Here is two games above .500 for the first time this season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have found their rhythm after a rough start to the season. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Here is stable ground, quieting the noise, finding reliability among some role players and launching 3-pointers at the most accurate rate in the past three weeks. The Bucks aren’t at a Celtics-like volume, but they’re closer than one would expect. (The Celtics have made three more per game than the Bucks during this 9-1 Bucks stretch.)

They’ve stormed into this spot, one game away from getting to Las Vegas for the second straight year by leaning into what makes sense, led by the maturity of their leaders. Tuesday night, they walked into Detroit knowing it was probably the biggest game this franchise has played in the past five years.

For the Pistons, it was a chance at relevancy after years of…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bucks-quiet-early-season-concerns-storm-into-nba-cup-knockout-round-with-dominant-win-over-pistons-070455219.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-04 07:04:00

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