Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers believes his team played into the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers during their 125-112 defeat on Tuesday. (More Sports News)
The loss has🌼 the Bucks in fourth place in the Eastern Con🅺ference with a 26-19 record, eight behind the third-placed New York Knicks.
But in Portland, Riveꦉrs thought his team gave th﷽e hosts too many allowances, while ruing the Trail Blazers' "awful" offense.
"I thought they got what they wanted all game, honestly," he said. "[They] beat us off the dribble the e🐼ntire game, had a ton of their shots early on. It gets guys going, they make a couple and feel good.
"I never thought we established ꧟any kind of defensive presence the entire game. I don't know if they did either𒆙. I thought our offense was awful, I really did.
"I don't care if we were scoring, we didn't have the beautiful ball movement, [the] next pass hitting the open guy the entire night, we just didn't. The b🎶all stuck all night."
The Bucks had initially gone 47-💦35 up and looked good for what would have been a 10th win in 12, but found themselves 64-61 🍃down at half-time.
"We pl💜ayed a lot of iso-ball," Rivers added. "We're good enough on certain nights to get away with that, but when you do that and don't defend, and they live on the foul line, it's going to be a hard game to win.
" It was a disappointing game.ౠ I know we🤡 play better than that."
Former Trail Blazer Damian Lillard, who was traded to th🐼e Bucks ahead of last season, echoed his coach's comments, and suggested they could not live with Portland's aggression.
"I think they played with a lot of energy and defensive versatility,&q𒈔uot; he said. "They've got a lo💙t of different guys that handle the ball and put pressure on everyone. They just play an aggressive style.
"You can go from h🎐aving a solid game, and then they see a couple of shots go in, they're an energy team. When things go well, they start to play even better and put more energy into the team.
"They crash the glass, they get extra opportunities. When you allow them to do that, they play their best - especially in this buildi💖ng. I thought we just allowed too many of those types of plays, and it ended up hurt🧔ing us."
