DENVER — Before Doc Rivers took the sideline for his first game as Milwaukee Bucks coach Monday night in Denver, he was already emphasizing the need for patience.
For the first time in his 25-year coaching career, Rivers will take over a team midseason, a challenge he said he “wouldn't wish on anyone.” Meanwhile, the Bucks are adjusting to a completely new voice in the midseason meetings after first-year Adrian Griffin was replaced by Rivers.
“It's going to take a minute,” Rivers said before Monday's 113-107 loss to the Nuggets. “What I'm trying to do very slowly is incorporate some of my things and simplify some of theirs.
“One thing we don't want to do and are very afraid to do is paralyze their brain and now they're thinking about it. So it's going to take a while.”
Denver ruined Rivers' Bucks coaching debut with a loss, dropping him to 1-4 in his career in his first game with a new team, but the Bucks were still encouraged by one of their most inspired defensive efforts of the season. .
They held the Nuggets, one of the league's most prolific offenses, to 113 points, forcing two-time MVP Nikola Jokic to take 25 shots to score 25 points, although he still finished with a triple double with 16 rebounds and 12 assists. Jamal Murray added 35 points.
But it was an improvement over a Bucks team that ranks 24th in the league in defensive efficiency, prompting Rivers to joke that “the cat was out of the bag” now that the Bucks have shown they can play defense.
“I told our guys that anyone who said you couldn't play defense was lying,” Rivers said after the game. “You showed it tonight. You competed tonight… Our half-court defense was excellent. I think tonight was an offensive loss. I didn't think we were accurate offensively.
“Dame and Giannis have played 40 games together in their life, Joker and Murray have played, you know? And if you look at the game tonight, they had it going, our guys couldn't do it and that was the difference.”
Damian Lillard finished with 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 12 rebounds. Antetokounmpo was happy with the way the Bucks played in their first game under Rivers, but he also preached the need to be patient with the learning process.
“He was great,” Antetokounmpo said of Rivers. “Everyone has to be patient. It's new: it will take a while to get used to the way we play, the way we defend. We are adapting slowly, changing a couple of things. The coaching staff has to be patient. “Patience with the players . “The players have to be patient with the coaching staff, but I feel like for the first game it was good.”
The increased intensity on defense was a direct sign to Antetokounmpo of how the players under Rivers responded.
“At the end of the day, the game plan is one thing, but our effort [has] “We always have to be there,” he said. “We have very, very smart players on the team and sometimes when the game plan is not so precise, sometimes our effort may not be there and that is not good.”
“We can't just pick and choose. To win, you have to do it all the time. There will be times when you lose games, but to win at a high level, you have to do it.” be a standard. And today, I think we set the standard as a team.”
Rivers takes over the Bucks in the middle of a five-game, nine-day trip, a chance to get acquainted with his new team on the road. He anticipates longer shootouts and perhaps a few more days of practice than usual to help players get up to speed with the adjustments he wants them to make.
And even though there are 35 games left on the Bucks' schedule before the playoffs, Rivers takes the reins knowing that everything can't be solved in one day. But subtle adjustments with an experienced leader at the helm are already making Bucks players buy in to the process.
“I thought there was a great sense of composure and calm,” Bucks center Brook Lopez said of Rivers' first day as coach. “Nothing too high or too low. I mean that in the best possible way. He handled everything very well. He did a good job of making sure everyone was clear about their responsibility, what to do defensively, what to do offensively, and there was nothing “. There are no real setbacks.
“He did a good job of making sure everyone was on the same page pretty much from the beginning.”
