The Milwaukee Bucks’ season is off to a poor start. After winning the first game against the 76ers, they have lost two in a row against the Bulls and the Nets. Gilbert Arenas seems to have figured out the reason behind the Bucks’ consecutive losses.
Advertisement
On Gil’s Arena, the former NBA star ridiculed the obviousness of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s predictable offensive schemes, labeling them as the team’s weakness.
Fans had high expectations from the duo of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, two MVP-caliber players who can take over games on their day. However, the Bucks have failed to get much out of the superstar duo. Arenas thinks that their limited offensive sets are to be blamed for it.
He declared that the two-man game that the Bucks are playing has been disastrous. They’re relying a bit too much on Dame and Giannis despite their failure to come up with new sets.
The three-time All-Star broke down Dame and Giannis’ combinations in the dying minutes of their game against the Jazz. “Pop, shot, if he didn’t shoot it, give it back off, pick and roll, throw it down, shot, post up, give it back, pick and roll, throw it down. Like it was just two people,” Arenas said.
“Everything end of game has went through [Giannis].”
The crew is concerned about the Bucks’ last shot scenarios. pic.twitter.com/HI4mn7JWmQ
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) October 27, 2024
An argument can be made that Agent Zero is not entirely correct in his assessment because Dame has many more picks set by Brook Lopez than he does by Giannis. Additionally, the Greek Freak isn’t much of a screen-setter because he has never had a point guard of Dame’s caliber on his team. Due to lack of experience, he can get a pass on the current plays of the team.
But that excuse will wane off as the season progresses. Because Doc Rivers had claimed before the season how this year will be different than 2023-24 because the team had a full training camp for the first time to develop their tandem.
It’s quite clear that the team still hasn’t settled into the new setup with Lillard. This is something that Rivers blamed for the team’s disappointing run in the last postseason as well. The Bucks have been on a downward trajectory since they changed their head coach in January.
Damian Lillard reflected on the changes from the Adrian Griffin era
During a conversation with SI earlier this month, Lillard talked about how he is still developing chemistry with Giannis on the floor. The process would’ve been easier if they were given enough time to get their pick and rolls in order. He said that Griffin didn’t feature them for pick and rolls together, but it all changed when Rivers took over the responsibility.
Dame revealed, “The best way to get chemistry in pick-and-rolls is to be in a lot of pick-and-rolls together. And I think it got to the point with Doc [Rivers] where he was having us in practice, just, ‘Set it. Throw it to Giannis. Giannis, give it back to Dame. All right, Dame, throw it back. All right, Giannis, uphill DHO.'”
“It was almost like the team was laughing at us, just repping it out over and over.”
Even though he didn’t mention it specifically, Lillard seems to have noticed an upgrade with Rivers being at the helm of things. But that concept is yet to materialize on the court.
