MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers says the team isn’t putting any extra pressure on itself as it tries to bounce back from the franchise’s slowest start in three decades. The Bucks (1-6) will try to snap a six-game skid Thursday against the Utah Jazz (1-6) while continuing to play without three-time All-Star forward Khris Middleton as he recovers from offseason surgery to each of his ankles. “The worry is outside the building, I guarantee you that,” Rivers said Wednesday.
“There’s none inside the building.” Milwaukee’s slow start surely has delighted rival teams that would love to acquire two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo if he were to get disgruntled and request a trade. Antetokounmpo, who didn’t play in the Bucks’ 116-114 loss at Cleveland on Monday due to a strained adductor muscle, said the Bucks started taking some steps in the right direction over the weekend.
“That doesn’t mean we are going to a five-game winning streak or 10-game winning streak, but I know that we are playing better and we trust one another better,” Antetokounmpo said Saturday after a 114-113 home loss to Cleveland. “The ball is moving. There’s a lot of good things that we can do.
That’s all we can control.” Milwaukee won a title as recently as 2021, and the Bucks’ sense of urgency to get a second championship during Antetokounmpo’s prime has been evident for some time. Former coach Mike Budenholzer was fired after the Bucks posted the NBA’s b.