Behind the Bucks Pass
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Milwaukee Bucks: 3 things to watch for in visit with Atlanta Hawks

By Jordan Treske

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - NOVEMBER 27: (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - NOVEMBER 27: (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – DECEMBER 25: (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – DECEMBER 25: (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

You get knocked down

The Bucks were left with quite a bad taste in their mouths after their Christmas Day defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday afternoon.

Seeing a league-leading Bucks team trail by as much as 30 early in the fourth quarter was a sight not many fans and followers were expecting to see in a presumed heated battle between the two Eastern Conference contenders. Instead, the affair turned out to be more lukewarm, save for a last gasp comeback push late in the final frame.

But in the words of Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, it was an outcome that forces he and the team to look inwards and to not expect every night and/or performance will bring the same results they’ve had for the majority of the year so far as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Matt Velazquez relayed in his latest piece:

"“I feel like in life you’re always in the right moment at the right time. God put you in the situation you go through every day,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think we had to go through this today. We had to be down 30. We had to have our character tested today because, as I’ve said in the past, the only way you get better is when you face adversity. I feel like our team is going to be better. I feel like going into to tonight’s game we had a lot of confidence in ourselves, which is good, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to bring it every night. And we’ve done that in the past, but we didn’t do it tonight."

Even with the outlier factors all considered, such as the 76ers’ franchise record 3-point shooting and Antetokounmpo’s uncharacteristically awful outing, the reigning MVP’s point is certainly a relevant one as the Bucks faltered under pressure and the bright lights of a national spotlight.

Of course, that only draws up the concerns that the Bucks’ skeptics see in the team in light of their end to last season, but time will tell whether they will be able to learn from such a lesson in future battles with contending teams and during the postseason.

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