Sometimes, over a long winter break, it is nice to sit down with a good book. You have the time, maybe (who ever has the time, really?), and it's good to look forward to the ups and downs of any great story. It captures your mind and attention, sending you off into far-off lands with characters with stories that captivate your thinking. You get to escape from the hum-drum winter weather, trying on new perspectives from the things you read and see.
An NBA season can be a lot like that. You have some ups, you have some downs, and as veteran head coach Doc Rivers does a good job of reminding everybody, an NBA season is not only a journey but a time to find an identity. This team has that already: a veteran group that has the world’s best player and an NBA Cup. If the season ended today, full stop, wouldn't we have to consider all this a success?
Can this team give the fans another thing that hasn’t happened in forever in the form of a playoff series win?
For the Milwaukee Bucks, winning an NBA Cup will be something the team will never forget. But why should Milwaukee Bucks fans be optimistic? What are a few quick lessons we have learned about the team that is showing us lots of good positive outcomes?
When you have arguably the league's MVP good things happen. Let's look closer at how "the vibes" are up for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Vibe Check #1- Doc Rivers is a good coach and is "our coach"
How many Bucks fans did you know that seemed to say something like this, “We were a lot better with Adrian Griffin.”
Who in the world actually feels that way now?
More and more it appears that Adrian Griffin's success was more of a byproduct of a really easy schedule than anything else. The team seemingly did not respect him; his rotations were odd, and Damian Lillard’s misuse was criminal.
Now that the Milwaukee Bucks are NBA Cup champions, it seems clear that what the 63-year-old Doc Rivers brings to the franchise is a bona fide, verified system of great assistant coaches and great player development that allows for success.
He has a plan and has proven success. That matters.
As of this writing, Rivers is 32-32 as the Bucks head coach. Is that amazing? Does it stand out? Of course not. But he has won when it counts and when he needs to. That was the “knock” on him coming in. So far, so good.
Doc Rivers wasn't a shabby player himself. Of course, that helps. You can't fake authenticity. He played professionally in the league, logging 864 career games. He played for Atlanta, the Clippers, the Knicks and the Spurs. Over his 13-year playing career, he averaged close to 11 points a game (10.9). He is the definition of an NBA player's coach.
He was awarded an NBA coaching award title; he was also honored among the “15 Greatest Coaches in NBA history. ”He won an NBA championship as the coach of the Boston Celtics in the 2007-2008 season. He made another NBA finals with the Celtics, though they lost that year to the Los Angeles Lakers.
With an NBA Cup belt added to his resume, Rivers is what he is: an above-average coach who was an above-average player in a league where being "above average" really stands out sometimes.
All of the chatter about Milwaukee being better with Adrian Griffin is finally over. That vibe has been replaced with a "Rivers is competent" vibe.
Vibe Check #2- The team can play defense (when it wants to)
Defensive intensity and pressure really does come down to effort.
For a team that started 1-6, giving up 122 points to Memphis and giving up 116 points to the Knicks while scoring under 100, that was not good.
But while the point part is eye-popping, it really has been the defensive rebounding that has mattered. Right now the Bucks are eighth in all of the NBA in defensive rebounding. That metric continues to climb and shows that the team needed their good coach (Rivers) to remind the stars and veteran players that you have to go out and "want it."
Holding the OKC Thunder to 81 points in the NBA Cup Final is still quite an accomplishment, even though the narrative seems to be "they were cold from three." Hey, they were keeping score so...
Vibe Check #3- One ball, one hoop, one MVP
Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the league in scoring and has had three triple-doubles so far; he is playing basketball right now about as well as anyone is playing it on the planet. He has avoided taking unnecessary threes in favor of just driving the basketball and scoring it at will.
To most, he is the greatest basketball player in Milwaukee Bucks franchise history. He'll be remembered as an NBA champion.
Right now, all he seems to want is to win. That always appears evident at the end of closer games when he is even willing to turn the ball over to Damian Lillard to win.
So now what? What do the Milwaukee Bucks need to do to make sure they can get the one basketball to the one player who can do the most with it?
Well, health matters. This writer would expect the Milwaukee Bucks to really lighten the workload on Giannis in March. You simply might not play in many games. And that's okay. As this team vacillates between the three, four, five and six seeds, all that matters is avoiding the Play-In game.
With 54 games remaining, Giannis should be expected to play in about 44 more. Resting him against Washington was the right move on Rivers’ part. Games against Portland and Toronto should be automatic sits.
Where do Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton fit in all of this? Well, you would hope you would be able to play when Giannis would need to sit, but of course, it's never that simple. Lillard has proven throughout his career that he can also single-handedly carry a team. But the key here is to keep him healthy.
How nice has it been to have Middleton back playing again?
He seems to be able to provide the team with that much-needed boost to help take some of the pressure off Lillard and Giannis and is a decent third-scoring option.
In the NBA, almost more than in any other sport, one player can take the one ball and go score on the one hoop. When the playoffs arrive in April, if the vibes remain strong here for Giannis, watch out! The Milwaukee Bucks fans could be very pleased with a strong first-round playoff showing with a positive outcome they hope for.
The Ultimate "Vibes"
I'm a little bit older, so I remember first hearing someone much younger than me say, "that has vibes." My grammar radar just about exploded! How can something have vibes?
Well, for even the casual Milwaukee Bucks fan this year, this team most certainly "has vibes." In order to get the positive outcomes they are hoping for, they'll need to keep those vibes strong and positive. With an MVP like Giannis, a star like Damian Lillard, a good head coach like Doc Rivers and the ability to turn on their defense and defensive rebounding, the 2024-2025 promises to hold out for the storybook ending many fans are expecting.
Now if I can just figure out if the Bucks are "cap."