Bucks head coach Doc Rivers after loss to Timberwolves

Bucks head coach Doc Rivers after loss to Timberwolves

Going to be a tough one if we were not injured you know you come back from the trip we just came back from um you know sleep patterns and then I’ve never seen the you know just the flights that they had us you know time change coming back back to backs insane

I haven’t said that um no one feels sorry for you you you go through this um I had before the game being honest I thought if we could keep it close we’d play the guys but if they got my thing was 18 to 20 um I I was pre-planned

Tonight it was almost one of those things where you thought before the game maybe sit all of them you know um but I’m you know at least they got that out of them now hopefully we’ll be better tomorrow and hopefully we get guys back tomorrow I just going to say what what

Do you feel like kind of happened in the third quarter where is it just kind of just couldn’t make enough shots you know um and then you get dispirited um was I was really proud of second the second unit guys uh they came in and fought uh

Burned minutes at the same time um and and showed some things I mean obviously AJ was amazing tonight um but really what I was really happy about was that the all the other guys knew that he had it going uh and those were the guys that hadn’t been playing they could have

Tried to get theirs and though they still tried to get him off I thought that was pretty cool to watch regarding h i mean he was starting to get a little bit more more of a look even even during the trip just what have you kind of seen from him since you’ve

Taken this job just add a shot maker you know uh adding another shot maker to what we have like shot makers around Giannis is pretty important you know uh what what I like you know we obviously know he can shoot the ball he’s he’s a fighter on defense you know that not

Saying he’s a great defender but you’re not just going to go scoring him he’s going to give it a fight uh which will allow us to help him a little bit so that’s that’s what we want to see you had mentioned it I think right when you started about just you know the

Level of teams the schedule you kind of just mentioned the the flights and stuff uh is this about what you expected Did you sort of expect this sort of I would hope for a couple more wins but I mean obviously we didn’t know we were going

To have the injuries along with that and there’s isn’t that much you can do about that you know um and again as I said before the game obviously you want to win games and obviously you would love to be healthy so you can win games but something good come out of all this

Stuff um you know we we talk about it all the time sometimes you got to go through stuff to get stuff and we’re going through it right now Minnesota’s got one of the best defenses in the league is it just the the length with go

What do you think it is wow it’s just watching their length out there you know Giannis would beat one seven-footer run into another seven-footer you beat him and then there’s another seven-footer or with length they’re just they’re a long basketball team I think it took them a

Year to figure out how to use it you know last year here uh you know a lot of people knock the trade uh with Rudy I don’t think anyone’s laughing at that trade anymore I mean they’re they’re just along and they play hard too like I was really impressed with that late in

The game when they still had their starters off they were fighting through screens they were getting frustrated that AJ was making shots you know it’s a team that you can see that thinks they have a chance and uh they’re going forward you can see in the way they play

Uh before the game the Beverly trade was not official it is now official oh Pat B’s coming huh yeah I know big surprise big shock um I guess just for you obviously you know Pat um what do you feel like he can bring to this team he

Is a very very high IQ player um especially defensively and even offensively with his movement and stuff and setting picks um he’s also an instigator um he’s a big talker defensively not meaning Trash Talk meaning he talk on defense and I think those are some of the things that that

We need you know um he has you know he’s at times he has great defensive nights at times he overdo it and those are the nights where him and I know we have to have a talk I I’ve coached him before um but he’s a good spirit for your team um

And one of the most competitive players I’ve ever coached and people like that um it’s contagious and I think that’s good for our team just what do you feel like his toughness and grit kind of kind of brings it feels like that’s a big

Part of of it does you know um it brings another guy I mean we have size and Bobby you know uh but it just brings another gritty guy and we’re going to need [Applause] that

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers after the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.