https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10100304-sources-bucks-veteran-challanges-head-coach-after-in-season-tournament-elimination
> LAS VEGAS — After the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated from the NBA In-Season Tournament by the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, forward Bobby Portis passionately challenged head coach Adrian Griffin and teammates to be better, league sources tell Bleacher Report.
> The Pacers advanced to the IST Finals following a 128-119 victory. The Bucks’ offense collapsed in the fourth quarter as the Pacers won the final frame, 37-25.
> Griffin entered the locker room and began harping on the importance of winning the rebounding battle, sources say.
> The Pacers outrebounded the Bucks 51-46.
Portis, who scored four points on just five shots against Indiana in a near-season-low 18 minutes, quickly interjected and stressed how essential it is for Griffin to structure the offense down the stretch of games, sources said.
> As one of the leaders of the team, Portis continued on voicing his concerns. Griffin welcomed the criticism and acknowledged he could do a better job being more aggressive with his play-calling, sources say. The nine-year veteran explained that it’s a two-way street: direction is needed and then it’s up to the players to execute, sources say.
> One busted offensive possession that proved to be severely costly came with two minutes left in the contest and the Bucks down three.
Myles Turner had just tipped in a goal and Giannis Antetokounmpo proceeded to inbound the ball to Khris Middleton. Damian Lillard came over to retrieve the ball, but Middleton motioned for the guard to run opposite so he could bring the ball up the court.
> Once Middleton made it passed half court, he looked for Lillard who was being hounded by Bruce Brown. Middleton forced the pass and it was picked off.
> Brown’s transition layup attempt was halted by Lillard at the rim, but no Bucks players got back and Buddy Hield gathered the offensive rebound and put in the easy two.
> Lillard admitted after the game that he didn’t know what they were doing on that possession.
> “It was an unfortunate play,” Lillard said.
> The Bucks, now 15-7 and a game behind the Boston Celtics for the top spot out East, were the favorites to win the IST. Incorporating new pieces into the fold remains a work in progress and Griffin, in his first year as head coach, is still getting to know the strengths of his roster.
> Milwaukee is in win-now mode. Emotions and the stakes are high.
by Fantasy_Ball
25 Comments
Coaching is the biggest question mark for us right now
They love to see this, but this could not be the first time.
This is complicated. On one hand, Bobby is right and it’s probably good for a vet to open up this conversation. It feels like Giannis, Dame and Khris are just making every call on the fly. On the other hand, it’s weird that it comes from Bobby, who is quite possibly our worst rotational player this year.
Good, this is the type of energy we need
Bud would do the same thing, just “letting them play” but as we see here it can be detrimental. Especially when chemistry isn’t where it should be.
Good to see this happen, now let’s see if stuff changes as we go through the season
Bobby has been the worst out of anyone so far given the role & minutes
Is our players not being bothered to give it their all a coaching mistake or just our players being lazy assholes
Need a expierenced coach b4 the playoffs
Yeah. They are Lazy under grif
Bobby’s talking about everyone else being better? Really lmao?
It’s true but dude needs to look in the mirror, he’s been ass all season.
Rotations were pretty confusing this game, but the bench is one dimensional. I would like to see the bench with PC and Jae in the lineup but adding another defensive specialist on the wing is a must at the trade deadline.
Big Bobby really is on they ass.
I get Bobby calling out others is a textbook kettle black scenario, but doesn’t mean he’s wrong. In fact, Griff pretty much backed it up.
Sometimes its right in front of your face and you can’t see it. We have an NBA coach admitting he just lets them wing it in crunch time.
That, along with Stotts leaving, some head scratching rotations at times, Dame not touching the ball in the last 2 minutes of at least three games I can recall. I gotta ask.
Is Adrian Griffin another Ray Rhodes? Is he in over his head and it’s a shit show we’ll hear about a year from now?
Why did Terry Stotts suddenly quit? I think it’s because he lost confidence in Adrian and he didn’t want to be associated with squandering the season of such a awesome roster. What a debacle he avoided.
Are people in here going to start calling Bobby a doomer?
Portis: Coach, can you please coach?
Am I the only one that doesn’t care too much about this, Bobby is just being Bobby. Glad his is happening but if you think Bobby wasn’t like this when Bud was here too you’re kidding yourself
We’re getting cooked all times. Is it scheme? Scheme and players? I shit we can’t get a stop to save our lives
Man these guys are professionals they should not have to be told to play hard.
The Bucks simply do not have time during this window for players to continuously challenge/suggest to Griffin how to coach. It sounds dramatic but after 22 games, it might be make or break time for Griffin. This is the 3rd concerning report about his coaching in a short tenure. Terry Stotts situation, the players lobbying for Brook to move to drop coverage after game 5, and now this. The media has been vocal about his coaching as well for the past week or two. It’s not just being a negative fan, it’s warranted concern. Reports like this NEVER happened under Bud.
The Bucks have a solid positive culture and foundation with Giannis and Khris. They have built this thing and I think can recognize when something isn’t working. It’s obvious the players either aren’t grasping his concepts or just not accepting his vision. Let’s hope this is the actual wake up call to simplify the defense and command an actual system (offensive and defensive).
Side note: A little concerning this is coming from Chris Haynes….AKA Dame.
I’ve been saying griffin doesn’t do shit on offense and he outright admits it her lmao. “More aggressive on play calling” means he’s not doing anything.
All I want fot Christmas is a new coach!
I want to defend Bobby, but I’ve stated it before and the truth is that he doesn’t fit this team anymore. He’s a bad defender who can iso in the post or spot up in a corner and neither of those seem to be what we need from a backup center.
We’re missing Crowder and Pat. That doesn’t excuse how disjointed we look defensively as a whole, or poor offensively with our bench. I hope it’s not the end for Bobby but he has until the trade deadline to figure out if he can fit into this team or he’s getting moved.
It’s December. Season is young.
Griff could be better. The players could be better…..like Giannis said after the game.
Down 3 with less than 2 minutes to go I’m not entirely sure why Middleton is calling off Dame. That’s pretty much exactly why he was brought in. No offense to Khris or anything but we tried that…..and we’ll use it again once in a while….but now Dame closes games. The offense should primarily run through Dame then Giannis in that situation.