The Milwaukee Bucks turned around their season after a 2-8 start that led to some level of speculation that the current iteration of the core could be heading toward a breakup. For their part, Doc Rivers and Damian Lillard insist they weren't panicked. Giannis Antetokounmpo concedes other people panicked but he simply prepared to work harder.
“Like, nope. Zero,” Rivers told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday night. “Our panic meter and everyone around here said zero and that’s where it’s always been.”
“Frustration, but not panic," Lillard said. “We had a good camp. Everybody came in, in shape. We was ready, and it just didn’t click right away. There was frustration but there wasn’t concern.”
“People panicked. I know they did,” Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports with a big smile. “That’s what I’m saying, people panicked. Me? Get your backs ready, lift a little bit more weight, lat pull down, get your lats going. Tie your shoes up and let's go. We here now.”
“It takes time,” Lillard told Yahoo Sports. “And we had a lot of [regular-season] success last year. You know, people don't want to talk about that. We were two seed the whole year, injuries. We had injuries. We had a lot going on, and we still managed to have a really good season."