Giannis Antetokounmpo struggled with his shooting in the Milwaukee Bucks' shambolic loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday. The Bucks have lost back-to-back games to two of the worst teams in the NBA, with the Washington Wizards outlasting them on Tuesday.
ESPN's Kendrick Perkins called out "The Greek Freak" for his lack of leadership in the 111-101 loss. Granted that the Bucks were without Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and two others, they should still have handled the Grizzlies with ease. Perkins pointed out that the two losses are unacceptable for a team with championship aspirations:
"Who you gonna blame now, Giannis?" Perkins said. "You wanted Damian Lillard, you got him. You wanted a new coach, you got Doc Rivers.
"Now, where's the leadership? Where's Patrick Beverley at? He didn't play tonight, but he's still the voice in the locker room. He rushed to Twitter talking about belts to a**."
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He added:
"Where's that energy at right now? Who's the voice in the locker room? It's unacceptable to have these two losses back-to-back, especially at the crib against a Memphis Grizzlies team without basically all their players."
Kendrick Perkins was alluding to Patrick Beverley's "belts to a**" comments on his X/Twitter account at the end of March. It's certainly a struggle right now for the Milwaukee Bucks, but they are still among the best teams in the East despite the injuries to Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is arguably a top three player in the world, so as long as you have him, the chances of winning are high. But he struggled against the Memphis Grizzlies, finishing with 21 points on 10-for-23 shooting.
Coach Doc Rivers thought that he should have taken out Antetokounmpo when he saw him hobbling due to a leg injury.
What did Giannis Antetokounmpo say after the game?
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a tough time in the Milwaukee Bucks' loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. He was dealing with a left hamstring injury, which is probably one of the reasons why he shot poorly all game.
The two-time MVP was asked about the team's performance in the last two games. He said that they just need to be better at spacing next time and continue to eliminate bad habits:
"Both games we had a lot of open 3s," Antetokounmpo said. "A lot of good looks did not fall not go our way, but we just keep on improving our spacing.
"Keep on improving the flow of our offense, keep on guarding better, and just got to keep on building good habits."
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