Bucks general manager Jon Horst denied speculation that Adrian Griffin had lost the confidence of his players, saying Griffin's firing was motivated more by a desire to "maximize the talent of this group."
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Listening to him during pre-game was like listening to someone who really hasn't dealt with the reality of why things needed to be done. His assessment of Griffin seemed to be on his observations at practices, and not related to what has been happening in games. Even his comment about the urgency to win was kinda dumb, considering the Bucks are winning a lot of games, but what isn't happening is they aren't playing smart defense.
Even the game last night, with Joe Prunty guiding the team, looked a little better from a defensive perspective. Joe didn't make a lot of changes, but he did push them in time outs, and every chance he had, to work on their defensive efforts. Even Lillard seemed to follow that at times.
Fortunately, Cleveland's outside shot was off. They hit in the low 30% range. Inside? They shot around 60%. That's scary. We could not keep them from getting to the bucket on a regular basis, and they were deadly. Despite their shot blocking skills, both Giannis and Brook Lopez were on an island half the time, with Cavs players blocking them out, and giving Cav shooters a run at the bucket. Nowhere to be seen was a back side defense, that would help to keep them at check.
That might be somewhat acceptable if the Cavs weren't getting so many open looks from 3. Fortunately, for the Bucks, they were cold out there. Mitchell was 2-11, and only a couple of his tries were actually contested.
The Bucks need serious work when it comes to playing off of picks on defense. They get sucked in constantly. Not a good look.
