Doc Rivers Takes Blame for Bucks’ Poor Start to Season

The Milwaukee Bucks have had a terrible start to the 2024-25 NBA season. Third place in the Eastern Conference finished with a 49-33 record last season, but the Bucks are now 1-4 through five games after Thursday night’s 122-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

To make matters worse, in addition to winning Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers of Joel Embiid and Paul George, they have lost four games in a row.

After the loss, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers tried to take the blame for “everything” the team’s poor start, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic.

“The defensive transition was terrible today, and that’s my fault,” Rivers said. “It’s all up to me until we get it right. We have to fix this.”

While Rivers’ attempt to take the blame is fair and many head coaches would have preferred to do so, the Bucs’ start to the season has been nothing short of a disaster. Each of their four losses came by double digits (11, 13, 11, 23), and the most recent loss to Memphis was brutal on just about every front.

The only bright spot in the 23-point loss to Ja Morant and the Grizzlies was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 37 points with 11 rebounds and four assists on 17-of-22 shooting from the field.

While Antetokounmpo performed his role, the rest of the starting lineup and much of the bench struggled to get up. Damian Lillard’s terrible night was the talk of the town as he shot 1 of 12 from the field and 0 of 6 from 3-point range. He finished with four points, six assists, two rebounds and one steal in 33 minutes.

The Bucks need to find a way to fix this or fans can expect drastic changes in the near future.