"We Had Some Guys Here, Some In Cabo" - Doc Rivers Couldn't Wait To Throw His Players Under The Bus After The Bucks Extremely Embarrassing Loss To The Shorthanded Grizzlies

Sam Hodde. Getty Images.

Games right before the All Star break can be tricky. You want to end on a high note and enter the break with some positive momentum so you can hit the ground running in the second half as you hopefully prepare for a playoff push. Some teams go out and completely obliterate the competition, choosing to play with a sense of focus and energy that good teams tend to have in these moments.

Other teams mail it in. They overlook someone on the schedule and assume they can win just by showing up, and in return they end up suffering a very embarrassing loss. Sort of like this

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Already coming off the loss to the Jimmy Butler-less Heat, the Bucks entered this game against the Grizzlies with almost everyone of notice missing. No Ja, no Bane, no JJJ, no Smart, no Kennard, no Clarke, and yet the Grizzlies came out and went blow to blow with the Bucks (no Middleton) for 48 minutes. When it came time to out-execute down the stretch, it was the Grizzlies who made the plays. A huge win for them behind unreal performances of GG Jackson (27 points), but holy shit what a horrific loss for the Bucks as we head into the break.

If there's one thing you can bank on in a moment like this, it's that Doc Rivers will step up to the podium and accept responsibility for what happened. It's his team and his system after all right? Ha, I'm just kidding. Of course he didn't do that

Ah yes, that's the good stuff. That's the Doc I know. Even if he's telling the truth, which is its own glaring red flag that shouldn't be overlooked, you don't bring that shit to the media. Not after a loss like that. And yet here Doc is for the second time since he's taken the job basically going up to the mic and throwing his entire team under the bus. How do we think that's going over for the vibes right now? He's probably not even wrong, but it can't be the best idea to keep picking these types of fights in the media with your own team. Especially when you're part of the problem!

In reality, despite being told "thing looks so much better!", the Bucks are now 3-7 in the Doc era. They've ranked 23rd in offense, 11th in defense, and 19th in net rating. That's better? If the Cavs win two more division games, they win the tie breaker over MIL for the division title. This is now the 8th loss against teams under .500 for the Bucks on the season, and their schedule only gets harder from here given the fact they've had one of the easiest schedules all year up until this point.

Unfortunately for Doc, while he has his fair share of the blame, he can't solve the roster problems himself. Dame doesn't look anything close to the player I'm sure the Bucks thought they were trading for. The wing issue is still very real and has no real answer that moves the needle in a playoff series. Book Lopez is regressing. There's only so much Doc is going to be able to do with this.

And yet, as long as the Bucks have Giannis, they have a chance. That's why what Doc does and says matters, because the team is going to continue to be in situations that matter. If the team tunes out the guy who was just hired to coach this team for 3.5 more years, I'd say that's an issue. What's the move? You fire Doc and hire another coach? Yikes.

Everyone wanted to blame Adrian Griffin for all the Bucks' problems, and here we are with Doc and it's the same shit. Only now, you have to worry about the coach burying his own team to the media after every bad loss, which I'm sure feels great!