Damian Lillard is adjusting to Giannis & Doc Rivers’ system! – Austin Rivers | SportsCenter

Damian Lillard is adjusting to Giannis & Doc Rivers’ system! – Austin Rivers | SportsCenter

Two of the best three-point Shooters in NBA history are going to face off tonight with their teams heading in very different directions the Bucks have won six straight thanks to some Stellar defensive play holding their opponent below 110 points in each of their last six games that’s their longest such

Streak over the last two seasons and they’re going to visit a warrior Squad that’s had a difficult time closing games ranking last in defensive efficiency in the fourth quarter and second to last in fourth quarter points differential that issue didn’t really matter on Sunday when the Warriors lost

To the Celtics by 52 points their third largest loss in franchise history although they’re still 5-2 since the All-Star break for more we bring in our Warriors reporter Kendra Andrews and Kendra why is this 52o loss that I keep bringing up not a concern for the Warriors yeah Shay the Warriors really

Have a flush it down the toilet mindset when it comes to that game and they look at that three in one road trip as a wild success and now Shay they’re going to be whole they’re going to have their whole roster for the first time since November

Andrew Wiggins is going to make his return to the court tonight after missing the last four games due to a personal Family Matter and it’s a little it feels a little bit like two years ago when they won that 22 Championship they weren’t healthy until this point of the

Season and then they want went on a massive run now they have an important stretch over the next six to 10 games and they have some opportunities to gain some ground in that play in picture maybe even avoid it as they match up against some of the teams that are also

In that hunt but of course first they have a big test against the Bucks tonight and the Warriors they have struggled recently even during this good stretch against top teams in the league like the Celtics like the Nuggets they’re going to try and change those uh Tunes tonight against Milwaukee that

Makes sense well in that loss of the Celtics that was 52 points I guess Steph Curry didn’t play in the second half I don’t know if it mattered because he had such a horrific first half nonetheless as you mentioned Kendra tonight begins at three games in four nights home stand

With the Warriors Kendra thank you so much for more on the Bucks in that game tonight we go over to Matt we now bring in our bucks reporter Jamal Coler he’s out there in the Bay Area getting set for the game against the Golden State Warriors and six-game winning streak for

The bucks Jamal some people thought it wasn’t a matter of if but when Doc Rivers got this team going it’s happening now what impact has he made on them yeah Matt when I talked to Doc coming right out of the All-Star break before this six-game winning streak even

Began one of the things he pointed to that gave him confidence was the defense and really that they could reach maybe an elite level of defense that didn’t seem possible when he first took the job you know you got to remember they were a bottom 10 defense for most of the Year

Under Adrien Griffin and rivers really one of the things the players have appreciated is just given them Clarity he went around in practice and sort of defined everybody’s roles very clearly called people out and said hey this is what you need to be doing on defense

This is what you’re doing and showed in film why it’s not working and I think that it’s really just turned this Buck team around that they’re all playing for each other they’re playing together and they have a whole lot lot of confidence on that end of the floor yeah quick

Refresher he took over the job at midseason not an easy thing to do to get everything to jail but it appears he’s doing that especially with Damen Lillard 41 points in that comeback win over the Clippers on Monday night Superstar loaded team what has Dame specifically

Said about how Doc Rivers has come in and maybe helped him and I think that was one of the biggest emphasis coming in right from the start doc looked at the Playbook that the Bucks have been running and the plays they’ve been running and said Dame

Had a lot of plays in Portland they used to give docs fits trying to coach against and they weren’t running any of those plays and that was one of the first things that doc especially coming out of the allar break he emphasized to me is we have to get Damen Lillard going

And this has been daman’s been open about how he’s struggled getting comfortable adjusting to a new situation in a new role and you really saw it in action against the Clippers you know he was aggressive what he needed to be he really uh kind of turned into a vintage

Damen Lillard performance using the Clippers aggression with in a game without Giannis without Chris Middleton to you know bait them into double teams and set up his teammates and really just looked much more comfortable on the floor so I think that for damee going forward that is going to be one of the

Emphasis for the Bucs to keeping him playing at this level look I know it’s been the Celtics all year in the Eastern Conference but if there’s one team that they don’t want to have to deal with especially when this thing starts to go it’s the buck who face the Warriors

Tonight 10 p.m. Eastern on ESPN Jamal good stuff thank you it’s like Damen Lillard just needed the All-Star break he just needed the game the three-point shooting contest all of the things for more we bring in our NBA analyst Austin Rivers and Austin what have you seen

From Damen Lillard here post allaw break well we’re starting to see him be aggressive it looks like he’s starting to get back to himself in terms of you know whether he’s looking hunting for his three-point shot he’s mixing it up getting to the basket still creating and

I think there was a little bit of hesitation when he first came here when you think about Damen Lillard you have to realize this guy’s never played with a guy like Giannis before his he’s been used to you know you talk about his time in Portland this was a guy historically

Who the whole system was based around round and now suddenly he goes to a team where he’s playing with not an All-Star but a superstar like Giannis that’s going to take time to an adjust and then you add to the fact that obviously they have a new coach new schemes new plays

It’s very encouraging to hear that you know Doc is now implementing some of the things that led to Damen Lillard’s success in Portland so you just want to see him continue to be aggressive that way you can get the you know Dame time I love hearing you call him doc that’s my

Favorite part of this instead of dad that works really good uh by the way the Bucks are the only team that’s undefeated since the All-Star break in the association but they’re chasing those Celtics so let’s go to the Celtics because they blew a 22-point lead with 9

Minutes to play last night and so Austin that fourth quarter against the Cavaliers do you think it was a bad quarter or a bad sign for Boston going forward uh it was a bad quarter I mean this team has been the best team in the NBA all season long uh they’ve been

Dominant they haven’t lost a game in a month when we talk about starting lineups I think this team has the most complete starting lineup in basketball the only team that’s even in that conversation with them would probably be Denver when you talk about a team that has players put together is more

Complimentary so listen last night was a freak accident you know Dean Wade had a great game credit to him he had 20 points in the thir uh fourth quarter more than the entire Celtics team I do think they have to close games better it can’t just be ISO ball especially late

In the playoffs you know you can’t just always rely on the Brilliance of a Jaylen brown or a Jason Tatum but overall man the Celtics have been I mean dominant this year and I don’t see why that’s going to change anytime perhaps it makes it an even worse quarter though

Considering they didn’t have Max stru or donov Mitchell on the floor Dean Wade definitely stepped up is it Dad I think you call him pops right it’s pops right yeah I call him pops but he is my dad so either or work it’s all good man yeah that’s the old head [Applause] Man

Ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks, Kendra Andrews and Jamal Collier report on the Warriors’ struggles and Bucks’ hot 6W streak before Austin Rivers speaks on Milwaukee making strides post- All-Star Break and the Boston Celtics dropping a 22-point fourth quarter lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

0:00 Kendra Andrews on Warriors
1:58 Jamal Collier on Bucks
4:27 Austin Rivers on Damian Lillard
5:31 Celtics blow 22-point lead vs. Cavaliers

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