Google News Giannis Antetokounmpo opens on Milwaukee Bucks mentality after Khris Middleton injury
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Giannis Antetokounmpo was glad with how the Milwaukee Bucks responded after Khris Middleton went down. In Game 2 of the Bucks and Chicago Bulls series, Middleton sustained a sprained MCL. The Bulls won Game 2 to tie the series to 1-1 but stood no chance in the rest of the series as the Bucks dominated the next three games to win 4-1 and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Bucks play the Boston Celtics next. "After Game 2, the team knew what the deal was," Antetokounmpo said about closing out the series without Middleton, per ESPN. "We knew what we had to do. We had to be desperate. We had to go out there and compete at a high level.
Pay attention to detail as much as possible. Help one another defensively. We've got to do it as a team. It's not a one-man show or two-man show. "Now we're going to a different series, playing a different team, a very, very good team, and hopefully we can do it again."
Antetokounmpo and Co.
responded well
On Wednesday night, the Bucks defeated the Bulls 116-100 to close out the series. "We've been talking about the depth of the roster, the quality of the roster a lot this season," Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said.
"Other guys have gotten opportunities and played well. Our defense has tightened up. We've leaned hard on that these three games. "We miss Khris; I don't think anybody underestimates how important and how effective he is for us.
While we don't have him, we've got to be our best all up and down the roster." The Bulls were without Zach LaVine and Alex Caruso in Game 5. DeMar DeRozan knew the Bucks would focus on him and he tried to put his teammates in good position to score.
Unfortunately for DeRozan, the Bulls didn't make enough shots as they made just 15 of their 52 attempts from beyond the arc. "You've got to give credit to them," DeRozan said. "I expected it, but I didn't want to get carried away and try to go out there and shoot 30 times.
I trusted my guys. I didn't care how many shots they missed. Whenever I felt I had the right pass to make, I tried to make the right play. I'm going to live and die with those guys making and missing shots. Give the Bucks credit defensively, they locked in and took away what they needed to take away. Congrats to them."
