Giannis Antetokounmpo out tonight vs. Celtics

In Group A are Canada, third-place winner at the World Cup with a roster stocked with NBA talent, including MVP hopeful Shai Gilgeous Alexander; Australia, another country with an array of NBA players and then potentially Spain and either Greece or Slovenia. All three countries must win qualifying tournaments to reach the Olympics, and Greece (with Giannis Antetokounmpo) and Slovenia (with Luka Dončić) are in the same qualifier. Sheesh. -via The Athletic / March 19, 2024

The Bucks are 12-10 since Rivers became head coach, but the longtime coach says he’s tried not to focus on individual results as much as the process of getting the team playoff ready. If his most pressing concern was to improve the Bucks defense — Milwaukee has given up 113.5 points per possession under Rivers (14th), versus 116.3 before Rivers’ arrival (19th) — the next item on his coaching checklist was: establishing the on-court chemistry of his two-best players. He told ESPN in an interview after the All-Star break that he planned to do some “artificial connecting on the floor. Just so they can see it and get it.” Now, after emphasizing it in practice for weeks, the Bucks are finally starting to see that pay off. “Things take time,” Bucks forward Bobby Portis told ESPN. “S— just doesn’t happen overnight. Chemistry just doesn’t be top-tier from day one. You’ve got to keep continuing to build it. You’ve got to have a system in place that fits the team and you have to have a coach that tells you what he wants. “There’s another level [Dame and Giannis] can actually get to, just making it clockwork … you can put anybody [else] in a different spot and it still flows.” -via ESPN / March 19, 2024

RIVERS BEGAN SOWING the seeds for a stronger connection between Antetokounmpo and Lillard before he even officially took over as head coach. He attended shootaround in Milwaukee on Jan. 26, three days before his first game at the head of the bench, and he emphasized the need for a stronger connection between the Bucks’ two best players on the court. When Rivers led his first shootaround in Denver a few days later, he had five players take the court — three players on one side, Antetokounmpo and Lillard on the other. Then, Rivers had the two run pick-and-rolls together. “We’ve laughed about it in practice,” Lillard said. “[He’ll] be like ‘All right, Giannis set the screen. Throw it back. Now dribble it back to Dame. Dame throw it back.’ And we’re just going back and forth with each other for 15 seconds. “Then, he’s like, ‘All right, somebody shoot.’ Then we shoot and everybody start laughing.” -via ESPN / March 19, 2024