Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard Get Thrown Under the Bus as Doc Rivers Laments Bucks Falling Into Jimmy Butler’s Trap

The Milwaukee Bucks had the game within their grasp and lost it. This wasn’t just another loss. It was a moment of reckoning. The Milwaukee duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard had their chance with the Golden State Warriors without superstar Stephen Curry. And yet, they couldn’t hit when it mattered most. Kyle Kuzma wasn’t about to let that slide either.

Kuzma made that much clear after the Bucks lost 104-93 that Giannis and Lillard got the matchups they wanted. They hit the shots they always make. And they still missed. “Well, we went to something that we were really, really comfortable with,” he said. No excuses. No sugarcoating. Cold, hard facts, from a teammate who saw it unfold.

Milwaukee didn’t score a single point in the last four minutes of the game, and Kuzma made it clear why. The Bucks went to their go-to set, with Giannis as the lead playmaker in a spread pick-and-roll, targeting Golden State’s weakest defenders. It was a setup designed to create easy buckets. Instead, it led to a scoring drought that cost them the game.

“Playing that spread, playing with Giannis up, pick and roll, putting weaker defenders, whether it was Buddy [Hield] or somebody else, and we just didn’t connect. We missed a couple bunnies. He missed a couple bunnies. Dame missed a couple bunnies,” he further explained, not holding back when asked about the Bucks’ offensive collapse in the final minutes.

 

Mar 13, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) reacts in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

That wasn’t an honest reflection; that was a statement. Both Lillard and Giannis got the shots they wanted. No suffocating defense, no forced heaves at the buzzer—just clean looks that should have gone in. That’s an inexcusable failure for a team that was built around Giannis dominating the paint and Lillard closing games.

It didn’t get any better as Doc Rivers saw his team fall victim to Jimmy Butler’s trap boasting the very same fate he warned the team before the game.

Doc Rivers Fumes as Bucks Ignore His Warning Against Jimmy Butler

While Kuzma took issue with the Bucks’ offensive execution, Doc Rivers was left stunned by a defensive mistake his team had no excuse for making. Late in the third quarter, Jimmy Butler pulled off one of his signature moves—drawing a three-point foul with 1.5 seconds left in the period. He sank all three free throws, flipping the lead back to Golden State heading into the fourth quarter. The Bucks never led again.

That alone would be frustrating enough. But what made it worse was that Rivers had explicitly warned his team about this exact scenario before the game.

“Turn the ball over, foul Jimmy Butler. I mean, I love Jimmy, but he’s got to make the threes,” Rivers said after the loss. “Like, we talked about it before the game. Like, don’t foul him, especially behind the three-point line. We actually showed Denver fouled him yesterday behind the three. You just—we’re breaking too many things that just can’t happen.”

There’s nothing more frustrating for a coach than watching his team fall into a trap they saw coming. Rivers wasn’t just mad about the play itself—he was frustrated that his team wasn’t listening. If players are tuning out pre-game scouting reports or failing to execute on things they’ve specifically been told to avoid, that’s a much bigger problem than just one bad foul.

This game was more than just a bad night—it was a flashing red light for Milwaukee’s championship aspirations. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard are struggling to close games. Doc Rivers is literally spelling out mistakes for his players, and they’re making them, anyway. And now, Kuzma is openly pointing out his teammates’ failures. That’s not just frustration—it’s the kind of tension that can unravel a team when the stakes are highest.