The Milwaukee Bucks came away with their fourth loss in five games on Thursday night, this time by a score of 122-99 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis’ All-Star guard Ja Morant dominated against Milwaukee, recording 26 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. On the other side of the point guard battle, the Bucks’ Damian Lillard faltered.

Lillard shot just 1-for-12 and finished with 4 points, perhaps the worst game of his tenure with the team. His 0-for-6 night from the three-point line also contributed to the team’s 21.4% shooting total for the game, though shooting wasn’t necessarily the biggest problem for Milwaukee.

After the game ended, Lillard took the opportunity during the post-game media bash to look outside himself and elaborate on the group’s apparent lack of intensity and hustle.

“Sometimes we shoot and we think it looks like Giannis (Antetokounmpo) or Brook (Lopez) might get it, so we wait and see,” Lillard told the media Thursday night. “Guys are running out and coming after us.”

Lillard’s biggest complaint had to do with the transition defense and their tendency to jump the gun when anticipating a rebound or turnover, which resulted in the other team having a numbers advantage when they maintained possession of the ball.

“I think we had that problem the first five games, and every time it happened we got hurt by it. Just the undisciplined play and the decisions we make that give a team an advantage.”

It could be inferred that Lillard’s summary of the game is completely accurate, as Milwaukee’s 10 total turnovers is not a number that typically equates to losses. Instead, their lack of intensity and game awareness in their transition defense opened up plenty of opportunities for the Grizzlies’ main offensive threats to get out and run.

High-flying guard Morant took advantage of the Bucks’ sluggish transition defense, converting many fast break opportunities into baskets through smooth passing and precise finishing at the rim.

While the pitiful effort of the Bucks defense could be cited as a key factor in the loss, Lillard’s efficiency on the field still did not help the club make the game competitive.

For Milwaukee to have any chance of competing in the Eastern Conference, they will need to see both a collective improvement in decision-making and a leap in efficiency over their legendary point guard, who made just 41.3% of his shots in the first round has knocked down. five games.

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