LAS VEGAS — Doc Rivers stopped short of going full blast — half Baptist preacher, half exasperated coach — when he talked about the simplicity of basketball, the simplicity of this NBA Cup.
“I’m not going to get on a soapbox,” Rivers said Saturday. “But I just think, and they will.” [blame this] generation, but I try not to, but to accept the challenge. We run away from challenges a lot.”
The Milwaukee Bucks coach wasn’t talking about his team specifically to “We,” but basketball culture as a whole. In many ways, players have become too cool to try, that something as physically and emotionally draining as being out there is seen as a black mark, a reason to ridicule players. Being “trying hard” is derided in some quarters, perhaps in small but vocal corners of basketball discourse.
That’s why the Milwaukee Bucks advanced past the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Finals on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, and maybe why Warriors coach Steve Kerr was so horrified by the ridiculous call at the end of his team’s playoff loss . to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
Both coaches weren’t afraid to let it be known, even though this isn’t a playoff series or a playoff game, and it’s easy to forget by the All-Star break when the regular season really gets into its usual froth, but it’s highly- betting competition that should be invested in.
“Let’s get our name out there,” Rivers said. “We’re going to try to win it. If we don’t win it, we don’t win it, but … there’s nothing wrong with saying you want to win something and when you win it, great and you don’t win, at least you went for it.”
That’s an attitude that permeates through the playoffs and must-win games, but not on a Tuesday night in December when the field isn’t some monster and it’s just a plain old logo.
Yahoo Sports caught up with Rivers shortly after he wrapped up his press conference Saturday night to get him to elaborate on those comments.
“I thought last year a lot of teams were like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know [about the Cup.]’I like it this year because more teams are saying, ‘We want to win it’. If you lose, you say, ‘Well [it doesn’t matter].’ I don’t want that problem. I want us to put our names on it.”
It sounds like a fear of failure that seems to go against all ways to engage players before they get to that level. But it exists.
“Yeah, absolutely. If you don’t say it and it doesn’t happen, nobody’s going to say anything,” Rivers continued. “I just think competition, you can’t sneak up on it, you’ve got to embrace it and embrace it and want it. And if you do, you have a chance to win.”
The teams that hold themselves to that standard are the ones that end up winning, he said. When the word “accountability” came up, Rivers was buzzing.
“That’s the word,” Rivers said. “When you do that comes responsibility, and that’s a good thing.”
That’s what the NBA needed for this four-day run. More than Steph or LeBron needed — though finding LeBron seems harder than finding Waldo or Carmen Sandiega at this point — because the NBA has no shortage of star power.
We know who the players are and in some cases they are overexposed just because of how modern media works. And of course, the NBA has to have a contingency plan for the day LeBron leaves or Steph leaves, maybe not far behind, but that’s not why the NBA Cup exists.
Star power helps here, but four teams made it to Vegas because they prioritized winning and made ruthless competition part of their DNA. Rockets coach Ime Udoka is giving no quarter and no effs, and Dillon Brooks and Amen Thompson and Tari Eason and on down the list echo that message. The Oklahoma City Thunder, even though they were losing a lot of games, were still a team you couldn’t just show up for an easy night.
The Atlanta Hawks and Bucks put on an entertaining and competitive 48 minutes in the first semifinal, and it was necessary for the NBA world to see. Giannis Antetokounmpo was diving on the floor looking for loose balls and felt the stakes were higher.
The Bucks have needed that competitive fire for some time, and after a year of struggling with coaching changes and a rough start to this season, they are now in much better shape. Bobby Portis is the face of this fire.
“We take constructive criticism not only from our coaches, but we also check ourselves,” Portis told Yahoo Sports. “I think that’s the biggest turnaround of our season, man, we’re going to come together and guard each other. As a player, you know when you’re not doing it right. You know when you’re not making an extra effort, like, “Hey bro, come on.” Answer each other and play with joy.’
That’s Portis’ fuel, and he’s learned when to tap into it and when to release it. Even though his skills didn’t develop until he was 10, he knows he’s in the league because of that extra thing he brings to the locker room.
He was never too cool to compete, too cool to care.
“It’s a little tricky because I’ve always been a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve,” Portis said. “I never let setbacks affect my efforts.” I always try. You can be a giver or taker of energy and I always give to the team.”
It penetrates, and it allows you to call out teammates when the effort is not reciprocated. Like when he called his team together last year when Adrian Griffin was coaching and begged for more.
He had the capital to do it and it took him a few years to realize he could do it. And although it was accepted as it was on the outside, it was clear that a measure of truth was needed in the dressing room.
The NBA doesn’t really have a competition problem, but a perception problem. The perception that to bring the tournament more than the usual moves, the impression that players don’t care as much as players in past eras.
Fighting well-being is probably the easiest answer.