Giannis Antetokounmpo believes the Milwaukee Bucks must do "every little thing" better after slipping to a third defeat in four games.
The Bucks were defeated 112-108 by the Houston Rockets on Saturday, dropping Milwaukee to 25-11 on the season and leaving them three-and-a-half games behind the conference-leading Boston Celtics in the East.
The Bucks' defeat to the Rockets came in spite of a brilliant display from Antetokounmpo, who finished with 48 points and 17 rebounds in a seventh-straight double-double.
Antetokounmpo says the Bucks must improve every facet of their game if they are to repeat their run to the 2021 title, telling reporters: "We have to be better.
"We have to play better, we have to defend better, we have to trust one another better, we have to be coached better.
"Every single thing, everybody has to be better. It starts from the equipment manager – he has to wash our clothes better. The bench has to be better, the leaders of the team have to be more vocal, we have to make more shots, we have to defend better, we have to have a better strategy, we have to be better.
"We have four months to get better, so we'll see."
The Rockets held a 16-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, and though the Bucks could not quite get the comeback completed, Milwaukee head coach Adrian Griffin is confident his team will get over their struggles soon.
"It'll come," Griffin stated. "It's a team sport, it's five guys out there.
"I thought we dug ourselves in a hole as a unit and did a good job of getting out of it but just ran out of time."
NBA: Edwards scores 40 as Timberwolves complete sweep of Suns
For the first time in two decades, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won a playoff series.
The Timberwolves are the NBA's first team to advance to the conference semifinals after defeating the Phoenix Suns 122-116 on Sunday to complete a first-round sweep.
Minnesota reached the Western Conference second round for the first time since 2004 by recording the first play-off sweep in franchise history.
Anthony Edwards led the way with 40 points, and had a thunderous dunk with just over 2 minutes remaining to help kickstart the Timberwolves' celebrations.
Edwards had a quiet first half before erupting after half-time, scoring 31 points in the final two quarters. He hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and had 16 points in the final period to help third-seeded Minnesota pull away.
He finished with seven 3-pointers, and also added nine rebounds and six assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 10 boards.
The Timberwolves played the final 1:41 without their coach after Mike Conley collided with Chris Finch on the sidelines.
Finch went down hard, appearing to injure his right knee, and had to be helped to the locker room.
Minnesota, who will face the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers series, prevailed despite a 49-point performance from Devin Booker.
Booker was 13 of 21 from the field and made 20 of 21 free throws, while Kevin Durant added 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
The rest of the Suns combined for 34 points on 36.1 per cent shooting, as Phoenix suffered their first playoff sweep since 1999.
Brunson's historic performance leads Knicks over 76ers
Jalen Brunson is in the record books and the New York Knicks are one win away from a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brunson scored a playoff career-high 47 points - the most ever by a Knicks player in a post-season game - in a 97-92 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brunson made two free throws with five seconds remaining to seal the win and surpass the franchise record of 46 points scored by Bernard King in 1984.
With the victory in Philadelphia, the second-seeded Knicks grabbed a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
New York have the opportunity to eliminate the 76ers in Game 5 back home at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Brunson, who added a game-high 10 assists, struggled with his shot in the first two games of the series in New York, but found his touch in Philadelphia.
After totalling 46 points on 29.1 per cent shooting in Games 1 and 2, Brunson had 39 points on Thursday, followed by his record-setting performance in Game 4 while shooting 50.8 per cent.
OG Anunoby added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks, while Josh Hart played a big role despite missing all seven of his field-goal attempts by grabbing 17 rebounds.
Joel Embiid led the 76ers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Tyrese Maxey scored 23.
Philadelphia were undone by their struggles from long range, shooting 27.3 per cent on 3-pointers (9 of 33) after making 48.4 per cent of their shots from beyond the arc in their Game 3 win.
Clippers hang on after blowing lead of 31 to even up Mavs series
The Los Angeles Clippers emerged with a 116-111 victory over the Mavericks in Dallas to even up their first-round series at 2-2.
The fourth-seeded Clippers looked like they would roll to an easy win, as they led by 31 points midway through the second quarter, but the Mavericks came storming back to set up a thrilling final few minutes.
After Kyrie Irving hit an off-balanced layup with 2:15 remaining to put Dallas ahead 105-104 - the Mavs' first lead since they were up 8-7 less than five minutes into the game - Paul George responded with an incredible fadeaway 3-pointer from the corner and James Harden followed with a driving floating jump shot to put Los Angeles back up by four points.
George and Harden each finished with 33 points, and between them scored all the Clippers' final 18 points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter.
Irving had 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting and Luka Doncic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his fourth career play-off triple-double, but was clearly bothered by a sore right knee and misfired on eight of his nine 3-point attempts.
Before the game, the Clippers announced Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely due to right knee inflammation.
With the Game 4 win, however, Los Angeles improved to 2-0 in this series in games without the two-time NBA Finals MVP.
In this series, each team has won once on their opponents' court. Game 5 is Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Edwards scores 40 as Timberwolves complete sweep of Suns
For the first time in two decades, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won a play-off series.
The Timberwolves are the NBA's first team to advance to the conference semi-finals after defeating the Phoenix Suns 122-116 on Sunday to complete a first-round sweep.
Minnesota reached the Western Conference second round for the first time since 2004 by recording the first play-off sweep in franchise history.
Anthony Edwards led the way with 40 points, and had a thunderous dunk with just over 2 minutes remaining to help kick start the Timberwolves' celebration.
Edwards had a quiet first half before erupting after half-time, scoring 31 points in the final two quarters. He hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and had 16 points in the final period to help third-seeded Minnesota pull away.
He finished with seven 3-pointers, and also added nine rebounds and six assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 10 boards.
The Timberwolves played the final 1:41 without their coach after Mike Conley collided with Chris Finch on the sidelines.
Finch went down hard appearing to injure his right knee and had to be helped to the locker room.
Minnesota, which will face the winner of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers series, prevailed despite a 49-point performance from Devin Booker.
Booker was 13 of 21 from the field and made 20 of 21 free throws, while Kevin Durant added 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
The rest of the Suns combined for 34 points on 36.1 per cent shooting, as Phoenix suffered its first play-off sweep since 1999.
Brunson's historic performance leads Knicks over 76ers
Jalen Brunson is in the record books and the New York Knicks are one win away from a trip to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Brunson scored a play-off career-high 47 points - the most ever by a Knicks player in a post-season game - in a 97-92 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Brunson made two free throws with 5 seconds remaining to seal the win and surpass the franchise record of 46 points scored by Bernard King in 1984.
With the victory in Philadelphia, the second-seeded Knicks grabbed a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
New York has the opportunity to eliminate the 76ers in Game 5 back home at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Brunson, who added a game-high 10 assists, struggled with his shot in the first two games of the series in New York, but found his touch in Philadelphia.
After totaling 46 points on 29.1 per cent shooting in Games 1 and 2, Brunson had 39 points on Thursday, followed by the record-setting performance in Game 4 while shooting 50.8 per cent.
OG Anunoby added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks, while Josh Hart played a big role despite missing all seven of his field goal attempts by grabbing 17 rebounds.
Joel Embiid led the 76ers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Tyrese Maxey scored 23.
Philadelphia was undone by its struggles from long range, shooting 27.3 percent on 3-pointers (9 of 33) after making 48.4 per cent of its shots from beyond the arc in its Game 3 win.
Clippers hang on after blowing lead of 31 to even up series with Mavericks
The Los Angeles Clippers emerged with a 116-111 victory over the Mavericks in Dallas to even up their first-round series at 2-2.
The fourth-seeded Clippers looked like they would roll to an easy win, as they led by 31 points midway through the second quarter, but the Mavericks came storming back to set up a thrilling final few minutes.
After Kyrie Irving hit an off-balanced layup with 2:15 remaining to put Dallas ahead 105-104 - the Mavs' first lead since it was 8-7 less than 5 minutes into the game - Paul George responded with an incredible fadeaway 3-pointer from the corner and James Harden followed with a driving floating jump shot to put Los Angeles back up by four points.
George and Harden each finished with 33 points, and scored all of the Clippers' final 18 points in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Irving had 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting and Luka Doncic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his fourth career play-off triple-double, but was clearly bothered by a sore right knee and misfired on 8 of 9 3-point attempts.
Before the game, the Clippers announced Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely due to right knee inflammation.
With the Game 4 win, however, Los Angeles improved to 2-0 in this series in games without the two-time NBA Finals MVP.
In this series, each team has won once on its opponent's court. Game 5 is Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Clippers forward Leonard out indefinitely
Los Angeles Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said before Game 4 of the team’s first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Leonard missed Los Angeles’ final eight regular-season games due to inflammation in his right knee and then sat out the series opener before returning to action.
However, he's clearly not at full strength after combining for 24 points in Games 2 and 3.
A three-time First-Team All-NBA selection, Leonard played in 68 games during the regular season – his most since 2016-17 - and averaged a team-high 23.7 points to go along with 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.63 steals per contest.
Dallas leads the series 2-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Wednesday in Los Angeles.
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