Morning Edition,<\/a>\u201d Bucks Radio Network host Justin Garcia called Antetokounmpo\u2019s comeback surprising, saying there\u2019s added concern because of his short recovery time.\u00a0<\/p>\nBut Garcia remains hopeful that Antetokounmpo and Porter can bring momentum back to the team.<\/p>\n
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n
Alex Crowe: What\u2019s the December schedule looking like going forward?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Garcia: November was a disaster. You had the seven game losing streak. You played 16 games. Knock on wood, Antetokounmpo and Porter are back for both Pistons games this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, because the Bucks didn\u2019t qualify for the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup for the first time in its existence, it might actually be a good thing because it gives you two opponents that are easier matchups. You get the Celtics, but that\u2019s a home game. Then, your road game is against the Brooklyn Nets that we just saw the Bucks run off the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In December, they have four stretches where they will have at least two days off in between games. After going every other day throughout the month of November, rest is going to be important for this group.<\/p>\n
AC: What is Head Coach Doc Rivers saying about this?<\/p>\n
JG: It was pretty similar to last year when the Bucks were 2-8. At the time, only six teams in the history of the league had qualified for the playoffs with a start that poor. We heard Doc immediately say, \u201cWe are going to make the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a similar message during the seven game losing streak. He really expressed that there is a lot to clean up. The Bucks have not been a good rebounding team this year. Part of that is they\u2019re playing smaller with their starting lineup. They\u2019ve gotten better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Doc Rivers also expressed the need to defend without fouling. If you do that and you get more defensive rebounds, it\u2019s going to push the needle on your defensive ranking.<\/p>\n
AC:\u00a0 Do the Bucks have a chance to move up in the Eastern Conference?<\/p>\n
JG: Unfortunately for the Bucks, their seven game skid coincided with a couple of teams going on runs in the opposite direction. Last week, the Pistons, Raptors and Heat had a combined 26 game win streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re only a quarter of the way through the season and they\u2019re two games back of getting into the playing tournament mix. Once you get in there, there is not a whole lot of separation between teams two through three in the Eastern Conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It feels like this is a conference that is really up for grabs. I think the Bucks with Antetokounmpo have as good a chance as anyone.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin Public Radio, \u00a9 Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After enduring a seven-game losing streak last month, the Milwaukee Bucks are finding their rhythm on the court…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[402,355,3,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-328584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kevin-Porter.webp.webp\")
Milwaukee Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr., left, handles the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Milwaukee. Kayla Wolf\/AP Photo<\/p>\n