"Played some beautiful basketball": Adrian Griffin applauds Bucks as they go 9-1 at home
The Milwaukee Bucks were able to pull out an 11-point victory over the Atlanta Hawks on their home court and coach Adrian Griffin was highly impressed. This was a good bounce-back win for the Bucks after losing to the Chicago Bulls in overtime earlier this week, improving the team record to 14-6.
Leading the team was Giannis Antetokounmpo who had a triple-double of 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. Damian Lillard also came out with a notable performance, scoring 25 points, nine assists, and six rebounds while shooting 10-of-16 from the field.
While the dynamic duo of the Bucks came out with great numbers, what impressed team head coach Adrian Griffin the most was the team's overall assists mark, which was at a season-high of 33.
"Giannis 10 assists, Dame nine assists. Total of 33 assists. Season-high for our team. The ball was hopping. I thought we played some beautiful basketball," said Griffin at the 1:50 mark.
On the other side of the fence, the Atlanta Hawks backcourt was on their game. Trae Young registered a double-double of 32 points and 12 assists while Dejounte Murray had 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting.
The Milwaukee Bucks will be playing seven straight home games from December 5 to 21. Next in their schedule is the New York Knicks as the team is currently tied with the Orlando Magic for the second-best record in the NBA Eastern Conference.
Adrian Griffin loves playing Damian Lillard and Cam Payne together
While Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard are getting the spotlight as the team's stars, Cam Payne has become an extremely valuable contributor for the team, coming off the bench.
Seen as a reliable backup point guard behind Lillard, Payne has proved to be more than that as Adrian Griffin sometimes put both his ball handlers on the floor together. The coach explained the reason for putting Lillard and Payne on the court at the same time (at the 3:33 mark):
"It gives us another ball handler. We can move Dame off the ball [and] run some off-ball action with him."
The Bucks signed Payne in the off-season for just one year for $2 million, and it is looking like a good steal for the price. Against the Hawks, he was able to provide a season-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in just 19 minutes of playing time.
"Cam is a veteran point guard and he showed it tonight," Adrian Griffin said. "I thought he had great command of getting us in sets. Not just his speed but you got to have a feel and awareness how to guard Trae."
In 19 games this season, Cam Payne has been averaging 5.9 points, 2.4 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game and has been given 17 minutes of playing time nightly.