Giannis Antetokounmpo urges Bucks to 'be better' after in-season tournament loss to Pacers - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Giannis Antetokounmpo said the Milwaukee Bucks simply have to be better after the Indiana Pacers knocked them out of the NBA's inaugural in-season tournament Thursday, criticizing the Bucks' lack of organization and saying the team sometimes is «not organized at all.»

«The talent level we have is incredible,» Antetokounmpo said after putting up 37 points and 10 rebounds in the 128-119 loss at T-Mobile Arena. «But we have to be more organized.»

«I feel like sometimes we're not organized at all. We don't know what we try to get from our offense, or sometimes defensively we're not sprinting back. We don't shoot a lot of early 3s. At the end of the day, you have to protect the ball. You have to know where the ball is. We had a lot of situations today that they got a lot of dunks, open 3s, early 3s. We have to be better.

»Nobody is going to give you nothing. Like sometimes I feel like we expect just because we have great players out there, that Tyrese Haliburton or Myles Turner or Aaron Nesmith, somebody is not just going to give us the game. Like, no. We have to be better. We have to go out there and take it. You know at the end of the day, I think we are great players, but if we don't go out there and compete, they are not going to respect us. They played their best against us."

That was certainly true Thursday night. After the Bucks scored 43 points in the third quarter, going on a 27-9 run to begin the half to reassert control, Haliburton and the Pacers responded with a 9-2 run late in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Bucks coach Adrian Griffin shouldered the blame, saying it's on him to help his team execute better late.

«I've got to do a better job of getting them into some certain sets down, you