Before he went down with a groin injury, Giannis Antetokounmpo carried with him a rule for his Milwaukee Bucks this season: Don’t lose two games in a row.

The two-time MVP relayed that message in a postgame interview on Nov. 9. 

Now, the end of November is nearing, and the Bucks just lost their fourth consecutive game – not only breaking Antetokounmpo’s rule, but doubling the amount of losses he originally said was “unacceptable.” 

Forward Bobby Portis shared his thoughts following Milwaukee’s most recent 129-116 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 22, saying that their ‘pressure’ affected the Bucks’ play.

“Could’ve did a lot of different things,” Portis said during a postgame interview. “[I] just think their pressure kind of got to us a little bit, turned us over. [I] think [if] we took care of the ball a lot better, it could have been a different outcome. 

Despite the loss, Portis had one of his better games of the season. As a starter, he dropped 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range. He also tallied a team-high seven rebounds. 

“Been shooting the ball with confidence,” Portis said. “Been shooting the ball with confidence all year, so it feels good coming off the finger. So just letting it ride.”

Milwaukee will need Portis’ shooting, as well as contributions from other players, to help compensate for Antetokounmpo’s absence. A team never wants to have its ability to win games wrapped in one singular player, but the Bucks are 0-3 since their star’s injury, so the team will need to continue to prove it can be successful without him moving forward. 

This season, Portis is averaging 10.8 points per game on 50% shooting. He, alongside Ryan Rollins (18.6 points per game), Kyle Kuzma (13.5 points per game), Myles Turner (12.4 points per game), and AJ Green (11 points per game) have been leaned on when it comes to scoring with Antetokounmpo out. 

And they will continue to be leaned on more than usual until Antetokounmpo makes his return to the court. 

It’s not like the Bucks’ 0-3 record during this recent stretch without Antetokounmpo is anything out of the ordinary for Milwaukee. 

In fact, since Antetokounmpo was drafted in 2013, the Bucks are just 52-58 all-time in games when he has not seen the court. So, this losing streak is not anything different from what Milwaukee has dealt with in the past.

Now the Bucks just have to overcome that statistic, and string together some wins so when Antetokounmpo does return, Milwaukee (8-9) won’t be so far behind in the Eastern Conference it will make for an uphill battle.