The Milwaukee Bucks suffered their sixth straight defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics, 117-97, on Sunday. 

It was their second loss to the Celtics in the last three games. 

This one, however, was more comprehensive than the 109-102 defeat on Wednesday, where the Bucks came back from down 20 before not being able to close things out down the stretch. 

Either way, Milwaukee is in a tough spot right now. The start of the Bucks' post-Giannis rebuild hasn't been easy. But first-year head coach Taylor Jenkins wants his players to keep taking steps in the right direction. 

"We just have to focus on tomorrow," he said. "Get ready for some tough challenges, but continue to stay the course. Trusting the things we're talking about, everyone looking in the mirror and figuring out how they can continue to get better, impact winning, but at the end of the day, we've got to do it together." 

Granted, a rebuild is never going to be perfect. Not in Year 1. However, the Bucks still haven't had a game where all their best players played well at the same time. 

Take the loss to the Celtics as an example. 

Kyle Kuzma turned back the clock for Milwaukee, dropping 27 points on 11-for-18 shooting — including 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. 

That type of production has been rare from the veteran, and it just so happened to come on a night when Tyler Herro — the Bucks' leading scorer with 22.3 points per game — mustered just 13 points. 

The timing of Herro's season-low was far from ideal. He lacked assertiveness, too, shooting 5-for-12 from the field. 

The Bucks also cannot live with Myles Turner and Jaime Jaquez Jr. combining for 7 points. They're not deep enough for that. 

Turner, coming off a game where he went 0-for-7 from the field in Friday's 121-107 loss to Toronto, shot 1-for-8 — good for 3 points. Jaquez Jr. added 4 points on only three shot attempts (1-for-3 FG). 

If the big-money vets are going to keep underperforming, Jenkins needs to pivot to his youngsters sooner rather than later. The latter getting more reps can only benefit the Bucks moving forward. 

And on top of that, they're showing they're ready to contribute, too. 

Rookie guard Brayden Burries impressed again, posting 13 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. 

Fellow freshman Nate Ament continued his post-injury ramp-up, adding 12 points and five rebounds in a season-high 23 minutes off the bench.

Ousmane Dieng chipped in 10 points (3-for-3 FG) in 15 minutes, repaying Jenkins' trust with an extended burn. 

The Bucks have another couple of tough tests coming up. They'll be in New York on Tuesday and then will host the Los Angeles Lakers the next day in the second half of a back-to-back. 

Those are set to be valuable learning experiences for the stars of Milwaukee's future and would be an enormous confidence boost if they could lead the team to snap their losing streak against one of the two giants.