Giannis Antetokounmpo calls out Milwaukee Bucks as the stretch run approaches

Giannis Antetokounmpo calls out the Milwaukee Bucks as the final stretch of the regular season quickly approaches.

When the Milwaukee Bucks acquired Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers during the offseason, there was an overwhelming belief that they would be one of the only "other" Eastern Conference teams that would be able to compete with the top-heavy Boston Celtics. However, through the NBA All-Star Break, the Bucks have left much to be desired from a supposed contender in the East.

And their struggles have been most notable in the last couple of weeks before the Break. During that span, the Bucks fired head coach Adrian Griffin and hired Doc Rivers as his replacement. However, the hiring of Rivers hasn't solved much for the Bucks. Milwaukee is 3-7 in the Rivers era and is in danger of falling out of the top 4 in the East standings.

For a team that has the talent to be a contender, their recent play has not been encouraging. And that's putting it nicely. If the Bucks are going to emerge as a threat to make a deep playoff run in the East, they're going to have to turn their season around quickly. And Giannis Antetokounmpo knows this. As the push toward the playoffs quickly approaches, Giannis calls for the Bucks (including himself) to stop feeling bad about themselves.

"We have to stop feeling bad about ourselves. I’m tired of this. We have to stop doing that. Things are not going to be given to us. We have to go and take it. "

- Giannis Antetokounmpo

Can the Milwaukee Bucks right the ship down the stretch?

With only 26 games left in their regular season slate, there is much at stake for the Bucks before the start of the playoffs. It won't be easy for Milwaukee to completely shift the narrative on their season heading into the postseason considering they have the third most difficult record. However, if there's any collection of players that will be able to pull it off, it will be one led by Giannis and Lillard.

The Bucks are certainly one of the teams facing the most pressure heading down the stretch. And if they're unable to flip the switch heading into the postseason and are subject to an early playoff loss, this is a team that is likely going to face some big changes during the offseason.

And from these most recent comments, it's quite obvious that even Giannis knows what's at stake after the NBA All-Star Break.