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Joe Barry is out as Packers defensive coordinator after 3 seasons
Joe Barry is out as the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator after a turbulent third season on the job that ended with a loss in the NFC divisional round of the playoffs.
“We want to thank Joe for his commitment and contributions to our success the past three seasons,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Wednesday in a statement announcing the move. “These decisions are extremely difficult and Joe is one of the best men I’ve had the opportunity to work with in this league.”
Green Bay ranked 10th in points allowed per game (20.6), 17th in yards allowed per game (335.1) and 23rd in yards allowed per play (5.4) during the regular season with a defense featuring eight former first-round draft picks.
That included a brutal three-game stretch late in the season when the Packers allowed 29.3 points per game while going 1-2 against the New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers.
LaFleur was asked directly about the possibility of changing coordinators during the season in his news conference following a 34-20 loss to Tampa Bay in which Baker Mayfield posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3. Mayfield and New York’s Tommy DeVito both earned NFC player of the week awards for their performances against the Packers.
One day later, LaFleur said he was keeping Barry but would take an expanded role in the defense. In their next game, the Packers blew a two-touchdown, fourth-quarter lead in a 33-30 victory at Carolina, which didn't score another point in its final two games of the season.
The defense performed much better the rest of the season.
The Packers allowed just one touchdown over their final two regular-season games, and that came when the Minnesota Vikings recovered a muffed punt at the Green Bay 7-yard line. The Packers then held the Dallas Cowboys scoreless until the final play of the first half in a 48-32 wild-card victory.
But the Packers did allow 25 second-half points to the Cowboys and couldn’t protect a fourth-quarter lead in a 24-21 divisional-round loss at San Francisco, when the 49ers drove 69 yards and scored the winning touchdown with 1:07 remaining.
Injuries hampered the defense for much of the season.
Two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander played in just seven regular-season games. Linebacker De'Vondre Campbell missed six games, safety Darnell Savage was out for seven and cornerback Eric Stokes appeared in just three. Outside linebacker Rashan Gary didn’t miss any games but was returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament that ended his 2022 season early.
The Packers ranked 17th in yards allowed per game and tied for 17th in scoring defense in 2022. They were ninth in total defense and tied for 13th in scoring defense in 2021, Barry’s first season as Green Bay’s defensive coordinator.
Green Bay ranked 11th in run defense in 2021 but slipped to 26th in 2022 and 28th this season, though the Packers' struggles at stopping the run preceded Barry's arrival.
This marked Barry’s third stint as an NFL defensive coordinator. He previously filled that role with Detroit in 2007-08 and Washington in 2015-16. Barry and LaFleur had worked together as Los Angeles Rams assistants in 2017.
NOTE: The Packers announced Wednesday they have signed kicker Jack Podlesny, who was released by the Minnesota Vikings in training camp. Podlesny made 82.4% of his field goals during his college career at Georgia and was an Associated Press first-team all-Southeastern Conference selection in 2022.
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Antetokounmpo gets triple-double as Bucks beat Cavs 126-116 in 1st game since Griffin was fired
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had his third triple-double in his last four games and the Milwaukee Bucks responded to the firing of coach Adrian Griffin with a 126-116 victory Wednesday night that snapped the Cleveland Cavaliers’ eight-game winning streak.
Antetokounmpo had 35 points, matched a season high with 18 rebounds and had 10 assists for his seventh triple-double of the season. Antetokounmpo is one assist shy of having four straight triple-doubles after having 31 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists Saturday in a 141-135 triumph at Detroit.
Griffin was fired Tuesday despite being 30-13 in his lone season as coach. Joe Prunty, an assistant on Griffin’s staff, served as interim head coach Wednesday while the Bucks were finalizing negotiations with Doc Rivers to eventually take over.
Milwaukee has the Eastern Conference’s second-best record, but the Bucks weren’t playing defense nearly as well as they had under predecessor Mike Budenholzer.
The Bucks’ last loss in Griffin’s 43-game tenure was a 135-95 blowout – their most lopsided defeat of the season – at Cleveland a week ago while Antetokounmpo was out with a bruised right shoulder.
Milwaukee looked much better Wednesday while cooling the NBA’s hottest team.
Cleveland had trailed for just 35 seconds over its last five games and had three straight wire-to-wire victories, but the Cavaliers never led in this one.
The Cavaliers trailed by as many as 21 in the third quarter and were still behind 103-87 with nine minutes left before cutting the margin to six with 3:44 remaining. Antetokounmpo answered with a dunk to start a 6-1 run that gave the Bucks more breathing room.
Damian Lillard scored 28 points and Khris Middleton added 24 for the Bucks.
Donovan Mitchell had 23 points and Jarrett Allen added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavs. Georges Niang and Max Strus scored 14 points each, Sam Merrill 12 and Isaac Okoro 10.
This marks Prunty’s third stint as an NBA interim coach.
Prunty went 21-16 with Milwaukee in 2017-18 and also coached the Bucks during their first-round, seven-game playoff loss to the Boston Celtics after the midseason firing of Jason Kidd. He was 2-0 with Atlanta last season after the Hawks fired Nate McMillan and before they hired Quin Snyder.
Cleveland was playing for the first time since backup center Tristan Thompson received a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy by testing positive for ibutamoren and SARM LGD-4033.
UP NEXT
The Cavaliers and Bucks meet again Friday in Milwaukee.
Doc Rivers reportedly finalizing a deal to take over as the Bucks coach
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Doc Rivers is finalizing a deal to take over as the Milwaukee Bucks coach a day after the firing of Adrian Griffin, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Rivers and the Bucks were still negotiating on Wednesday, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because no contract had been completed.
ESPN, where Rivers has worked this season an analyst, reported that Rivers has agreed to a deal in principle. ESPN's public relations department released a statement on social media from head of event and studio production David Roberts saying, “We wish Doc well and we look forward to documenting the next chapter of his coaching career.”
Interim coach Joe Prunty will coach the Bucks on Wednesday night when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bucks general manager Jon Horst held a news conference before the game to discuss Griffin's dismissal but declined to discuss the coach's potential successor.
“We’re not going to talk about Doc tonight,” Horst said. "That’s not part of this. There will be at some point hopefully a time where we can do that, but this is a chance for us to kind of dive into the Adrian Griffin piece.”
The Bucks fired Griffin on Tuesday despite having a 30-13 record that matches the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves for the second-best mark in the league. Milwaukee is 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference standings.
“We believe that this is a good team right now, and with improvements, we have a chance to be great,” said Horst, who indicated he didn't consult players before making this decision. “We’re looking for a way to really make this a great team.”
Griffin had never been a head coach until the Bucks hired him last summer, though he had spent 16 years as an assistant. The Bucks would be replacing him with someone who has nearly a quarter-century of head coaching experience.
Rivers has plenty of Milwaukee ties, as he played for Marquette from 1980-83 and his No. 31 jersey hangs from the Fiserv Forum rafters. He also has a championship background after leading the Boston Celtics to a title in 2008 and a Game 7 Finals appearance two years later.
He didn't have as much postseason success in later stints with the Los Angeles Clippers (2013-20) and Philadelphia 76ers (2020-23). The 76ers fired him last year after they exited in the second round of the playoffs each of his three seasons in Philadelphia.
Rivers has a 1,097-763 regular-season record and 111-104 playoff mark in 24 seasons with the Magic (1999-2004), Celtics (2004-13), Clippers and 76ers.
His 1,097 regular-season wins put him one shy of Larry Brown for eighth most in NBA history. His departure from ESPN brought an emotional reaction from his broadcast teammates, Mike Breen and Doris Burke, before ABC aired the Dallas-Phoenix game on Wednesday night.
“Our dear friend has decided that life as an NBA broadcaster is way too stressful, so he’s decided to opt for a less-stressful job — an NBA head coach on a team that’s trying to win a championship,” Breen said on the broadcast. “We thank him for all his many weeks of service and we wish him all the luck in the world.”
Rivers would be taking over a team that is chasing its second NBA title in four years and has shown a sense of urgency in the moves it has made over the last year.
The Bucks posted the NBA’s best regular-season record last year, but fired coach Mike Budenholzer after a stunning 4-1 first-round playoff loss to the Miami Heat. Budenholzer had led the 2020-21 Bucks to the franchise’s first championship in half a century.
Milwaukee followed up the hiring of Griffin by acquiring seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers to team him with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who signed a three-year, $186 million contract extension shortly before the season. The Bucks gave up two-time All-Star guard Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen in the Lillard trade, which also left them without control over any of their first-round draft picks until 2031.
Now they’ve fired Griffin after just 43 games. Horst acknowledged the dynamic of the team had changed since Griffin's arrival.
“These are special opportunities,” Horst said. “The talent became even more special. The commitment to the team even more significant. And I think that increased the urgency.”
Horst acknowledged how the dynamic of the team had changed since Griffin's hire while discussing the reasons behind the dismissal. The Bucks' offseason moves also included re-signing Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez.
Rivers’ immediate task at Milwaukee would be to upgrade a defense that performed poorly enough under Griffin to cast doubt on the Bucks’ chances of seriously contending for a title. The Bucks rank 21st in defensive rating, down from fourth last season.
“Defensively, we have a talent group I think that can be better than what they’ve been so far,” Horst said. “Is that a top-five defense, a top-10, top-15? I don’t know. That’s what we’re trying to decide here with the roster as constructed.”
Although the Bucks have one of the league’s best records, they face a much tougher schedule the rest of the way. They’ve produced some troublesome performances while going 6-5 in January, though they’ve won five of their last six games.
They lost back-to-back games against the Indiana Pacers, who are 4-1 against Milwaukee this season. They trailed by 31 points at halftime of a 132-116 home loss to Utah in which Lillard was unavailable. They needed a 3-pointer by Lillard at the buzzer to beat Sacramento at home in overtime and suffered a 40-point loss at Cleveland last week when Antetokounmpo was out with a bruised right shoulder.
Those struggles had led to some frustrations from players in postgame media sessions, but Horst disputed the idea Griffin had lost the locker room.
“My biggest frustration with kind of the aftermath was that that’s the narrative,” Horst said. “That's just not my opinion. That doesn’t mean that I’m right or wrong, but my opinion, my assessment and ownership’s assessment and going through this wasn’t an assessment that he lost the locker room, that there was dysfunction, that there were players that were jumping off the ship. That’s just not our assessment.”
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AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
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Tyler Wahl helps No. 13 Wisconsin hang on for 61-59 win over rival Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tyler Wahl had 16 points and hit two free throws with 5 seconds left to help No. 13 Wisconsin beat rival Minnesota 61-59 on Tuesday night.
A.J. Storr had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Big Ten-leading Badgers (15-4, 7-1), who beat the Gophers (12-7, 3-5) for the seventh straight time. Max Klesmit scored 11 points and made a key steal down the stretch for the Badgers, who were 8 for 10 from the foul line.
“It saves us in games like this where every point matters,” Wahl said, “and we’ve got a lot of guys who can put it in confidently.”
As Elijah Hawkins drove into the lane with the Gophers down by one, Wahl — the fifth-year native of Minnesota playing in his home state for the final time — fought for position with Dawson Garcia and drew the foul call on Garcia.
After Wahl swished both free throws, the Badgers fouled twice to get the Gophers in the bonus and to the line where they went a woeful 5 for 13. Mike Mitchell made the first one and missed the second try with 3 seconds left, hustling to the baseline to grab his own rebound and find a clean shot to tie it. But the ball banked off the glass and barely missed at the buzzer.
Hawkins, who missed Minnesota's last game with a sprained ankle, had 16 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two steals. Garcia had seven of his 10 points in the final five-plus minutes, including a layup with 2:37 left that gave the Gophers a 57-55 lead.
Klesmit missed a rushed 3 on the other end, and the Gophers were in good shape. But Hawkins had a top-of-the-key pass poked away by Klesmit to start a fast break that Storr finished with the tying dunk.
“He’s been on such a tear offensively that people forget he’s a tough-nosed defender first and foremost,” said coach Greg Gard, who notched his 100th Big Ten win. “He just made plays when we needed them.”
The Badgers, who took their first Big Ten loss last week against Penn State, brought the conference’s second-worst 3-point defense into the game (35.5% allowed). They let the Gophers make their first six attempts from deep after halftime and squandered a 15-point first-half lead.
Minnesota coach Ben Johnson fell to 0-5 against the Badgers, by a total of 16 points.
“You can stay down, or you can get back up," Johnson said. "This train’s going to keep moving. We’ve got to find ways to get back up, and I think we will.”
BIG PICTURE
Wisconsin: Wahl, a product of Lakeville North High School about 25 miles south of Williams Arena, is 7-1 against the Gophers. Wahl’s defense on Garcia, who regularly played against him in high school, limited Minnesota’s leading scorer to 4-for-10 shooting after he had 52 points over his previous two games.
“We buckled down and we got better when we needed to,” Gard said. “That just shows me that we can.”
Minnesota: The first matchup all season with a ranked opponent for the Gophers came against their bitter border-state rival, producing the type of big-game atmosphere missing too often here in recent years. The last time they beat a team in the AP Top 25 was nearly four years ago, against Purdue.
Antetokounmpo's triple-double helps Bucks pull away late for 122-113 win over Pistons
DETROIT (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double and Khris Middleton added 26 points as the Milwaukee Bucks pulled away late and beat the Detroit Pistons 122-113 on Monday night.
Antetokounmpo finished with 31 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists as the Bucks won for the fifth time in six games. Brook Lopez finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
“Giannis just took over the game in the last five minutes,” Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said. “He's a phenomenal player, but he's also a winning player who makes winning plays when we need them. He got to the line, he found open teammates, he got on the offensive glass and he was getting stops and blocks at the other end.”
Middleton now has 12,012 points for the Bucks, moving past Glenn Robinson Sr. for third place in franchise history.
“That's pretty cool — I'm happy,” he said. “I still have a lot I think I can do for this franchise and for our city.”
Griffin paid tribute to Middleton's determination.
“It's remarkable when you think about him being the 38th pick in the draft. It is a testament to what being a pro is all about,” Griffin said. “It takes a lot to come from where he started — he was drafted right here by the Pistons — to where he is now, an NBA champion.”
Marcus Sasser led the Pistons with 23 points, and fellow reserve Isaiah Stewart had 19 points and eight rebounds. Jaden Ivey led the starters with 17 points as Detroit lost to Milwaukee for the second time in three nights.
“We're competing with (the best) teams, but we're not closing,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “That has to be our next step.”
Lopez's 3-pointer put Milwaukee up 110-109 with 4:59 left, and Antetokounmpo extended the lead to three points from the free-throw line before Malik Beasley's 3-pointer made it 117-111 with 3:30 to go.
Detroit struggled offensively and a 3-pointer by Middleton made it a 15-2 run and an 11-point Milwaukee lead.
“The last five or six minutes, we just stopped making winning plays,” Sasser said. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds and gave them too many second-chance points.”
Milwaukee led by as many as nine points in the third quarter, but their struggles from long distance kept the Pistons in the game. The Bucks were 3 for 13 from 3-point distance in the quarter and finished the period with an 89-85 lead.
Detroit took a 96-95 lead on a driving layup from Sasser with 9:24 to play, and he and Ivey continued to score over Milwaukee’s post players. However, they went 1-10 in the last five minutes, missing all five 3-point attempts.
“We took some transition 3s and didn't make them work,” Williams said. “I think that got them into a rhythm.”
Milwaukee hit 3 of 17 3-point attempts in the first half and still led 58-56 behind 13 points from Antetokounmpo.
UP NEXT
Bucks: Host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday and Thursday.
Pistons: Host the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.
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Packers must follow up a surprising season by dealing with heightened expectations
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur began the offseason with a message for a team that overcame inexperience to reach the divisional round of the playoffs.
The days of catching opponents by surprise are over.
“Just because we got to a certain spot doesn’t mean that’s guaranteed moving forward,” LaFleur said Monday at his season-ending news conference. “So what are we going to do to get better? And the expectation is that when they come back April 15th, they’re better than the team that left today, and that’s not just going to happen by chance.”
The Packers (10-9) were the youngest team to win a playoff game since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, according to the Elias Sports Bureau’s “weighted age” metric, which factors in how many games in which a player appeared.
They bounced back from a 1-5 start to sneak into the playoffs with the NFC’s No. 7 seed. They beat the second-seeded Dallas Cowboys 48-32 and led the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers most of the way before falling 24-21.
The Packers believe they’re ready to contend for years now that quarterback Jordan Love has shown he’s a worthy successor to four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, who got traded to the New York Jets last April.
But they must prove they can handle heightened expectations.
“There’s going to be guys kind of patting us on our back and telling us the future’s bright and all that kind of stuff,” defensive lineman Kenny Clark said. “We’ve got to stick to that feeling of we were that seven seed working to get here. We’ve got to just keep putting in work, not getting too big-headed about what we did.”
STAFF ADJUSTMENTS
After the Packers missed the playoffs last year, LaFleur said at his season-ending news conference that he anticipated bringing back all his assistant coaches. He was noncommittal on that subject Monday.
“I want to certainly sit down with every assistant before any decisions are made,” LaFleur said.
The future of defensive coordinator Joe Barry has been a subject of speculation.
Green Bay’s defense struggled so much that LaFleur was asked at one point about the possibility of changing coordinators while the season was still underway, though the defense performed much better after Christmas.
LaFleur did say he hopes 70-year-old quarterbacks coach Tom Clements returns next season rather than retiring. LaFleur also said “I’m not close-minded to anything” regarding the possibility of handing over the play-calling responsibilities to an assistant.
BELIEVING IN LOVE
Green Bay’s playoff upset of the Cowboys capped a nine-game stretch in which Love threw 21 touchdown passes with only one interception, but the 49ers game showed he still has plenty to learn.
Love threw two second-half interceptions and acknowledged Saturday night that he committed a “mortal sin” on the final one by throwing into coverage across the middle of the field.
LaFleur said Monday that “I think he’ll be better for it in the long run.”
“A lot of players, when you get in a position, when you’re down, you try to make the big play,” LaFleur said. “You try to make it, but you can’t force it. And I think that’s kind of the lesson from that. Certainly there was nothing there, and sometimes the best play is a throwaway.”
KICKING CONCERNS
Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal in the fourth quarter Saturday, punctuating a rookie season in which he went 4 of 9 from 40-49 yards out and missed six extra-point attempts.
LaFleur acknowledged Monday that he wants competition “at every position” – including kicker – but expressed regret about a comment that made it onto Fox’s game telecast.
Fox sideline reporter Tom Rinaldi noted that LaFleur “basically said, ‘When he goes out there, I just pray, guys.’" LaFleur said he meant it as a joke and that he was “extremely disappointed” about how that remark was portrayed. LaFleur said he has since spoken to Carlson about it.
“It’s a learning lesson for me,” LaFleur said.
ON THE LINE
One of Green Bay’s big offseason decisions involves the future of star left tackle David Bakhtiari, who played in just one game this season and has undergone five knee surgeries since tearing his ACL in December 2020.
Green Bay fared well with first-year starters Rasheed Walker at left tackle and Zach Tom at right tackle. The Packers also had Jon Runyan Jr. and Sean Rhyan rotating at right guard.
Runyan, a pending free agent, got emotional Monday as he discussed his four seasons in Green Bay.
“I don’t want to leave, but it’s not really in my hands,” he said.
Some other notable potential free agents include running back AJ Dillon, All-Pro kick returner Keisean Nixon and safeties Darnell Savage and Jonathan Owens.
HAMSTRUNG WATSON
Green Bay has reason to feel good about a receiving corps that consisted almost entirely of rookies and second-year pros this season.
That unit would get even better if its top deep threat could stay healthy. Christian Watson missed three games as a rookie and eight more this season because of hamstring injuries.
“I don’t want to let it consume my life, but everyone says your availability is your best ability, so I’ve got to find a way to stay out there,” Watson said. “I think I’m my best when I’m able to find my rhythm, find my groove and continue to build on it.”
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