The Milwaukee Bucks built one of the best records in basketball over the last five seasons largely because they became one of the league’s stingiest defenses under former head coach Mike Budenholzer, a system that allowed center Brook Lopez to swallow up shots at the rim and Giannis Antetokounmpo to terrorize shotmakers as a helpside defender.

In defensive rating – a metric which measures points allowed per 100 possession and most consider as a true indicator of solid team defense – the Bucks finished first, first, 10th, 14th (the year Lopez missed with back surgery) and fourth. With an emphasis on limiting three-pointers last season, the Bucks finished No. 8 in the NBA in opponent three-point percentage and allowed the fewest corner threes per game (6.6).

Under new head coach Adrian Griffin, the Bucks expect to continue to be one of the league’s top defensive teams – it’s just going to look different.

“I think we are going to take a step forward from last year,” Antetokounmpo said after the preseason finale against Memphis on Friday. “We were a great defensive team last year and I think we’re going to still be great, might even be better. But for me, I see that we bring the fight to them defensively.”

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That fight isn’t going to be one featuring a steady diet of telegraphed punches, either. Griffin spoke about adjusting to the situation at hand – either game-to-game or in-game. That will take time to ingrain, as he admitted his team didn’t recognize quick enough against Memphis that the Grizzlies were hot from the three-point line in the exhibition finale.

But overall, the Bucks plan to throw a variety of looks at their opponent with switches, presses, zones, blitzes on the ball, traps and even man-to-man concepts. Then there are wrinkles in each of those.

In a preseason interview with the Journal Sentinel, Griffin outlined his core four defensive principles:

Ball pressure

Griffin: You’re gonna create a lot of turnovers that way, get out in the open floor and get some easy baskets. You don’t have to work as hard all the time when you put the effort in on the defensive end.

A natural result of this will be more fouls being called, which is something the Bucks were one of the very best at avoiding the last five years. Conversely, they were one of the worst teams at forcing turnovers which contributed to declining offensive production in transition after leading the league with 27.4 transition points per game in 2018-19.

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Protect the paint

Griffin: To do that you’ve got to be a very good help team. We’re fortunate on this team that we have Brook Lopez, who’s tremendous, exceptional rim protector. But we also want to help each other. We don’t want to leave a guy on an island.

Lopez has been a near impenetrable force at the rim for five seasons, but there are now going to be times where he is high out on the perimeter and is going to have to trust his teammates to be the ones to prevent easy baskets.

“So they’ve asked everyone and by extension, me, to put more pressure on the ball,” Lopez said during training camp. “So it’s me stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit, getting up in the (offensive player). So, you know, we might get beat occasionally. That might happen, we’re human, none of us are perfect. As we feel this out and learn it out, sometimes I’m going to be relying on the help behind me, which is obviously an inverted situation.”

Contest shots

Griffin: It’s been proven that (on) contested shots, players shoot a much lower percentage than uncontested shots so we want to make it as hard as possible for teams to get good looks, at the rim and especially at the three-point line. It is an analytical thing. You want to take away the free throws and the rim and the open threes, particularly the corner threes. When you’re a help team, that means that they’re gonna be kicking out to open threes on the perimeter so you’ve got to be great at closing out and contesting shots.

With this, Griffin acknowledges there will be openings behind the three-point for opponents because sharp ball movement will always be quicker than any rotating defender. All five players will have to be committed and continuing to move defensively to not allow set, open threes.

Defensive rebounding

Griffin: When you’re flying around and you’re rotating, then you’re a little vulnerable on the rebounding so you’ve got to be great with rotational blockouts and teaching fundamentals of blocking out.

This is something the Bucks have traditionally been good at by ranking first, first, second, first and first the last five seasons. Lopez often clears out multiple bodies and Antetokounmpo in particular is adept at it ranking second, first, tied for third, tied for second and first in the NBA as a defensive rebounder. That obviously gets the ball in his hands quickly to push the offense. But, if he is being asked to move more in rotations his teammates will have get more involved in this aspect of defense.

When the preseason concluded, Antetokounmpo hinted at another element that will be seen in Griffin’s defense, pointing to the exhibition game against Oklahoma City on Oct. 17.

“They were moving the ball, but if you really think about it one of their best players, one of the best players in the league (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) probably, was able to contain him.”

Gilgeous-Alexander finished 4-for-12 for 10 points and didn’t score for nearly a quarter. As Antetokounmpo finished that sentence, a small smile turned up at the corners of his mouth.

“Things like that,” Antetokounmpo continued. “We’re going to bring the fight to them. Obviously, there’s going to be times that guys go off. Guys that might be averaging eight to 10 points might be scoring 20 – but you kind of know that you contain the head of the snake. The two, three best guys on the team. I love that we bring the fight to them. And I think guys just have that individual pride.”

There are reasons Griffin has instilled the “stronger together” for his team, and the first place to look for that is on defense – it’s all about being a tight knit group of five on that end.

“I always feel like you’ve always got to prepare with the end in mind,” he said. “When you get in the postseason, you’re just playing tougher competition, better players and you’re playing in the league where one guy can beat you, you know? If the star player can win you two games – some of them can win you three – in a seven-game series, first to four, that’s a tremendous advantage.

“We just want to make sure that we’re connected on the defensive end and not leaving anybody feeling like they have to make stops on their own. But we also want to hold them accountable to guard their man. I always say guard your man as if there is no help, and then you want to help as if he can’t guard him. You just kind of find that yin and yang, that balance.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What are the four defensive principles of the Bucks?