From my TrueHoop Network Season Preview:

Botching last second plays seemed to be a rite of passage in Scott Skiles’ first season as Bucks head coach last year, so hopefully he’ll have this figured out by October 30.

It looks like it may still be an issue.

The Bucks were down two with 12.9 seconds left after two missed free throws from Joakim Noah.  The Bucks were faced with a similar situation roughly ten seconds earlier when they went to Brandon Jennings on the inbound pass.  Jennings went at Derrick Rose after failing to find Hakim Warrick streaking to the basket.  Jennings looked to have an opportunity, but ultimately was blocked on a fade away in the lane by Rose, resulting in a rebound for Noah who was subsequently fouled.

So do the Bucks go back to Jennings?

Not quite.  Jennings got a double screen from Warrick and Ersan Ilyasova, looked back over his shoulder and fired a pass to Ilyasova, who cut to the right of the top of the key outside the three point line.  Ilyasova immediately pump faked, never a good sign with him, and then fired a contested three over Luol Deng, also known as the Bulls longest most active defender.  Predictably, Ilyasova air balled the shot and the Bucks air balled a very good opportunity to win a road game in their division.

Things were so perfect.  The Bucks were up 18 with 6:56 left in the third quarter, the defense was swarming, every loose ball was going the Bucks way, turnovers were being forced and the Bucks were hanging in their offensively.  But when things were their bleakest for the Bulls, Deng, Brad Miller and Jannero Pargo led the Bulls all the way back when Pargo hit a three with six minutes to go in the fourth.

As described above, the Bucks had a shot in the end, but were unable to convert. Read more…

Matchups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Derrick Rose

This is one that should be interesting.  If Jennings had problems early against Rodney Stuckey, he’ll really have a hard time getting it going against Rose.  Rose is one of the most athletic and exciting point guards in the league, and I don’t even need to say young, because young or old there are only a few with the tools Rose has.  He does not have a great three point shot or a sparkling mid range game, so Rose and Jennings will both be looking to penetrate a lot tonight.  Physically, Rose is considerably more imposing, but we saw how much that mattered to Jennings in the third quarter against Detroit.  It’s far too early to say that Jennings will be able to score on whoever is in his way Iverson style though.  This will  be a good test for the Bucks rookie.

Advantage: Bulls Read more…