Box Score/Recap

Remember those old electric football games where the pieces moved about aimlessly as you hoped (At least I assumed you were hoping. I’m too young to have ever had the pleasure) your team ended up somehow scoring some points?

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) This was called a foul on Charlie Bell. For real. Nothing was going the Bucks way Tuesday night.

That was the Bucks offense in quarter one Tuesday.  The Bucks moved aimlessly about, throwing the ball in the general area of the hoop and prayed it went in.  A few times it worked, most of the time it did not.  Andrew Bogut, also known as the Bucks best offensive player, not only hit the side of the backboard with a shot, but airballed a one-handed attempt from the elbow.  He finished quarter one 0-7, which was just a touch worse than point guard Brandon Jennings’ 1-6 effort.

After his treacherous 0-8 start Bogut went on to hit six of his next seven.  Jennings followed his poor first quarter by hitting four of his next eight, which we’ll take with both hands open as Bucks fans at this point.  Suddenly, what started as an 11-point deficit after one quarter became a Bucks lead six minutes and 17 seconds into the third quarter.  From there it was anyone’s game.  Unfortunately, the Pistons apparently temporarily changed their name to “Anyone” and the Bucks went from eclectic electric football to Madden 2010 to a complete loss of electricity in the fourth quarter.

The Bucks turned it over five times and played nearly as poor in the fourth quarter as they did in the first in losing 93-81 to Detroit.  This game didn’t look much prettier than the Bucks win Saturday against the Pacers, which coincidentally finished with the same score, only in favor of the Bucks.  Very little was in the Bucks favor Tuesday though, and that’s evidenced heavily in Jennings final 5-16 shooting line.  Of course, that’s not too hard to believe given his shooting woes in the past few months.

When Detroit first came to the Bucks humble abode, Jennings introduced himself to Milwaukee, the Pistons and the league in a big way.  Jennings took over the third quarter scoring 16 points, winning the hearts and minds of Milwaukeeans in the process.  Tuesday, Jennings made numerous attempts at claiming ownership of the third, but was unsuccessful in each try.  Jennings pulled up for a three with the crowd beginning to buzz and his team down just three: no dice.  He pulled another after two makes sandwiched around free-throws: another miss.  Notice he was still able to hit a few shots, but the feel of the whole thing was different.

In November the building was on the edge of rocking and Jennings gave them the necessary push, but Tuesday he didn’t pack the oomph to get everyone over the edge.  Perhaps he’ll regain that, it’s certainly too early to write him off as incapable of pulling anything off, but right now he’s lost that mojo. (more…)