Love this picture. I had to modify this post just to include it. Brandon Jennings: No fear, just swag. (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
You’ll remember that Brandon Jennings spoke with Steve Nash over the summer.
“I asked him when he got that MVP two times, he said he just made plays down the stretch,” Jennings said in mid-Jaunary. “So, that’s something I really worked on this summer, not always shooting it, just making plays for everybody, trying to get the best possible shot.”
Everyone loves to hear that. The emphasis on teamwork sounds great. Teamwork is playing a big role in Milwaukee’s recent success too. The ball movement has been crisp. The players didn’t give up on themselves or each other when they were down 17 after the first quarter to the Heat. Scott Skiles had some nice things to say about the group’s chemistry after the game. Hooray for teamwork.
Teamwork wasn’t so much what had people on their feet last night though. That was just Brandon Jennings letting his natural abilities and attitudes shine through.
Jennings attitude and swag spread through the arena like smoke from a fire by the time the fourth quarter was over, but it actually started much earlier.
Carlos Delfino, SF20 MIN | 3-6 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 11 PTS | +10
Delfino played just two minutes and didn’t catch the brunt of Lebron’s first quarter explosion. I can’t say I saw Stephen Jackson do anything particularly bad on Lebron, I think it was more one of those times when a great player got into a zone. With Lebron, it takes a team effort and a lot of luck.
It helps when ‘Bron isn’t necessarily the focus too. After the first it didn’t really seem like he was. Delfino probably deserves some credit for that, as he was hounding him off the ball and on. Oh, and Delfino chipped in three threes and 11 points. For a guy tasked with spending most of the night guarding the league’s best player, that’s a pretty terrific offensive contribution.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, SF33 MIN | 6-7 FG | 1-4 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 13 PTS | +22
Starting on Bosh? Forcing Wade into step back threes after 24 seconds of dribbling? Blocking him on a drive into the paint? Spending the last part of the fourth quarter on Lebron after spending the majority of the game on Wade? All while tossing in 11 points and six rebounds? As if Mbah a Moute needed to do anything else to endear himself to Milwaukee fans as a defender and putbacks guy. This game was the prototype for all big defense little offense guys.
I’m not really the superstitious type. I know what I say isn’t actually going to impact the future. I know I can accept something and be confident if there’s enough data associated with it, it won’t stop being true.
All that being said, I’m still nervous to just accept that Brandon Jennings is pretty good now. I don’t want to jinx it. He didn’t even shoot particularly well against the Heat in the fist half, but he was such a damn leader out there. And when the Bucks were working on a come back, he was doing his whole annoying (to the other team that is) swag thing. It’s so easy to look past that shooting line and at the times he poked the ball from Mario Chalmers or drew the offensive foul on D-Wade or stared down Norris Cole and just enjoy the heck out of this dude.
Oh, and then he hit some huge shots too. Then he mugged it up. Then he took it a step further and blacked out for a while in the fourth. Or maybe that was me. Regardless. Everyone really enjoyed that.
Mike Dunleavy, SF26 MIN | 4-8 FG | 2-2 FT | 1 REB | 5 AST | 10 PTS | +5
He wasn’t quite as sharp a shooter as he was Monday, but Dunleavy played a big part in the Bucks all around strong offensive night. He made his share of shots, but maybe even more importantly, he moved the hell out of the ball. Monday he was a creative perimeter player, a quick decision maker and a good shooter. That’ll do.
Athletically, Bosh is on another level that Ilyasova will never approach. In terms of effort, Ilyasova can battle with any player in the league though. It was another very typical Ilyasova kind of night. He led the Bucks in rebounding because he knows when he can keep battling and knows how to tip a ball to himself. His shot-selection was stellar as well.
Three Things We Saw
It would have been easy for the Bucks to check out after the Heat shot 80% and scored 40 points in the first quarter. I’ve seen Milwaukee do that to teams (no really, I swear I have) and pretty much put them away in the first. But the Bucks didn’t quit. There really wasn’t any reason to expect them to, I can’t remember the last time I saw them do that. It’s like the Bucks gatorade cooler is full of lemon lime laced with effort.
I’m sure you won’t feel bad for Jackson at this point, but it was almost like he was sacrificed in the first quarter. Lebron was unreal and Skiles brought Jax in as the first man off the bench when Delfino ran into foul trouble. Lebron proceeded to wear him out. Jackson would not return and Lebron wouldn’t stay quite so hot. I will not connect those dots so simply though.
Milwaukee struggled a bit late with the Heat press, but they found away to stay just composed enough to keep Miami at bay. Drew Gooden tried every insane thing he could to infuriate and drive fans up the walls at home and at the Bradley Center, but, as unorthodox as his methods are, he didn’t kill the Bucks late. I mean that as a compliment. The Bucks looked like a five-year-old who just realized his parents let go of his bike and didn’t tell him late when the Heat put some pressure on. But they held firm. Also, I have no idea what just happened. But I’m pretty sure that’s two wins over the Heat this season for Milwaukee. Wow.
Drew Gooden will get by a guy like Pau Gasol for a layup and get a technical foul two seconds later. Drew Gooden will finish a wide open fast break layup and fall down for no conceivable reason. Drew Gooden will do his damnedest to defend Andrew Bynum and throw a pass through traffic into Derrick Fisher’s body. None of these things, not the good ones, not the bad ones, should be surprising.
Gooden was all Milwaukee really could counter the Lakers front line with, and he did his best. He’s typically a pretty uneven player, but Saturday night, he was better than that. He made a higher percentage of his shots and performed as well as you could expect against the Lakers tough front line. He often has the best numbers of any of Milwaukee’s starters, but Saturday night, he actually played the best too.
Elbow jumpers. I wonder how many Livingston has made in his life. It’s a pretty effortless shot for him, especially when he’s able to take it coming out of a post up. He displayed an uncommon blend of leaping ability and power with a dunk on a scrambling Andrew Goudelock. I’m sure Bucks fans are getting more comfortable with the idea of him as the starting shooting guard each game.
Before the game, I was thinking if the Bucks were going to be competitive, it would be because Jennings has 30 points and eight assists or something like that. Jennings had 10 points and five assists coming into the fourth quarter and the Bucks led by seven. Huh? Your guess is as good as mine. Saturday night’s was an okay game from Jennings – he handled the ball well, had only one turnover and pressured Laker point guards well, but only scored 12 points. And the Bucks still won and even shot 50% from the field. Weird.
Mike Dunleavy, SF22 MIN | 6-8 FG | 1-1 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 15 PTS | +21
He was like the perimeter version of Ilyasova. He hit two threes, helped facilitate ball movement, grabbed some boards and shot a good percentage. If Milwaukee’s reserves can make shots at a rate better than 50%, that would go a long way towards moving them forward without Bogut. Obviously they won’t every game, but on a night when the starters were solid, but not great, it was a big pickup.
While using most of his energy guarding the Lakers tough front line, he wasn’t the rebounding force he’s often been this season. But he helped the Bucks shoot better than 50% with his efficient night. Hit a three, grabbed enough boards in the fourth quarter to keep the Lakers from coming back – a game you’ll certainly take from Ilyasova.
Three Things We Saw
Defending Kobe was primarily a dual effort. Delfino spent a lot of time on him throughout the game, as did Luc Mbah a Moute. Poor Mbah a Moute got the duty in the fourth quarter, when Kobe decided to get serious. He was up to the challenge though, forcing Kobe into some tough shots. The Mamba made 10 of 21 shots and almost had a triple double, but he led the Lakers in turnovers and did not put another game winner on the Bucks heads. Success.
Did the Bucks just make more free throws than their opponent? That’s an anomaly for this group, but they love it every time it happens. With the Lakers huge front line and Kobe Bryant in the back court, this certainly didn’t seem like the game Milwaukee would win the free throw battle in, but here we are. It certainly helps explain how we ended up with such a surprising final score.
Milwaukee is one of the league’s best teams at forcing turnovers and they were at it again against the Lakers. 15 Laker turnovers led to 23 Milwaukee points. That’s defense leading to offense and that, is exactly what Scott Skiles wants to see.
Stephen Jackson has been suspended one game for verbal abuse of an official and failure to leave the court. Incident occurred against CHI.
And things remain turbulent.
This is the second game this season Jackson will miss for disciplinary reasons. He missed the team bus to shootaround in New York and Coach Scott Skiles opted not to play him.
To all my fans apologize for my actions. Its just somethings refs shouldnt say. Gotta keep my kool. Lesson learned.
In other news, I’ve obtained what I feel like is reliable information that John Hammond met with Joel Przybilla and his agent in Milwaukee on Saturday and could be close to working out some a deal. I’m now rooting for this scenario, solely so I don’t look like an idiot for reporting it.
That’s where this season currently sits for me.
Ultimately, Przybilla isn’t making or breaking the Bucks if he joins the team. He would be another big body and he would give the team a true center. But he’d be giving them one that hasn’t played in about eight months and seems fairly content to be retired.
Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
A special thanks to Andy Kamenetzky from ESPN’s Land o’ Lakers Lakers blog for stopping by to answer some questions I had regarding Milwaukee’s opponent this evening. Check out Land o’ Lakers and see a few answers I had for him as well.
1. He’s smart enough to do it, but will Kobe be willing to let Gasol and Bynum dominate the Bucks?
Given Gasol’s exceptionally aggressive nature Wednesday against the Clippers, I’d like to think Kobe will try to keep that going, for the sake of Pau and the matchup. And he’s already praised Bynum’s “thirst to score.” And for all the talk about Kobe’s high shot count this season, he’s done a pretty fine job moving the ball around. But as is always the case with Kobe involving teammates, there’s a leash, and it can be frustratingly short. Kobe’s natural desire to take games over, even when not always necessary, can also equal big men receiving too few touches over stretches.
But in fairness to Kobe, there are kinks being ironed out in Mike Brown’s offense, one of them being Gasol’s role. Pau’s number hasn’t been called enough by the coach, as opposed to Bryant. There’s also an onus on Pau to seek out more scoring opportunities with the ball in his hands, even if he’s theoretically working as a facilitator on a particular set.
