Jennings brought back memories from the home opener when he busted this one out.

When it was all said and done too many factors were working against the Bucks. Atlanta’s superiority was evident: length, size, athleticism, shooting, you name it Atlanta has it over Milwaukee. The Bucks pulled off a few victories that not many saw coming, but when focused, Atlanta was just too much for the Bucks to handle.

To have gotten as far as they have, for the Milwaukee Bucks right now it would be easy to be satisfied with what they’ve accomplished. Without their best player, Milwaukee pushed the third best team in the Eastern Conference to a Game 7. But there seemed very little satisfaction in just getting there throughout Milwaukee’s last stance in their first round series with the Atlanta Hawks. Not from Brandon Jennings at least, who forced ABC to make use of their five second delay as he cursed at himself in disgust heading off the court at halftime after missing the second of two free throws.

Maybe they still shot too many jumpers, but when it came down to it, Milwaukee just didn’t have the players to exploit the Hawks constant switching off screens. Not enough Bucks are good enough off the dribble to take advantage of mismatches on the perimeter. That’s how the Bucks came to rely on a 20-year-old rookie in Game 7 of an NBA Playoffs series. And make no mistake, the Bucks rode Jennings in this one.

After being one of the aforementioned Bucks that settled too often for jump shots in Game Six, Jennings was in attack mode against the Hawks Sunday afternoon. Of his 18 shots, Jennings took 10 of them inside the paint and at the rim. Someone had to expose the Hawks on their pick and roll defense and Jennings wanted to step up to be the guy that did that Sunday. That’s what leaders do.

But Jennings can’t guard Al Horford. And apparently neither can Primoz Brezec. Or Dan Gadzuric. Or Ersan Ilyasova. Or even Kurt Thomas, at least not when Horford really has it going and is attacking the glass. Horford was too much inside all game and all series, save for a game or two. Horford led the charge with 15 rebounds as the Hawks dominated on the glass 55-34.

It won’t always be like this though. The Bucks will have Andrew Bogut back next season. It’s possible he could be joined by a brand new burly power forward with some tools. A slasher could show up ready to get to the bucket with John Salmons if he hangs around and the Bucks could be better than ever.

And look at that, I’m talking about next season for the first time. On May 2nd. That sure feels a lot better than doing it in March or April as I’ve done the majority of this last decade. So I’m as disappointed as the next person today, but it feels good to have something to build on. Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 3-3

at

Atlanta Hawks (Mike Woodson) 3-3

Date: 5/2/2010
Time: 12:00 PM (CST)
TV: ABC & FS Wisconsin

Few expected things to get as far as they have (don’t say no one has, because Chris Sheridan picked the Hawks in seven), but here we are. Game seven Sunday on ABC. For a team and a fan base so sensitive to their national perception and a perceived constant lack of respect, it’s funny now that the most important game of the season, and possibly final game, will be broadcast nationally. The stage officially can not get any bigger for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Now they just need to make some shots. Or find a way to get to the basket. Either way, it’s just important that the Bucks bury their despicable game six performance and recall the good times that were games three through five.

In those games the Bucks often had a sense of purpose on offense and a hot hand. When they didn’t, they got to the hoop and lived at the free throw line. For a team that’s struggled as badly as the Bucks have when it comes to getting to the line, the Bucks have led this series in free throw throw attempts most of the way. After a poor performance Friday, the Bucks now trail Atlanta by just four. The same Atlanta team that attempted 239 more free throws than them in the regular season.

So it’s not like the Bucks have been hopeless offensively this series. There is reason for optimism heading into game seven. Just as there is reason for pessimism.

Namely, the Hawks collective game seven experience, overall explosiveness and that thing known as home court advantage. But the Bucks have shined with their backs against the wall this season. Their strongest stretch of the year came not too long after heading out on a west coast trip in which they were destroyed in three of the five losses. This is a team that’s responded to difficult circumstances before and could do it again.

Or they could wilt under the lights brighter than they have seen all year.

With this cast of characters, going through this whole thing for the first time together, it’s difficult to tell what will happen on any given night. Don’t get me wrong, I know they’ll compete hard, but in the playoffs that’s not enough to get it done. There have been few constants in this post season for the Bucks and it’s difficult to get very far having to rely on a different face stepping up every night.

But that’s where Milwaukee stands. Whether they’ll surprise everyone and pull off the unlikely first round upset relies heavily on a return to form from their best two players this series, the mid-season trade acquisition John Salmons and fresh faced rookie Brandon Jennings finding someone else down the bench that can give them a big game.

As usual, not many expect that to happen.

With 3:42 left in the second quarter, John Salmons hit a jumper.

In the next 12:03 of basketball time, and what seemed like eternity in real time, Milwaukee saw one more basket, a Carlos Delfino made layup, in Friday night’s game six loss. That’s the equivalent of just over one quarter of Friday night’s game in which Milwaukee scored a grand total of one hoop. And it’s not like Atlanta was cooperating and staying out of the bottom of the net as well. No, they scored 23 points in this stretch, turned a seven point deficit into a 12-point lead and effectively put away the Milwaukee Bucks hopes of winning game six.

So what happened?

During this brutal stretch, Milwaukee attempted three layups (one of which was Delfino’s make), two shots inside 10-feet and 14 attempted jump shots, zero of which went in. The beginnings of this ominous run were telling.

On three consecutive possessions, one for Salmons, Delfino and Brandon Jennings each, Mike Bibby was isolated on a Bucks player who had some room to operate. And on three consecutive possessions, those Bucks players chose to pull up for jump shots of varying degrees of difficulty. Both Salmons and Delfino were off balance for shorter shots, while Jennings attempted a three with more balance and space. But why Bucks players are pulling up for shots with Mike Bibby on them, instead of attacking him and making him defend at the rim is beyond me.

From there Milwaukee twice got some penetration that led to kick out passes for open shots. Unfortunately, the recipient of those passes on both occasions was Dan Gadzuric. On consecutive Milwaukee possessions, Gadzuric took jump shots from beyond the short corner that scorekeepers apparently didn’t even bother to chart the distance of. If anything, they should just have put “Dan Gadzuric misses too far away jumper”. Even when the Bucks had some of the execution they wanted, it wasn’t the right player taking the shot.

Mind you, this is all before Atlanta went zone.

Milwaukee actually had a nice enough start to the second half, the Delfino layup, an okay three-point opportunity for Jennings and a cut for a layup that was blocked by Josh Smith for Salmons, but from there, the Bucks looked lost and confused.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute got called for three in the key, hanging out while Jennings failed to successfully penetrate a switch. Then on a fast break, Mbah a Moute was at the center of another turnover when he ran through Josh Smith. John Salmons then missed on a jumper he’s probably made more than half the time this season, but couldn’t find Friday, before an offensive rebound led to a Mbah a Moute jumper that no one rooting for Milwaukee wanted to see.

The pressure was mounting at this point and the Bucks looked like they were cracking.

The lead had officially been lost by the next long jumper from Salmons, and not even a hustle play by Ersan Ilyasova (he hustled to a loose ball and drew a foul on Josh Smith) could get them going: he turned it over after the inbound on a travel.

Milwaukee followed that turnover with another, a bad pass by Luke Ridnour which led to the Hawks first two fast break points of the game and three consecutive missed threes. Two of which were taken while the Hawks were sitting at four fouls with over six minutes to go in the third quarter. At that point, the game five parade to the foul line that saved Milwaukee seemed like a billion years ago. The Bucks were steadfastly refusing to penetrate and get into the lane, pulling up for jumper after jumper.

And it wasn’t so much the Hawks zone that seemed to be getting to the Bucks. There was lots of talk after the game about the Hawks zone stifling Milwaukee and getting them out of their comfort zone, but the Bucks willingness to settle for jumpers when they weren’t hitting them and Atlanta was sitting on four fouls was what really did Milwaukee in. All the good things Milwaukee had done in attacking the switches and penetrating on bigger Hawks defenders had gone out the window. John Salmons resorted to launching jumpers left and right (0-5 during the run) and Brandon Jennings looked like he was playing in the biggest game in his life, not like he was just out there having fun as he so often does.

If Milwaukee found a way to hit three or four of their shots, the entire game could have been different. There have been stretches all year when the Bucks couldn’t buy a bucket, just as their have been stretches post-John Salmons in which they heated up and couldn’t miss. It’s difficult to derive much from one horrible stretch, other than a reinforcement of the idea that when players are missing shots, attacking the rim is never a bad idea. Especially when the other team is in the bonus.

That’s the one thing that is most disappointing about the Bucks two points in twelve minutes and the thing they’ll need to take with them into game seven. Don’t let Atlanta off the hook. When they’re fouling, punish them and when your team is missing shots, don’t punish yourselves by continuing to chuck them up there.

Pressure.

Is it real? Is it imagined? I guess it depends on who you ask. If you ask Scott Skiles, he scoffs at the notion that such a thing exists. In the world of Scott Skiles, pressure is the force that causes a door to open when he pushes on it. In the world of Scott Skiles, athletes are playing a game and the media doesn’t exist. He doesn’t strike me as someone who wakes up in the morning and reads the papers to see what was said and hear about what teams are being forecasted to advance far. So the pressure in a playoffs series placed on teams by media predictions and the interests of their fans, now, that doesn’t mean anything to Scott Skiles.

“I have a hard time talking about that (pressure),” remarked Coach Skiles after the game. “It’s all just perceived, it’s all just made up by other people. I don’t buy into the whole pressure thing. I know it does exist, I know  some times athletes fall prey to it, but you gotta get past it.”

But Scott Skiles has been around basketball for about 40 years. Of course the pressures of the basketball court are no longer relevant to him. Brandon Jennings is still a baby faced rookie of just 20 years on Earth. The story is a bit different for him.

“I feel the pressure now. It’s game seven now. We’ve worked all hard for this so we gotta go in there and know that we can win. We didn’t prepare all year just to get to the playoffs and say forget it. It’s game seven, we gotta go in there and give them everything we’ve got. I know I am.”

Call it being a wide-eyed youth in a grown mans game if you will, but rarely will you find an athlete more forthcoming than Brandon Jennings. He’s willing to admit he’s feeling the heat. I guess that’s part of being a leader. Jennings wanted to win this one, he wanted to do it for the home crowd, for his teammates and for himself. That’s what being a point guard is all about, taking responsibility. So Jennings is willing to admit he’s feeling pressure the same way he’s willing to admit he’s thrilled with wins.

Skiles saw it in game six.

“We thought he was feeling it a little bit early in the game, he played eight minutes and we took him out, hoped he could rest and shake it off a little bit.  This is his first time going through this, this is the biggest game he’s ever played in.”

Perhaps it’s troubling that the Bucks point guard is feeling the heat as he heads down to Atlanta for game seven. If it shows in his performance the way it appeared to on Friday’s game six loss, it could spell another defeat for the Bucks and the end to their unbelievable season. But just as making the playoffs wasn’t just about this year, his willingness to take on and feel that heat isn’t just about this season either. Jennings knows he’s the leader and wants that responsibility. Even if it negatively affects his game right now, it’s something that should prove to be a terrific learning experience for the rest of his career.
Whether or not he’s the only Bucks player feeling the pressure is tough to say. The veteran Bucks won’t cede to much and you’d be hard pressed to find looser guys after this one than Jerry Stackhouse or Kurt Thomas.

“I’ve been in this situation,” Stackhouse said. “There isn’t anything sweeter than that — to go in and win a game seven in another team’s building.”

Not many rookies get to experience two series clinching games in their first season. Much less as a starter. Even fewer as a starting point guard. Of all the lessons Jennings has had the opportunity to learn this season, this could prove to be the most important, not to mention the one that keeps him going this summer.

So while I’m as disappointed as any Bucks fan in the game six loss, you won’t find me burying my head in the sand or walking into traffic. I’m excited to see development in action.

And you should be too.

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 3-2

vs.

Atlanta Hawks (Mike Woodson) 2-3

Date: 4/30/2010
Time: 6:00 (CST)
TV: ESPN & FS Wisconsin

The Breakdown

By game six in a seven game playoff series, there are no secrets any more. Both teams know what their opponent wants to do, both teams know what their own teams must do to win. By game six, it simply comes down to which team’s will is stronger, who’s better at imposing their game on the opponent. Typically it’s a no-brainer in my mind that this is where talent comes out on top.

But it’s not that simple anymore.

Milwaukee has so blurred the lines of talent in this series, that I’m not sure we can truly measure the more talented team. The common perception thus far has been this series has been more Atlanta blowing it than Milwaukee taking it. I’m not buying that. Milwaukee isn’t a pretty team and they don’t have great offensive statistics, but what happened to that old axiom that defense and rebounding win when it slows down in the playoffs. Have we all forgotten that?

This series has been a testament to the difficulty we have in measuring defensive abilities and hustle. When Milwaukee holds Atlanta to at the rim shooting percentages of 48%, 41% and 58%, all under their season average of 63%, it still is spun more as Hawks missing layups rather than Milwaukee challenging them. Something changed after the first two games in this series and Milwaukee imposed their will on Atlanta.

So while we’ve seen all kinds of statistical advances over the last few years, we’re still not quite there yet. We can’t accurately measure each aspect of every game. Sometimes, you just have to see it to believe it. If you’ve watched the last three games of this series, I have a hard time you can honestly believe the Hawks are the superior team. 82 games worth of regular season data may indicate otherwise, but the playoffs are a different animal.

An animal the Bucks could tame this evening. Read more…