Just Another Win (Yeah, Right): Bucks 86 – Celtics 84

March 9, 2010

Video Courtesy of CelticsHub.com (They have more! Go check it out!)

Recap/Box Score

He flew out at the Celtics best player, his arm extended far as it could go.  Another night full of blocked shots, his arms must have looked like stop signs to the Celtics.  Every time they ventured into the lane he awaited, ready to throw one of his big, red, horizontal shaped hands at them with the same message warning them to cease.

But he could not get to this one.  The crafty Celtic veteran Paul Pierce faded just far enough back to launch his shot just out of the reach of the Bucks defensive anchor, who’d roamed out to challenge the Celtics tying attempt.  The ball sailed through the air; surely many in the Bradley Center were having Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant flashbacks as if Tuesday’s game were nothing more than a bad horror movie.  We’d seen this killer before in his other shapes, would he do it again?

And then the final shot rimmed out.  Andrew Bogut could breathe a sigh of relief.  Another Herculean effort of his would not go to waste and the Bucks would not bow out at the buzzer yet again.

Bogut finished Tuesday with 25 points (10-18 FG 5-5 FT), 17 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Bucks over the Celtics 86-84 in a game that gave the home crowd and, more importantly, the home team a little taste of the playoffs in early March.  From scoring the Bucks first four points, to helping to deny the Celtics of their possible last two, Bogut did it all for the Bucks.  The typically strong defender Kendrick Perkins did his best to muscle Bogut out of the lane and challenge his shots, only to see the Aussie drop in one running hook and spin after the next.  Especially pleasing for Bucks fans were the moments when Bogut was truly aggressive.

I love seeing Bogut drop in hooks as much as the next person, but it can leave him out of position for rebounds and keep him from getting to the line.  That’s why it was so delightful to see Bogut grab a rebound for a put back dunk or cram in a top ten nominee on Glen Davis.  Defensively Bogut is the total package and offensively he has as good a finesse game around the hoop as any big man in the league.  At times I’ve thought he lacked killer instinct, nasty demeanor and a midrange game.  Tonight?  Well, he missed a 15-footer that would have put it away with a minute to go, but I can live with that — especially if I keep seeing the instinct and the nasty that was on display Tuesday. Read More »

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Sure, Lebron Was Out, but Still, It’s a Win: Bucks 92 – Cavs 85

March 7, 2010

Recap/Box Score

Fortunately, the NBA doesn’t decide standings with a poll that measures the strength of each win.

No, in the NBA, every win, regardless of who it’s over, the margin of victory or the location of the game, counts just the same.  So if anyone tells you that the Bucks wins over teams missing their star players (the Hornets without Chris Paul, the Heat without Dwyane Wade and now the Cavs without Lebron James) don’t mean anything, you can simply point to the Bucks current position in sixth in the Eastern Conference and inform them of their error.

A Cavs team sans James, Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Illgauskas is a significantly weaker opponent than one with those three, or any of them for that matter.  In two weeks, Shaq will still be out, but James will surely be back in the lineup, Illgauskas will be back and the Cavs will again be a force to be reckoned with.  But that’s not important today.  What’s important right now is that the Bucks won another game and even better, it’s one that not many people had penciled in a day or two ago.  It’s important the Bucks are now two games up on Chicago for the sixth seed, it’s important the sold out Bradley Center had plenty of reason to cheer all night long Saturday and, most of all, it’s important that Brandon Jennings’ mojo finally returned.

Ben Gordon :: Trendsetter :: Brit

Ben Gordon :: Trendsetter :: Brit

For just the third time since February 1 (17 games), Jennings topped 40% shooting, finishing 6-14 from the field and 5-7 from behind the arc.  Jennings finished with 25 points and had a season high number of “three-point monocles.”  Popularized in last year’s playoffs by Ben Gordon, the “three-point monocle” is an especially braggadocios celebration of a three-point shot.  Seeing Jennings break it out was especially joyful for me for a number of reasons.  First, it’s good to see Jennings having fun out on the court again, especially in light of his recent comments about packing in his shot for a while.  Second, I just love the trey monocle.  Jennings explanation:

I did a little mocking, a little dancing for (Lebron). Hopefully (Lebron) caught that, I think it got his attention.

That being said, it would have been nice to see just where the Bucks measure up against the NBA’s best team, especially with Jennings having it going. Read More »

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Wade-less Heat No Match for Bucks: Bucks 94 – Heat 71

February 27, 2010

Recap/Box Score

Most Bucks fans are unabashed Brandon Jennings apologists.  They see the missed shots, they see the low field goal percentage at the rim and they see occasionally questionable shot selection and it doesn’t bother them.  Aside from having someone to finally hitch the bandwagon to after years of suffering, there is a valid reason that Bucks fans have enjoyed watching Jennings.

He controls the game like someone twice his age.

Sometimes that’s trouble, but more often than not, he takes care of the ball and makes the right decisions.  All year long, Coach Skiles has talked about Jennings’ low turnovers and his poise for someone his age, but it wasn’t often reflected in his assist numbers.  There are a few reasons for this, poor shooting, players holding the ball too long and Andrew Bogut’s slow post up game.  So while the numbers don’t necessarily say Jennings has been a very good point guard, he has.

And the numbers were unusually kind to him in the Bucks Saturday afternoon blowout of the Heat in Miami.  11 points (4-10 FG 1-3 3FG), eight assists and five rebounds without committing a turnover, but Jennings has been clear that only one number means anything to him: 30.  As in 30 wins with just 28 losses.

Via Jennings Twitter:

My coach told me, I don’t get paid to play. I get Paid to WIN……………….!!! I like that, and I respect that. Read More »

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A Lot of Points and A lot to Like: Bucks 115 – Hornets 95

February 24, 2010

I’m in the process of finishing John Devaney’s book on a season with the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks, Alcindor And The Big O: A Season’s Diary.  It’s a diary about the whole team, but much of it centers on the two most important pieces of that season’s NBA Champion Bucks squad.  He discusses how Lew Alcindor (more famously known as Kareem Abdul-Jabar) and Oscar Robertson were able to feed off each other and help lead the Bucks to their title.

At one point, Devaney remarks that he’d once heard someone mention that the two stars formed a symbiosis.  A symbiosis is the intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Kind of like Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut?

Now before you put your fist through your keyboard typing out an angry e-mail or comment, I assure your, I’m not comparing either Jennings or Bogut to Robertson or Kareem.  Again I’M NOT COMPARING JENNINGS TO ROBERTSON AND BOGUT TO KAREEM.  But that doesn’t mean they cannot operate in a similar fashion.  The Bucks strategy with Kareem and Oscar was simple: get it to Kareem and if he’s getting doubled let Oscar create until he’s doubled and can kick it out to the shooters.  They played off each other and were able to blow away the competition and take each other to the next level.

In a similar fashion, the Bucks try to run everything they do through Bogut first.  He’s option 1 and 1A if you will.  Teams have gotten wise to this and have been quick to double team him lately.  When he’s getting doubled, Jennings frequently is in charge of probing the defense and getting the Bucks another shot, even if it’s frequently his own (errant) shot.  Often Jennings will resort to an unsuccessful drive just to open things up for Bogut by drawing his man.  Make no mistake, this offense runs through Bogut and Jennings.

And they work well together while running it.  The Bogut-Jennings pick and roll has been a season long staple of the Bucks offense and when Jennings is finding Bogut he’s often left with some of his easiest shots.  Bogut’s career year has certainly been the result of his own hard work, but don’t downplay Jennings role in it. Read More »

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Bogut A Headache for the Knicks: Bucks 83 – Knicks 67

February 22, 2010

Recap/Box Score

Thankfully, Andrew Bogut was able to avoid a migraine Monday night.  That appears to have been the only thing that can stop him when he plays the Knicks.

Bogut thought he was on his way to a career night when the Bucks made their first trip to Madison Square Garden earlier this month.  He began that evening with six points and three rebounds in five minutes before he could no longer bare the bright lights and big city of New York thanks to a migraine headache.  The headaches occasionally leave Bogut feeling numb he says and are certainly nothing he play through.

The Knicks defense on the other hand?  Well he just plays right through them.

The Knicks, who play without a center, played like a team … that doesn’t have a center.  Bogut was able to get whatever he wanted inside when the Knicks weren’t rushing in with an immediate double team.  David Lee is a very good power forward, but at roughly 6’9 he had no answer for the 7’0 Bogut down low.  When Bogut wasn’t getting shots, he was hitting the glass on both ends to further frustrate Lee – the same David Lee that was picked over him as an injury replacement for the all-star game.  Correlation?  I’m sure the Aussie will downplay it, but do you know anyone who, if matched up with them, wouldn’t want to perform better than someone who earned a promotion they thought was rightfully theirs?

In the fourth quarter with the Knicks getting handled but hanging on to hope a comeback may be within reach, Bogut climbed over Lee’s back to tip in a shot.  Bogut was whistled for the foul and Lee furiously clapped his hands together and nodded in approval.  His cup had runneth over with frustration.  Can you blame him though?  Bogut would end the night with 24/20 and five blocks.  If I was guarding him, I’d be frustrated too. Read More »

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