Milwaukee Bucks

86

Final Recap | Box Score

91

Denver Nuggets

	Stephen Jackson, SG 7-18 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 17 PTS | -4 There’s a clear dichotomy building in the Bucks offense. The good angel, Mike Dunleavy (out sick), promotes passing and moving without the ball. The devil, Stephen Jackson, is all heat checks and swagger. It’s way cooler to be Stephen Jackson, but the team really needs Dunleavy to balance him out.
	Andrew Bogut, C 5-12 FG | 2-4 FT | 7 REB | 4 AST | 12 PTS | -2 Here’s some pretty basic knowledge: Al Harrington is a boss. He’s also a 3/4 tweener. Kudos to him for convincingly winning his match-up on Bogut in the waning minutes of the game. Bogut couldn’t get near the rim on both ends of the court. On one end, he had to chase Harrington around the perimeter, substantially hurting the Bucks defense. On the other end, Harrington simply out-muscled Bogut. Winning similar match-ups is a mandate for Bogut in the future. Another mandate: get in shape. Bogut was visibly winded in the first quarter.
	Brandon Jennings, PG 5-16 FG | 2-2 FT | 3 REB | 3 AST | 12 PTS | -6 Down 89-86 with ten seconds left, Jennings took a long three with Ty Lawson in his face. Delfino was wide open. So it goes. Jennings missed his first opportunity to score 20 points in four straight games and shot under 35 percent for the first time this season. He also had six turnovers. He could take a cue from his counterpart tonight, the super-efficient Ty Lawson who only shoots at the rim or from the three.
	Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, SF 3-6 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 6 PTS | -5 Yeah! Moute is back. And well, he was LRMAM as everyone knows him. He was finishing well at the rim and not making anything else. His defense on Gallinari wasn’t stellar, but it was better than whatever Ilyasova was doing tonight. His perimeter defense was on point with a block of Andre Miller and steal on a bad Rudy Fernandez pass.
	Jon Leuer, F 4-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | -4 It’s a wonder why Leuer wasn’t playing in crunch time when he was the only Bucks whose jumper was falling consistently. Plus, Ilyasova’s play tonight could best be described as nonexistent. Leuer is quickly distinguishing himself amongst the rest of the PF platoon.

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Many.

Rumors.

I know no one can get enough, so I thought I’d try and keep updating this post to do my best to keep everything together for the next day or so.

• That rumor about Kurt Thomas to the Hawks?  Just a rumor according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.  I was suspicious of it right away, as Mo Evans didn’t seem an uber-logical fit with the Bucks.  And that was before the AJC alerted me that he has a $2.5 million player option next year.

• Yahoo! Sports notes that the Bucks have had some interest in Al Harrington.  This was reported at 3 AM CST, and that sounds like the kind of thing a GM would think only at 3 AM.

• Chris Broussard reports that the Nuggets contacted Milwaukee about Hakim Warrick and (here’s a shocker … but not really) Kurt Thomas, but talks didn’t go far after the Nuggets revealed that they have nothing to offer for anyone.

• Chad Ford wrote that the Bucks have interest in Chicago’s Tyrus Thomas and may be interested in a shooting guard as well.  John Salmons is on the hook for 5,808,000 next season while Thomas is a restricted free agent with a $6,256,806 qualifying offer.  Those two could be successfully traded for any of the packages the Bucks have looked at with regard to Troy Murphy.

UPDATE

• Drew Gooden? Gooden will reportedly be bought out by the Clippers after his arrival from Washington, freeing him up to pursue other options.  His number one (or one A) option supposedly is the Bucks.  Milwaukee may present an intriguing option for Gooden in the same way it did for Warrick this past off-season: more playing time and more points than others can provide.

• Salmons to the Bucks for Thomas and Francisco Elson?  It’s floating around, though Thomas is playing in Wednesday’s game.  If that deal went through it would open a roster spot for Drew Gooden.

UPDATE

• Mike Dunleavy (Clippers GM not Pacers SG) told the Los Angeles Daily News it is not the Clippers intention to buyout Gooden.  Thus, if the Bucks wanted Gooden they’d have to make a deal with the Clippers, which seems unlikely given the time constraints.

It’s worth noting what teams do NOT have a first round pick in this June’s draft:

L.A. Lakers
Denver Nuggets
Dallas Mavericks
Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors (unless it’s in the lottery)
Charlotte Bobcats (unless it’s in the lottery)
New York Knicks

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Inactives: Francisco Elson, Joe Alexander and Mike Redd

at

New York Knicks (Mike D’antoni) 19-29

Inactives: Eddy Curry, Cuttino Mobley and Darko Milicic

Date: 2/5/2010

Time: 6:30 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Matchups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Nate Robinson

I guess Mike D’antoni wanted to spare the world the Brandon Jennings/Chris Duhon “who will miss more shots” matchup.  Robinson is taking over at the point guard spot beginning Friday, which is bad timing for Milwaukee.  If Duhon wasn’t the worst starting point guard in the league, he wasn’t far from the bottom.  I know Jennings has struggled shooting the ball for the majority of this year, but at least he’s young, what’s Duhon’s excuse?  Duhon and Jennings both shot 32 percent from the field in January, a frigid shooting percentage for a frigid month.  Robinson is electric offensively, but didn’t play for 14 straight games earlier this year, for no other reason than D’Antoni wasn’t feeling him.  He’s less of a point guard and more of a scorer, but he excels at that.

Advantage: Bucks

Shooting Guard

Charlie Bell vs. Wilson Chandler

Another long, athletic, slashing shooting guard for Charlie Bell to work on after Vince Carter gave him fits in Orlando.  Every year, Chandler has taken a couple more shots at the rim each game and every year he gets a little better as a player.  The more he uses his incredible athleticism to his advantage, the better he’ll be in the league.  His three-point shooting has gone from average to not very good at all, so the less he’s shooting anything other than wide open shots the more opportunities he’ll give himself for success.  Chandler seems more like a small forward playing the two guard spot, if they could find a good shooter to put next to him he may be even better.

Advantage: Knicks

Small Forward

Carlos Delfino vs. Jared Jeffries

A lengthy defender who can do a lot of things on defense and roughly zero things on offense, Jeffries goal Friday will likely be nothing more than to give Delfino problems.  When Delfino has been on lately, the Bucks have been pretty tough to beat.  In recent losses to Toronto and Orlando, Delfino couldn’t find his shot and the rest of the Bucks followed suit.  Delfino is one of few Bucks that can get to the rim and is in an even more exclusive group of Bucks that can finish when they get there.  Jeffries length may give Delfino some problems in getting open looks outside, so he’ll have to be ready to shoot right when he catches.

Advantage: Bucks

Power Forward

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute vs. Danilo Gallinari

Gallinari is probably shooting a three right now.  David Thorpe, when talking about the shooting prowess of Stephen Curry, recently said that he thought Curry might make the most three’s in this decade, though he conceded he’d have to vie for that crown with Gallinari.  Gallinari is 6’10.  As stretchy a four as stretch four’s can be is Gallinari, but that doesn’t make him a bad matchup for the Bucks.  Mbah a Moute can hang with most players outside and Gallinari is no different a case.  Unfortunately, the Bucks can’t go to Mbah a Moute to try and expose “The Rooster” defensively, as Mbah a Moute isn’t very good at all on offense.

Advantage: Knicks

Center

Andrew Bogut vs. David Lee

Ah, here’s what we’ve been waiting to see.  One all-star snub vs. another, with Bogut, the classic back down big man, against Lee, the burgeoning point-center who can put it on the floor, lay it for someone else, or dunk it himself.  Both of them are among the best rebounders in the league, racking up double-doubles on a near nightly basis.  Bogut has a quickness advantage over lots of centers in the league, but not Lee.  Lee is ultra-quick and can explode for dunks.  Each should pose a different set of problems for the other defensively, though Bogut is a much better overall defender than Lee, who chooses not to participate on that end very often.  I’m sure each has heard the other’s name mentioned a lot with regard to all-star candidacy, so it’ll be interesting to see how they react as they should be more than up for this challenge.  Fortunately for the Bucks, Bogut’s had two days off since Orlando, which always increases the odds he’ll do well.

Advantage: Bucks

Bench

Luke Ridnour, Kurt Thomas, Ersan Ilyasova, Hakim Warrick and Jerry Stackhouse

Vs.

Al Harrington, Larry Hughes, Toney Douglas, Jonathan Bender and Chris Duhon

Harrington is one of those guys who comes in and gets buckets immediately.  He’s capable of a 40-point showing off the bench and not many guys are capable of that.  If he gets hot from three, he’ll fire without remorse regardless of whether or not it’s a good shot.  Hughes has been in Mike D’antoni’s bizarre revolving door doghouse lately and in response has grown quite the beard of defiance.  He got some run against the Wizards though and with Chris Duhon not being very good, we’ll see where this goes.  Duhon might play, he might not play, it’s tough to tell how far he’s been demoted.  If he doesn’t play, Toney Douglas or Jonahtan Bender may be in line for more run.

Advantage: Bucks

Prediction: Bucks 107 – Knicks 97

With two days off after the loss in Orlando, the Bucks are in prime position to steal another one on the road in New York.  The Knicks last played Wednesday, so they’ve had time to rest as well, but they don’t really have an answer for a healthy and rested Andrew Bogut underneath.  The Bucks would be well advised to pound it in to him every chance they get and try to get the Knicks down early.  Offensively the Knicks can come back from an early deficit, but they don’t exactly have the most mental toughness out there.  When the Bucks were able to jump on them early in Milwaukee in November, the Knicks pretty much folded up shop and gave in.  That’s the kind of effort the Bucks will be looking to get out of them again.

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