Jennings has taken some positive steps forward in March after a brutal February in which he was returning from foot surgery. He’s been better from the field overall and has seen his three-point shooting trend upwards over the past few games. If he can make modest improvements in shot-selection from this season to next season, he’s more than capable of being a 42% guy from the field and a 37% guy from three. When Jennings is catching and shooting, his primary role for Milwaukee, he’s pretty good. He just gets into trouble when he’s taking shots off the dribble, primarily that off the dribble fadeaway from mid-range that he so rarely makes, but too frequently attempts. Hinrich is a tough matchup for Jennings though: a strong, quick point guard that is a fierce competitor on defense. He’s a good point guard for the Hawks and one that gives Milwaukee trouble a lot.
If you only have been watching Bucks games this season, you’re certainly aware of the three-point shot, but you may not have known how quickly it can turn a game around.
Now you know.
The simple way to explain Milwaukee’s improbable comeback from down 11 points to begin the fourth quarter is like this: they got hot. Hot enough to outscore the Atlanta Hawks by 19 points in the fourth quarter on their way to a 98-90 victory in Milwaukee Wednesday night.
It started with Carlos Delfino. Having struggled miserably in his first three games back from injury, some were calling for reduced minutes, or at least reduced shots for Delfino. At least until he started making shots again. Things can turn quickly in basketball though and Delfino appeared to have found his form early Wednesday night. Delfino had made two of four threes heading into the fourth quarter. He then hit another on Milwaukee’s first possession of the fourth quarter to cut Atlanta’s lead to eight and by the time he made his third and final three in the period, he was putting the Bucks up five.
He didn’t do it all by himself though.
Former D-Leaguer Garrett Temple sprinkled in a pair of timely threes and Earl Boykins went on one of his patented shot-making sprees to key a Bucks offense that had been lifeless throughout the game. Defensively the Bucks kept after the Hawks and Atlanta did little to put pressure back onto a surging Milwaukee team. The Hawks had been moving the ball well enough to get good looks and got solid play inside from Al Horford for three quarters. But when things fell apart in the fourth quarter, the team started relying on Josh Smith jump-shots to get them back into the game. Predictably, that failed miserably.
And on every miss the Bucks had a little more energy and countered with the plays they needed to make.
This season’s Milwaukee Bucks squad is doing their very best to shoot down any theories that a big win or two will carry over into the next game. After taking two on the road on the traditionally difficult west coast, the Bucks were back home Monday night well rested and facing an Atlanta Hawks team that had been struggling mightily on the road. There was every reason to believe Milwaukee would win again and have something positive going heading into a game with the Bulls in Chicago.
Instead, Milwaukee’s effort was as lethargic as it has been all year in a 95-80 loss to the Hawks. Just how flat-footed and slow moving were the Bucks? Jason Collins grabbed 12 rebounds. The slow-footed, defensive minded, limited minute big man last grabbed more than 10 rebounds on February 19, 2008. My goodness.
“This is how our season’s gone,” Coach Scott Skiles said after the game. “We’ve been really read and really competitive a couple games in a row, then have a couple where we’re not and one where we are, one where we’re not, we’ve been riding that wave too much. It was easy to see who had the mos energy and who wanted the game more, and that team won. We can’t afford to play that way. We want to win and until we get that figured out, we’ll be in this position.”
Skiles exasperation was evident in his lineups. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Monday night marked only the second time this season a team played both their starting center and point guard more than 40 minutes. Andrew Bogut ptallied 43 minutes, while Keyon Dooling logged 41. Skiles admitted he did not like playing Bogut so extensively.
“I overplayed him,” Skiles said. “I had no intention of playing that much, I didn’t want to. It’s just that we finally crept back into it and I wanted to leave him out there.”
Much more than last year, this Bucks team is tough to figure. The loss drops Milwaukee to 7-7 at the Bradley Center, a place where the team played very well last season, going 28-13. Yet with all the positive momentum and rest in the world, at home, Milwaukee could barely muster enough effort to keep it close with the Hawks. A puzzling team these Bucks are. Read more…
The two-headed point guard monster the Bucks have trotted out since the fall of Brandon Jennings has more than held its ground in the last two games. Against the Kings, Dooling and Boykins combined to make 14 of 29 shots en route to scoring 33 points. In Los Angeles, the numbers were 11 for 21 and 30 points. Offensively, there’s been no drop off since the Portland game. Dooling can hold up against nearly any point defensively too, and while Boykins gives up plenty of size, he makes up for it with his quickness and plays on a team that has Andrew Bogut. It’s an awful lot to expect of Boykins to think he’ll continue to shoot the lights out, but so long as Dooling and he are able to avoid disastrous games on the same night, Milwaukee appears in capable hands. You know the Bibby Story: shoots well, old, slow, gamer. Read more…
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…
