With the Miami Heat emerging victorious (sadly and barely) from their last game of the season against New Jersey, clinching the fifth seed and leaving the Bucks to play the Hawks in the three-six matchup, it’s hard to get too excited about any of the positives that came from the Bucks Wednesday night win over Boston.

It’s merely evident now that Milwaukee’s jayvee plus team can defeat the Celtics freshman team.  And I think that was probably a safe bet already.  Milwaukee has pounded into us all season that they have good depth.  From one through eleven, Milwaukee can plug different guys into different lineups and compete with most starters and defeat most benches.

Once again Wednesday night, Milwaukee got productive games out of Luke Ridnour, Jerry Stackhouse, Ersan Ilyasova and even …

*gasp* Dan Gadzuric?

Yes, under the right circumstances even old Gadzuric can look good again.

But the circumstances will be much different in the playoffs now.  The Hawks have been a problem for Milwaukee all season.  Hell, they’ve been a problem for the majority of the league all season.  A group that’s been playing together for years now, Atlanta has the versatility, the star power, the defense and the offense to make a deep run into the playoffs and even scare the East’s top two.

If Milwaukee were about to embark on a playoff series with Boston, the questions would be how many games could Milwaukee win?  Would the Celtics lose their cool during the series, specifically Rasheed Wallace. Could Milwaukee capitalize on any of those moments and gain some momentum?  Basically, the questions about that potential series were full of hope and possibility.  It would still be a long shot, but Milwaukee would at least be on the verge of a series that was going to likely have some give and take.

Now I can’t help but ask questions like, how is this series going to look any different than Monday night?  Will Milwaukee shoot over 42% in any of the games?  How many points is Joe Johnson going to average?  My feelings of hope and excitement have withered away significantly.  I know asking the big “What If” about Andrew Bogut won’t do any good, but it keeps coming back to me and gnawing at me.

But I guess it is what it is.  The bottom line is that the Bucks are still going to be playing playoff games again this year, which is still a terrific feat.  And I’m glad we got this final game of the regular season out of the way.  Now, as Brandon Jennings so elegantly put it after Monday night’s game against Atlanta, we can just “lace ‘em up and let’s hoop.” Read more…

Over at TrueHoop, there is a clear breakdown of all playoff scenarios in play this evening.

The Bucks are involved.

If the Bucks want to face the Celtics in the coming days they need two things to happen.  A win over Boston tonight and a loss by the Heat against the Nets.

The Bucks are playing in Boston.  That’s a bummer.  On the plus side, Boston has clinched the fourth seed and will likely be resting their stars, or at least Kevin Garnett. Of course, that didn’t help Milwaukee very much last week.

Meanwhile, the Heat are at home against the Nets.  In related news, the Nets are still terrible.

In short, things aren’t looking great for the Bucks hopes of playing the Celtics.  Playing Boston would entail having a first round series that would sell out twice and entertain the masses.  Even if some see it as a foregone conclusion that Boston would defeat the Bucks.  As for Atlanta it’s difficult to guarantee a sold out crowd at the BC or an entertaining playoff series in a Bucks-Hawks matchup.  There has been very little edge to their games and even less competitiveness in Monday night’s game.

Sure it was close enough for most of the game, but it was the definition of an arm’s length game.  The Hawks had Milwaukee at arm’s length the entire night.  Milwaukee was good enough to stick around, but not good enough to make a significant run.  If the Bucks get hot, who knows what could happen.  But teams struggling to shoot over 40% don’t get hot very often, or for very long.

So, here’ s hoping against hope for a Bucks win tonight and a Heat loss.

Between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, things are getting a tad chippy.

(For more on the Celtics, check out TrueHoop Network Boston Celtics blog, CelticsHub)

Well, I’ll give the Celtics one thing.  As far as a team the Bucks can learn from, they won’t be a bad playoff opponent.  It looks like it’ll make for an entertaining series to boot.

In another game that had a couple chippy moments, the Bucks lost a game that didn’t really mean all that much in front of a sold out Bradley Center crowd Saturday night, 105-90.  And when I say it didn’t mean all that much, I’m referring to the fact that it’s looking more and more like these two teams are going to end up seeing each other in the first round of the playoffs.  Atlanta won again Saturday, they’ll likely beat out Boston for the third seed and while the Bucks lost, they still hold a half game lead for fifth and have a tiebreaker over Miami.  But I think a few things in this one meant a little something.

Teams that play hard defense can occasionally rub their opponents the wrong way and both the Celtics and the Bucks do this.  Teams that have won a championship with a core that’s slipping off the top of its perch often give the impression to new challengers that they aren’t worthy.  Boston has won a title with this core.  Teams that haven’t made the playoffs in some time and are making their first run together often want to prove like they belong.  That’d be the Bucks.  So we’re looking at a first round series between the “Old Irish” and the “Young Bucks”, one on the way down, the other on the way up.  They’ll meet in the middle, chips on shoulders in tow.

So believe me when I write that the miniature dust-ups mean at least mean a little something.  No one wants to be disrespected in the NBA.  No one.

But the Celtics are a great first round opponent for tons of reasons.  Not just because they appear most beatable, but because the Bucks can learn lots from their guys.  They can see the intensity they’ll need.  They can feel the type of defense pressure that wins games in the playoffs.  They can see a star at work in fourth quarters in Paul Pierce, watch what he does and how he operates.

But not all the Celtics serve that purpose.  Some of the Celtics are in need of some learning themselves.  Frankly, on Saturday night, Glen “Big Baby” Davis looked like, well, pardon the obvious pun, but, a Big Baby.  His reaction to a hard foul by Kurt Thomas led to a technical for his time, an on court talking to by Celtics Coach Doc Rivers and … a flagrant foul on Thomas?  Perhaps Davis did know what he was doing.  It’s possible he was just working the refs.

Ah, working the refs.  Few skills seem more difficult to develop in the NBA or as valuable.  The Celtics are always reminding the refs which team has a title under the belt, though not so obviously.  Constantly, you’ll see a Celtic put their arm around the ref, scowl after a call or, in Rasheed Wallace’s case, scream “and one” every shot attempt.  This was a Michael Redd specialty and, truth be told, may be the area where the Bucks will miss him most during the playoffs.  But playing the masters of this craft will give the Bucks an up close and personal tutoring session on this ever so necessary skill.

Of course, Milwaukee will have plenty of time to watch and learn once this regular season gets out of the way and the playoffs start.  This was simply the appetizer before round one.  Hopefully Milwaukee was paying attention. Read more…

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…

(From the Daily Dime Live) “Zach Lowe (Celtics Hub) – And we are tied entering the 4th quarter. If you’re a sub-.500 team who plays hard, you are almost guaranteed to play the C’s close in Boston this season. It’s uncanny.”

Unfortunately for the Bucks, that doesn’t necessarily result in wins.  Yes, playing hard is great and coming close against the Celtics is fun, but ultimately losing sucks.  While this game wasn’t nearly as frustrating as the Cleveland Blowout last Sunday, it wasn’t very satisfying to see the Bucks put it together when they needed it most.  If they got a stop, they couldn’t get a bucket.  If they got a bucket, they couldn’t get a stop.  Ultimately they blew it over a two and a half minute stretch in the fourth.

The most difficult thing to swallow about this stretch is the Bucks inability to even get a shot up.  Two turnovers by Andrew Bogut and one from Brandon Jennings. That’s the just the strength of the Celtic defense.  Sure, Bogut burned them for 25 points, but when push came to shove, the Celtics ramped it up a notch.  On Jennings turnover in particular the Bucks looked especially passive and Jennings looked like a rookie for certain.  Kevin Garnett jumped out and looked mischevious like he always does and Jennings looked rattled before coughing it up on a double dribble.  That’s the kinds of mental breakdowns that solid veteran teams to not make.  In time my friends, in time. Read more…