When glancing at the final box score from the Milwaukee Bucks 110-95 victory over the New Jersey Nets Friday night, it’s easy to be deceived. Seeing a typically punchless offensive team like the Bucks suddenly put up 110 points on 56.8% shooting is strange. Seeing Brandon Jennings tally 10 assists isn’t a common sight. It would be very easy to look at this box score and think the Bucks did some very different things against the Nets.
It would also be very wrong.
Virtually the only thing that separated the Bucks of Friday night and the Bucks that scored 56 points in a game less than a week earlier was the ability to make shots and turn the corner while running pick and rolls.
The leading shot makers on Friday were Carlos Delfino and John Salmons. Delfino spent most of the evening camped out in his two favorite spots, the left and right corners of the court, and made the Nets pay for sagging off of him to help on penetration or being late to rotate on ball swings by hitting eight of 11 three-point attempts, a new career high. When Delfino wasn’t getting looks from the corners, Salmons was doing a lot of what he’s done all season, with one difference.
Salmons took the same difficult looking leaners and pull-up jumpers he’s taken all season while mixing in a few strong drives all the way to the basket. The big difference for him against the Nets was that the shots that have been rimming out so often for him this year found the bottom of the net. Salmons made 11 of 16 shots, scored 25 points, handed out seven assists and grabbed five rebounds. Milwaukee improved to 12-6 when Salmons hands out at least five assists.
It hasn’t been rocket science trying to figure out what’s wrong with the Bucks. The team shoots a league worst 42.7% from the field. When Milwaukee makes shots, it transforms from a bottom tier team to a moderately dangerous one. And that’s what the Bucks were Friday night.
There’s a lot of positive talk about Brandon Jennings returning to play the Nets Saturday night, but it seems that he’ll be coming off the bench in his first game back from injury. Coach Skiles told Charles F. Gardner he only expected Jennings to play limited minutes in his return. Any minutes Jennings is given will more likely cut into the playing time of Earl Boykins rather than Dooling. Dooling and Boykins have both had their moments in Jennings’s absence, but Dooling has been a much more steady defender. Boykins scoring outbursts have always been enjoyable, but his penchant for over-dribbling and limited impact defensively cannot be overlooked. Against the famously quick Harris, Dooling is a better matchup.
The one Saturday night that the Bucks aren’t in Milwaukee and they go and do this. Figures.
But that was the only thing to complain about after Milwaukee’s 115-92 destruction of the New Jersey Nets Saturday evening. Playing without Andrew Bogut (viral infection), Milwaukee displayed the same shooting ability they did in the latter parts of Friday night’s close loss to the Miami Heat, but this time combined it with care for the ball and four quarters of tough defense.
And another heaping dose of Chris Douglas-Roberts.
CD-R finished with 24 points on his 24th birthday, hitting nine of 14 shots (1-3 3FG 5-5 FT). After a messy second season that finished with the Nets practically giving him away for nothing over the summer, CD-R was certainly playing his old teammates with some extra motivation. The timing worked out well for him too, coming into Saturday night’s game after compiling a season high 30-points in Friday’s loss to Miami. While CD-R’s good play carried over from one game to the next, some of the issues that plagued the Bucks didn’t.
After turning the ball over 23 times Friday, Milwaukee limited their turnovers to just 10 against a significantly less imposing Nets defense. There was some concern that the Bucks would suffer a bit of a hangover after an emotional loss, but the strong effort against the Heat seemed to have reinforced the Bucks confidence instead. Milwaukee stepped on the collective throats of the Nets immediately and never let them so much as gasp for air.
A John Salmons three put the Bucks up 5-2 and Milwaukee led the rest of the way, giving Milwaukee their most comfortable win since November 9th at home against the Knicks. Read more…
One of the many keys to continued success the rest of the way for the Milwaukee Bucks was prominently on display Wednesday night at the Bradley Center. They need balance. A team that lacks a true star to begin with, the Bucks have needed to get something out of everyone all year, even before Andrew Bogut’s injury. Now, they need balance more than ever. And when they get it, good things can happen. Milwaukee was about as balanced as they could be in their 108-89 victory over the Nets Wednesday night – 120 minutes for the starters, 120 minutes for the reserves.
While the Bucks starters were outscored 64-59 on the night, the bench did their part and then some, out-scoring New Jersey’s backups 49-25. This shouldn’t have been surprising though. The Nets are 11-67 for a reason. They have some starters that are above-average players, but their bench is full of young, inexperienced and, as far as I could tell, relatively uninterested players. New Jersey certainly looked the part of the league’s bottom feeder. Everyone was hooting and hollering from the sidelines during a fast start by Devin Harris, but there was a clear sense of indifference as the game began to slip away. But hey, a job is a job, and if I had a stat at my work that said we’d only had a successful day 11 out of the last 77 times we operated, I’d be waiting for a vacation myself. But back to the bench.
Role player was a fitting definition of the Bucks reserves on this evening. Read more…
(Likely) Inactives: Devin Harris, Yi Jianlian and Keyon Dooling (but there are about six guys to choose from for these three spots)
at
Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 5-3
(Likely) Inactives: Michael Redd, Francisco Elson and Joe Alexander
Game time: 7:00 (CST)
TV: FSN
Match-ups
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Rafer Alson
Skip is no longer the lightening quick, all handle-no shot, playground legend he was when he first entered the league as a Milwaukee Buck, but he can still hold his own. Over the years he’s actually worked his way into being an adequate three-point shooter and is shooting nearly 40% from deep this year. And the other day he even recorded his very first triple double, so there has been some upside to the rash of injuries that have left the Nets battered, bruised and winless. It would have been something to watch Devin Harris match quickness with Jennings. Maybe next time.
