Recap/Box Score/Enemy

When a team is attempting to figure out how they’ll be able to manage without Earl Boykins, obviously that’s a sign of a rough night ahead.

But Milwaukee battled.  That’s more that could have been said about Monday night’s defeat.  With no Boykins, or Brandon Jennings or Drew Gooden or Carlos Delfino, the Bucks simply didn’t have the offense to stick with the Bulls Tuesday night in a 90-77 defeat at the United Center.  Somehow, despite making under 33% of their first half shots, the Bucks actually led by three at halftime.  For most teams, that would be cause of optimism.  Most teams would have figured there’s no way they could shoot that poorly for another half.  Most team’s luck would turn around and they’d ride a better second half to an easy win.

Most teams aren’t the Bucks.  Milwaukee’s poor shooting kept on keeping on and the Bucks finished a remarkable 32.1% from the field, marking the 16th time this season that they’ve shot under 40% (H/T Charles F. Gardner).

The loss leaves the Bucks at the dreaded six games under .500 mark.  Six games was the low light of Milwaukee’s season last year, a seventh would officially leave the Bucks in a worse position than they were in at any point during the last season.  A seventh game under .500 probably isn’t needed to further pound home the point that the expectations for this season dramatically out shot reality.  The reality now is that the Bucks are looking like a team that will have to use another second half surge this season to push them into the playoffs rather than to fight for better seeding.

The reality is that the Bucks are more capable of shooting 33% on any given night than they are of shooting 50%.  Read more…

Recap/Box Score

I was driving home to get ready for the game Friday night when I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of my prediction for the evening.  I had the Bucks losing by one.  The Jazz had been so good as of late and the Bucks seemed to be due to drop one.  But it was gnawing at me a little bit.  I couldn’t help but think of the number nine.  The Bucks had only lost nine home games coming into their tilt with the Jazz Friday night, and the number nine is even a little bit deceiving.

The Mavericks (Dirk), Lakers (Kobe) and Kings (Tyreke Evans) all barely escaped the BC with wins early in the season thanks to last second heroics.  Milwaukee was in position to win and got unlucky at the buzzer.  The Magic came to Milwaukee while Andrew Bogut was down with a leg injury and won by two.  That’s four losses that don’t really bother me.

So coming into Friday night’s game, 63 games into the season, the Bucks had five legit home losses, each coming before the arrival of John Salmons and after the clock had struck midnight on Brandon Jennings great start.

But Salmons is here, Jennings has gone from prince to pauper to pro and the Bucks showed me the error in my thinking.  This was a very good home team early in the season, but now I’ll be shocked when (if?) they drop another in Milwaukee.  The fans had the BC as loud as it’s been in years Friday night and the Bucks rewarded their loyalty by closing out the second (or third) best team in the West.

The home locker room in Milwaukee seems to have the obligatory quiet confidence (well, loud confidence in Jennings’ case) in their group to know they won’t be losing at home the rest of this season.  To be honest, they know a lot more about the team than I do, so who am I to argue? Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 34-29

Vs.

Utah Jazz (Jerry Sloan) 42-22

Date: 3/12/10

Time: 7:30 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Matchups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Deron Williams

In winning 10 of their last 11 games, the Bucks haven’t had to deal with a lot of great point guards.  Of the bunch, Rajon Rondo stands out as the best, and while he may have penetration skills second to none, his non-existent jump-shot makes for a built in flaw.  Randy Foye, Ray Felton, Rafer Alston and Mo Williams aren’t an especially terrifying group.  Deron Williams on the other hand, is the real deal.  Williams can score at the rim, hit the mid-range jumper or shoot the three.  His size presents another problem for Jennings, standing two or three inches taller than him and weighing 40 pounds more.  He’ll be as difficult to deal with on both ends as Jennings has had to deal with in some time.

Advantage: Jazz Read more…