After intensity lagged considerably against the Clippers and Kings, one could only assume things had to get better against the Nuggets for the Bucks Saturday.  Unfortunately, they were coming off a double overtime game Friday night, got to their hotel around four in the morning Milwaukee time and were facing a team with the third best home record in the league.  So this one was over before it started.

I mean, you just can’t expect to write the Bucks off so easily and then not have them win.  That’s just not how they roll.

Forgive me for sounding like a broken record lately, but once again, the Bucks have another win that can be placed on the pedestal as “their best win of the year”.  That’s becoming a recurring theme, no?  Beat the Cavs, (still a good win even if they were without Lebron James) best win of the year.  A full strength Celtics team drops one to the Bucks: Milwaukee’s best win of the year.  The scorching hot Jazz can’t topple the Bucks either?  That was the best win of the year.  Regardless of which win was your personal favorite or which one should stand out as the signature on what’s becoming a thrill ride of a Bucks season, they all count for one and they’re all sending the same message: these Milwaukee Bucks are for real.

I will say I enjoy the road wins a little more, especially the ones against upper-echelon teams.  For so long the Bucks have been automatic losses when heading into opponents territory, even as recently as earlier this season.  Now the Bucks have a fighting chance wherever they go.  Scott Skiles said earlier this year that he thought it’d take 15 road wins for this team to make it to the playoffs.  As he was saying that he was pining for a signature road win too.  He wanted to beat a real legit team on their court, probably for the sake of his own guys’ mentality.  If they want to win in the playoffs, they’re going to have to beat some playoff teams on the road.  As recently as Saturday morning, the Bucks still hadn’t proven to themselves that they could do that.

Well, they finally did it Saturday night.  Even sweeter?  They did it in their 15^th road win.  Playoffs … playoffs … playoffs …

Offense

The strategy this season has been simple: get the ball to Andrew Bogut. So what happens when Bogut’s saddled with foul trouble like he was Saturday night?  Simple, just ride John Salmons and Carlos Delfino. What was once the Bucks biggest weakness, wing scoring, turned into their saving grace against the Nuggets.  Salmons finished with 26 points (8-16 FG 1-1 3FG 9-9 FT) and hit all six free-throws he attempted in the fourth quarter.  When it got down to the nitty gritty, Salmons didn’t fold up.  That’s a great sign for the Bucks going forward and whether he can do that consistently will have a lot to do with how far they go this year.

Delfino may have missed his final two free-throws that would have iced it, but that was about the only thing he screwed up all night.  The Argentinian finished with 21 points (6-11 FG 4-5 3FG 5-8 FT) and seven rebounds – all while shadowing Carmelo Anthony at the other end for the majority of the game.

• After stepping out of the spotlight and into the shadows for the last two games, the Bucks bench was back at it Saturday night.  Milwaukee’s reserves chipped in 32 points in Denver after scoring just 17 Friday night against the Kings.  Ersan Ilyasova did the heaviest lifting again with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but the Bucks got big contributions from Kurt Thomas (five points and six boards, while mixing in timely defense and one big assist to Ers) and Luke Ridnour (11 points on 5-8 FG).  Balance is a friend of the Bucks and the more it’s embraced, they better they play.

• The very same Milwaukee Bucks that couldn’t shoot the Clippers out of a zone last Wednesday have now 23 of 51 (45 %) threes in their last two games.  A good barometer of the Bucks shooting prowess is often Delfino and his 4-5 effort from deep in the Bucks win Saturday was as huge as his absence in the loss Wednesday.

Defense

20-62.  That’s the combined makes and attempts for Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith against the Bucks.  For those that aren’t math whizzes, that means Milwaukee held three of Denver’s best offensive players to 32% shooting.  The collective efforts of Delfino, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Salmons, Brandon Jennings and Thomas were terrific.  With Bogut’s minutes limited due to foul trouble, the Bucks were allowing more offensive rebounds than they usually do, but somehow were able to keep it together defensively.  I’ll give a lot of credit to the wing players for their effort on Billups and Anthony, but it’s hard for me to quantify Kurt Thomas’ impact.  He was clogging up the middle on defense and being physical with the Nuggets.  That makes a huge difference.  The team that showed up for the Bucks Saturday and brought buckets of defensive intensity, physicality and effort is a lot closer to the team the Bucks will be come playoff time.

• The Nuggets shoot a lot of free-throws and the Bucks are a very aggressive defensive team.  That spelled disaster heading into Saturday’s game and played out as everyone expected.  Denver shot 30-38 from the free-throw line while the Bucks were just 23-28.  Considering Milwaukee was out-fouling Denver 14-5 at one point that isn’t such a big difference.  The Bucks seem to be getting better at this as the season’s gone on and the acquisition of Salmons has only helped.  He’s denying the straight line penetration guys like Tyreke Evans and Carmelo Anthony could have got earlier this year.

Final Thoughts

After a 2-1 trip out West, Milwaukee now has five straight at home.  That’s a big deal.  Milwaukee’s been incredibly tough to beat in Milwaukee and have got to be flying high after the big wins against Sacramento and Denver.  I can only imagine that the Bucks suspect they’re the third best team in the East and a team with that sort of confidence and their defensive intensity is dangerous.  And fun too.  For proof that these guys are having a blast right now we need look no further than Scott Skiles after Saturday’s improbable win.  Rarely will you see him so much as crack a smile, but Skiles was slapping his guys on the back and on the receiving end of a headlock from Carlos Delfino.

It reminded me of the 2001 season, when Tim Thomas grew so fond of rubbing George Karl’s head after wins.  Those were good times.

And so are these.

Related posts:

1. Game Six Preview: Bucks vs. Nuggets It all starts with Anthony. 'Melo dropped 33 on the...
2. A statement game: Bucks 108 – Nuggets 102 Was this a big win? I'd say. The Bucks hadn't...
3. No Signature Yet: Magic 99 – Bucks 82 One thing was very clear by the end of Tuesday...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A trait you’ll often see in the best point guards is the ability to know when to get others involved and when to take shots themselves.  Often, early in the game they like to get their teammates involved, get them in rhythm and comfortable.  If the other guys are feeling it, that makes a point guard’s night much easier.  As the game goes on the best point guards may take things upon themselves a little bit more though, if things are getting tense and the team needs a big basket or two, the greats have always had the ability to turn the meter to 11 and guide their team to victory.  So what’s the best way to explain what Brandon Jennings did against Denver?

First quarter:  0 points 4 assists

Fourth quarter: 14 points 0 assists

He knew when it was time for him to take over.

Offense

• Jennings led the Bucks with 32 points, nine assists, four rebounds and one clutch play after the next to keep the Bucks ahead in the fourth.  With four minutes to go and the Bucks up one, Jennings hit two threes a minute apart before sinking six free throws in the last 20 seconds to seal the deal for Milwaukee.  What was even more impressive was his demeanor at the line.  Jennings was laughing and yucking it up … in a two point game!  He looked like he was shooting around with his friends!  Brandon on the second three he hit in the fourth and the free throws:

I was feeling it from the first one and I knew it was in once it left my hands.  Before the game I try and get (to the Bradley Center) early and shoot about a hundred free throws before the game starts.  I hit a lot, about 90.

• Jennings wasn’t the only Buck on Wednesday night.   Andew Bogut continued his stretch of stellar play, dropping 23 and 10 to go along with four blocks and a steal.  Nene had nothing for Bogut, who was getting great looks from Jennings early and showing off his soft touch all game.  In the third quarter Bogut got tangled up with Carmelo Anthony (and the most foolish double technical ever was issued, really Bogut fouled Anthony who was very frustrated (more on that later) and then Anthony shoved him, but he’s ‘Melo so it was a double tech) and it looked like the tides might be turning as the game got more physical.  But Bogut led the Bucks through a potential rough patch, finishing the quarter with six points and four rebounds.  When it got physical Bogut never backed down.  His presence as a leader was clear.

• Off the bench, Ersan Ilyasova contributed 17 points and eight rebounds.  On his first three pointer, Kenyon Martin didn’t even bother getting a hand up to defend him.  It was almost like K-Mart had no idea who this was or that he could shoot.  Ersan made them pay the rest of the game, finishing 3-3 from behind the arc and 5-8 overall.  The Bucks bench surprisingly outscored the Nuggets backups 35-25 thanks to Ersan and ten points out of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. But LRMAM’s biggest contribution came on the other side of the ball.

Defense

• LRMAM hasn’t been great this year.  He’d looked a bit out of sorts, he looked like he was worrying about his jumper some, he looked a little bit lost before tonight.  But against Carmelo Anthony, one of the best offensive players in the league, LRMAM looked right at home.  I kept track of the Bucks work on Anthony all night, and here’s what I came out with:

Not a bad effort out of the guy Bucks fans are hyping as one of the better defender in the league.  This is exactly why we fans are so high on LRMAM.  Not only was he able to get him off his game, he got in Anthony’s feelings a little bit too (actually, on the technical Brandon Jennings and ‘Melo began talking at half court.  When I asked Jennings what was said he replied, “I just told him to calm down.  I said hey, that’s my teammate, you can’t be hurting him.  ‘Melo’s a cool guy, we got that Oak Hill connection).  There were a few times Anthony was obviously frustrated by LRMAM’s defense and the refs lack of bail out calls that resulted in him forcing shots or turning it over.  LRMAM wouldn’t take the credit though:

Those guys (Carmelo) only get frustrated for a minute and then their confidence goes back up.  You just have to try and slow them down and keep frustrating and keep frustrating them.  You have to try and keep them from catching it where they want to, it’s a whole team thing.  We did a great job  playing team defense and getting stops when we needed.

• Bogut didn’t take any charges in this one, but he blocked four shots with authority and led a Bucks team that out rebounded the Nuggets 46-37.  The Bucks strength in the paint was a big reason they were able to control this one from start to finish.  In Chicago on Tuesday night, the Nuggets dominated points in the paint 46-34.  Against the Bucks they still won that category, but only 44-40.  The Bucks gave up nothing easy inside.

• Alas, not all news is good news.  The Bucks were the last team in the NBA to allow their opposition to reach 100 points in a game.  But when the opposition shoots 39% in doing so, I guess even Scott Skiles will live with that.

Was this a big win?  I’d say.  Now 4-2, the Bucks hadn’t beaten anyone significant heading into Wednesday night’s win.  Now?  They have a bit of a feather for their cap. Skiles talked about dominating at home before last Saturday’s game against New York and to do that, it’s important to blow out the bad teams and beat the good teams.  This is a step in the right direction.  When asked if this was a statement game Jennings started saying yes, but stopped in his tracks to re-phrase what this win means:

Well, actually tonight was just a big game for us.  It’s a team that went to the Western Conference finals last year and we wanted to come in here and prove that we’re able to compete with those types of teams.  Bogut played a hell of a game tonight.  Hey, if he keeps doing that we’ll keep winning a lot of game.

And if you keep putting up 32 and 9, the games may start to mean more and more.

Related posts:

1. Game Six Preview: Bucks vs. Nuggets It all starts with Anthony. 'Melo dropped 33 on the...
2. That Signature Road Win You Hear So Much About: Bucks 102 – Nuggets 97 Recap/Box Score After intensity lagged considerably against the Clippers and...
3. Game 74 Preview: Bucks at Cavs Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 41-32 At Cleveland Cavaliers (Mike...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

(Likely) Inactives: Johan Petro

At

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 3-2

(Likely) Inactives: Michael Redd, Joe Alexander and Francisco Elson

Game Time: 7:00

TV: Fox Sports Wisconsin

Match-ups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Chauncey Billups

Billups is the ideal result of any combo point guard in the league.  He bounced around, people weren’t sure if he was a scorer or a passer, but he figured things out about six years into his career.  The idea of Chauncey Billups is probably as intimidating as any match-up for point guards in the league.  Billups is the go-to-guy whenever someone is describing a veteran, muscley, big, winning point guard.  Upon arriving in Denver last year, Billups changed the culture and held players accountable as defenders and teammates.  At 33, Billups is still going strong thanks to a game that relies on strength and smarts rather than speed.  Jennings will learn a lot by watching the tape of this one when it’s done.

Advantage: Nuggets

Shooting Guard

Charlie Bell vs. Aaron Afflalo

Bell and Afflalo essentially need to be the same player.  Both are expected to play good defense and hit open shots.  Neither really needs to create much and both have someone more capable of providing offense backing them up.  They are simply counted on to be more consistent (if less explosive) than the guys backing them up and keep the ball moving.  They both fill their roles fairly well and will likely see decreases in playing time as “Earl” (I’ll explain in the bench section) and Jodie Meeks get more acclimated to this season.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward

Carlos Delfino vs. Carmelo Anthony

If the season were to end right now, it Anthony would be on the short list of names on the MVP ballot.  Anthony ranks third in the league in PER, second in scoring, second in field goals, free throws made and attempted.  On top of all of this, Anthony has cut his turnovers by nearly one per game.  His offensive rating is an all time  high ten points higher than his defensive (118-108).  Simply put, Anthony is a beast this year.  Carlos Delfino is not, but he did hit two threes in the first quarter against the Knicks, so he’s got that going for him.  I’d expect Delfino to see fewer minutes than Luc Richard Mbah a Moute in this one though, as long as LRMAM performs like last year’s LRMAM and not the struggling version that has shown up this year.  LRMAM may give the Bucks a better chance of slowing the powerhouse Anthony regardless of which version shows up.

Advantage: Nuggets (I emphasize ADVANTAGE here too)

Power Forward

Hakim Warrick vs. Kenyon Martin

Martin is a stronger more ideal version of Hakim Warrick.  Or at least he was.  Martin is not the athlete he once was and shoots an ever increasing amount of perimeter jumpers with varying degrees of success.  Martin has taken more shots from 16-23 feet this year than he’s taken at the rim.  The Martin of six or seven years ago was much better offensively, but Martin hasn’t lost much on defense.  Martin can still catch lobs and throw down in traffic, but not with the same regularity he once did after two serious knee surgeries.  Warrick’s dunks have been a terrific source of energy time and again for the Bucks and he’s been crashing the boards on offense with great regularity.

Advantage: Nuggets

Center

Andrew Bogut vs. Nene

Nene lead the league last year in true shooting percentage (takes into account two’s, three’s and free throws) and, remarkably, is doing even better in this category this season.  The biggest difference in Bogut and Nene’s offense is that Nene gets to the line more and converts at a higher rate.  He’s taken 28 more free throws than Bogut and shoots at a rate that is nearly 20% better.  Nene is fourth in the league in free throw attempts per field goal attempts.  Nene is also a great athlete able to run the floor and stay with the up-tempo Nuggets.  Plus he beat cancer, which is extra cool.  This will be a very good test for Bogut after a few strong games in a row.

Advantage: Nuggets

Bench

Luke Ridnour, Jodie Meeks, LRMAM, Ersan Ilyasova and Dan Gadzuric

vs.

“Earl” Smith III, Ty Lawson, Anthony Carter, Chris Anderson

Who is “Earl” Smith III?  J.R. Smith has emerged from his season opening seven game suspension with a supposed new outlook and a request for a new name.  J.R. wants to be referred to as “Earl III” from now on (it’s his given name).  I will acquiesce to his request.  Call him what you may, he’s part of a very talented Nugget bench.  Smith can put up 40 on any given night, Ty Lawson is one of two rookie point guards with a higher PER than Brandon Jennings and Chris Anderson is one of the best rebounders and shot blockers that doesn’t start in the entire league.  The Bucks counter with their five deep rotation of defenders and role players.

Advantage: Nuggets

Prediction: Bucks 103 – Nuggets 107

This one may be a wake-up call for the Bucks after a couple of teams that looked like they would have problems scoring in an empty gym in Minnesota and New York.  The Nuggets are third in the league in offensive rating (though sure to drop after a poor performance in a win in Chicago Tuesday) and seventh in pace.  This year they’ve had games in which they’ve scored 133, 111 and 122.  They get up and down and score with efficiency.  It all starts with Anthony.  ‘Melo dropped 33 on the Bucks in their meeting last February and got to the free throw line 16 times.  That’s been a problem for the Bucks again this year and should be a focus for the Nuggets.  The Bucks showed they do have some scoring punch against the Knicks and they’ll need all of it against a not-so-great defensively Nuggets team to keep up.

Related posts:

1. Game Three Preview: Bucks @ Bulls This is a match-up not so dissimilar from opening night...
2. Game Five Preview: Bucks vs. Knicks Match-Ups Point Guard Brandon Jennings vs. Chris Duhon The Knicks...
3. Game Two Preview: Bucks vs. Pistons What better way to get the bad taste of an...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.