Earl Barron

Once finished a play
Coming out of timeout. Sad.
Clear role, in swamp O.

He was only in Milwaukee briefly, playing in seven March games, but he did well what he does.  He crashed the offensive glass and made mid-range jumpers.  He made seven of 16 shots from 16-23 feet and half of his 14 attempts at the rim.  On the Bucks, those qualified as stunning offensive numbers.  And it was a small sample size, but his 16% offensive rebound rate led the team.

Andrew Bogut

Kept on keeping on,
Through sickness and injury.
Offensive struggles.

So that was the season after the injury.  He struggled through the first few months, wore a bulky elbow pad and had us looking away as he missed free throw after free throw.  But he kept trotting out there every night, anchoring a terrific defense and occasionally contributing something offensively.  Next season will be an important one for Bogut.  It’s probably going to be the season where we all find out if he’s ever going to be an All-Star or not.  He’s had another surgery, it’s supposedly gone well and he should have most of the summer to work on his game.  Hopefully we’ll be able to tell in November.

Earl Boykins

Scores like a rabbit
Couldn’t be reliable.
Could be electric.

He won the Laker game.  And he did the same against the Kings.  And he did it a few more times, because that’s kind of what Earl Boykins does.  That’s why Boykins is such a quality third point guard.  He doesn’t need to play every night and won’t make much of a stink if he doesn’t.  But when he’s called on, Earl is ready.  That’s commendable.  On more than one occasion, Scott Skiles referred to Boykins as the best shooter on the team.  Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for him to get his shot off without a little bit of trickery or ball-handling involved.  And therein lies the reason Boykins is what he is: fun.

Jon Brockman

Monster from the West
Taking charges on the court.
Takes charge off the court.

Brockman’s most memorable moments came before the season and towards the end of it.  His burger and his video are what everyone will most remember about the undersized, powerful backup center/power forward.  

There was some concern heading into the 10-11 season that Brockman was neither big enough nor talented enough to handle the backup center position, especially with Bogut coming off such a gruesome injury.  Those concerns ended up being valid.  But don’t blame Brockman.  He competed all season and gave us some moments to enjoy.  That can’t be said about everyone on this team.

Carlos Delfino

Health concerns were real.
Returned, brought hope to masses.
Too much asked of him.

While Delfino sat out 33 games early in the season, he represented hope as the team sputtered to unfathomable lows offensively.  Soon he’d return, we all said, and when he does, he’ll bring the offense back to life with his shooting.  That was a lot to ask out of a pretty good three-point shooter who doesn’t do a ton else.  It was too much to ask.  Delfino isn’t Kobe or LeBron, he looked primarily like a spot-up shooter who could thrive as just that.  While that helped the Bucks, it wasn’t all the team needed.  So much more was needed.

Keyon Dooling

A spirited soul
On team devoid of leaders.
Half what was needed.

Skiles recently bemoaned the lack of leadership in the Bucks locker room this season.  The addition of youth and the quiet Boykins on the end of the bench was paired with the Dooling pickup last summer.  Dooling has some serious leadership chops, but no one can do it all by themselves.  Every young player on the team noted Dooling as a positive influence at one point or another.  Unfortunately, Dooling struggled with his shot throughout the year and was largely ineffective on offense.  It’s great that he is a positive influence, but it would have been even better if he was a positive on the court.

Chris Douglas-Roberts

In like a lion.
Soon we heard nothing from him.
Out like a burglar.

On goes the CD-R roller coaster.  It was cool to see what many of us saw as a promising young prospect expressing his joy about a trade to Milwaukee.  It was fun to see his unorthodox style occasionally pile up the points.  But not often did he separate himself from a fairly woeful pack this season.  CD-R will move on this summer and may land in a spot more suitable for him.  Hopefully he finds a home eventually.

Drew Gooden

The face of failure.
Next season, much rests on him.
The face of success.

Gooden’s bloated contract looks like a potential albatross.  It’s a symbol those calling for the ousting of John Hammond point to.  But Gooden can still make right.  In theory, he seems like a great dance partner for Bogut.  His passing is probably underrated and, while his shot-selection is questionable, he has undeniable talents.  If he stays healthy next season, he could make a big difference for the Bucks.  Or he could prove that his contract was a mistake.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

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But sometimes there’s more to it than that.  It’s simpler.  Or it’s more complicated. It depends how you want to frame it.  Whatever the case is, it seems like a good idea to go back through both the coach’s history and the player’s history to add some context to the situation.

That’s why I never really understood why people were often so adamant that Chris Douglas-Roberts should have been playing more minutes in Milwaukee as last season wound down.  Maybe it had something to do with his enthusiasm last summer about coming to Milwaukee.  As a city, we’re not the prettiest girl at the dance, so we generally get pretty excited when anyone is talking about us to their friends, even if it’s that guy who just had a nasty break-up with his ex and trashed her on the way out.

But the team seemed ready to move on from CD-R by late January.  Some thought that was crazy, others seemed to understand it.  Our initial feelings aside, there’s so much happening with a team that we’re not seeing.

We don’t see players read their scouting reports.  We don’t see them practice.  We don’t see them arriving for planes or interact with their teammates.  Even those of us in the media catch them only at the tail end of their days or for brief moments before games.  Rarely is the curtain pulled back completely in the NBA.

So to assume so blindly that Scott Skiles was ever unfair to CD-R seems odd to me.  That’s where context comes in.  Just a year ago I had an opportunity to chat with Kelvin Sampson at summer league and I asked him what it was about Skiles that had everyone buzzing about him the previous season.  The word he kept using?  Fair.  It was the word pouring out of the locker room all season whenever anyone was asked what Coach Skiles was doing right.  He was being fair.

To think that Skiles would throw that out the window when the chips were down this season seems a little far fetched.  CD-R had his chances early.  An eye injury set him back, but he saw plenty of minutes while we all wondered whether or not Carlos Delfino would ever recover from an early season concussion.  While Delfino was out, CD-R averaged roughly 24 minutes per game and apparently failed to make much of an impression.  When CD-R scored, he did it in bunches.  Seven times he scored in double figures, three times he did it back to back and on one occasion managed three such games in a row.

But he failed to produce consistently.  17 times he failed to crack double digits and he provided little in the way of rebounding or assists.  In short: We saw as many zero point games as we saw 30-point games.  The highs were too often matched with lows.

Defensively, we’re not discussing a premier defender.  He didn’t dramatically hurt the team defensively, but he did little to help either.  By the time Delfino returned, CD-R had failed to establish himself as dependable offensively and certainly didn’t stand out defensively.

With Milwaukee focused on getting Delfino and John Salmons going, CD-R was battling for backup two guard minutes with Keyon Dooling. Dooling often looked like the best teammate the Bucks had and always competed harder than everyone else on defense, constantly spreading out his arms, keeping his hands up and challenging opponents.  Dooling struggled on offense, but he was reliable defensively.  Skiles appeared to side with the guy who was dependable on one end and knew where he should be on the other.  Maybe Dooling’s ceiling wasn’t as high, this season or in the future, as CD-R’s, but he was reliable and prepared.  Two things that it appears from the outside that CD-R wasn’t.

Maybe he’ll get there.  To his credit, CD-R seems to be handling himself with maturity and grace as he prepares to exit Milwaukee.  That’s a great step for him, as he torched every bridge he could on his way out of New Jersey last season.  He seems to be realistic about things.  He saw the numbers in front of him, saw Salmons’ contract and Delfino’s prior relationship with Skiles and understood what was going on.

But CD-R can learn from this too.  One of the most important lessons to learn in the NBA is being prepared.  Those who take advantage of opportunity hang around a lot longer than those who don’t.  It didn’t work out for him in Milwaukee, but if he can take what he’s learned from this experience and combine it with the same enthusiasm he had last summer, some team may be buying in on CD-R at the right time.

It just won’t be the Bucks.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

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Player A averaged 18.3 points two years ago, but has never been within two points of that total for any other entire season of his career.  He came into the league as a point guard but quickly moved over to the wing in his rookie season.  His career assist percentage is 15.5, so he’s seen as a guy who keeps the ball moving on offense.  Solid is the word that most often describes his defense.  He’s not a bad guy to have around and he can occasionally carry a team.

Player B is a serious scoring threat.  Per 36 minutes, he’s averaged 20 points for his career.  A stat-geek’s best friend, his true shooting percentage and PER are always better than league average.  Though he’s traditionally not a strong outside shooter, he’s made better than 36% of his threes this season.  With each new stop, his defensive reputation precedes him and he’s seen as selfish offensively, despite a sterling locker room reputation.

Player A has played at least 30 minutes in all but six games he’s played in this season, while Player B has managed only 13 such games this season, his most recent coming February 11.

By now, you know I’m referring to John Salmons and Corey Maggette. At least you probably know, and you probably knew immediately.  But you’re probably wondering why I’d be comparing these two.  Salmons has spent the majority of his season at the two, while Maggette is more a three.  Whenever Carlos Delfino has been healthy this season, he’s been Maggette’s main competitor for minutes, not Salmons.  But this isn’t about competition.  It’s actually about last season and how sample size affected the Bucks.

For 30 games last season, John Salmons was everything the Bucks could have ever wanted at the two guard.  He slashed, he finished, he made threes, he found teammates and he closed out games.  More than anyone else, Salmons was responsible for the team that earned the Fear The Deer moniker and had everyone talking about the Bucks.  This was the second season in a row that Salmons took off after a mid-February trade, so there was some reason to be skeptical regarding how productive he would be in the season following.  But he seemed such a natural fit for Scott Skiles wing reliant offense.  He could create and score, that’s an ideal Skiles two guard.

This season, the bottom has fallen out for Salmons.  He showed up to training camp and immediately suffered a knee injury.  He missed all of pre-season and still occasionally seems as though he hasn’t recovered.  Any explosion he had last season looks sapped and all of the difficult shots he so regularly made last season haven’t gone down this one.  After hitting 47% of his shots for the Bucks last season, Salmons has made just 40% this season.

The most frustrating moments with Salmons come on nights like Saturday.  In a meaningless game, Salmons drops in 19 points and eight assists, but ends up with two turnovers and a missed shot in the final 5:33.  The Bucks have needed him to step up all season, and occasionally have gotten terrific overall lines that indicate he’s moving the ball and playing well, but haven’t gotten the same fourth quarter production out of him.  But that hasn’t changed much about Salmons role.

He’s still relied on nearly heavily as he was last season, as evidenced by only a slight drop in his usage with the Bucks last season to this one (22.7 to 20.8).  And his minutes haven’t much been impacted either.  After averaging 37.6 minutes per game with the Bucks for the final 30 last year, he’s notched 35 minutes per game this season, despite being significantly less productive.

So that begs the question: What would Salmons have to do to land in Maggette’s predicament?  Walk off the court?  Gain possession and roll the ball out of bounds continuously?  Last season’s stretch run seems to have bought Salmons an incredible amount of faith, as much as any other player on the Bucks.  40, 50 and 60 game samples this season have largely resulted in an unproductive set of data regarding Salmons, but he’s continued to receive big minutes for a team that hasn’t been performing.

This probably speaks to how desperate things have been for the Bucks and how little other shooting guards on the team have stepped up.  The opportunity has been there for Chris Douglas-Roberts, but he apparently hasn’t done enough to earn his coach’s trust.  And I’m not speaking solely in terms of what’s going on on the court.  Something that John Salmons is doing each and every day is keeping him on the court for big minutes.  Coach Skiles and players on the team have spoken about this group not being prepared on a number of occasions this season.  Perhaps Salmons is taking those steps while the Bucks reserves haven’t quite figured out how to keep themselves as ready mentally and physically as their coach would prefer.

Whatever the case may be, Milwaukee’s suffered badly at the shooting guard this season as Salmons has struggled.  For now, it’s easy to look back on that 30 game sample and curse the good fortune that came with it.  But perhaps there is a silver lining.  After seeing what hasn’t worked this season, maybe the Bucks will address their depth issues and find a more productive backup guard, ready to push Salmons if he slumps again next season.  Maybe the Bucks will luck out in the lottery and find a swingman equally as capable of the scoring and distributing duties Salmons once took to so easily.  If that’s the case, this season will be the aberration.

But however you want to look at it, there’s been no comparing this season’s Bucks to last season’s.  And that starts with John Salmons.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

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In the comments section of this post, leave your prediction for tonight’s Bucks-Nets game.  Final score and both team’s top scorers.  The winner will receive FOUR tickets to Sunday’s Bucks-Knicks game in section 111, row GGG.

Don’t feel any pressure to pick Milwaukee either.  If you think they’ll lose, then you think they’ll lose.  I’m looking for the closest pick, not the homeriest pick (yes, I made that word up).

Onto a few quick notes about tonight’s game.

• New Jersey is 5-4 since having acquired Deron Williams in a surprising trade with the Utah Jazz.  While Williams hasn’t shot particularly well (33%), he’s averaged 13.7 assists per game, a number that would qualify as his career high if he could maintain it over the course of  a season.

• Williams is the sizable yet quick sort of point guard that can really bother Milwaukee’s slender Brandon Jennings. Williams is averaging 22 points and 10.5 assists against Milwaukee this season and shooting 55.6%.  Keeping him out of the paint is always a challenge, and will be a primary focus of Milwaukee’s defense again.  Especially with dangerous shooters like Anthony Morrow and Sasha Vujacic around him.

• After missing Wednesday’s game with a migraine, Andrew Bogut should return against the Nets.  The Bucks got little in the way of big man scoring against the Magic with Bogut out, so they will likely look to establish him inside early and often.  Coming off a 21-point effort, hopes were high for Bogut on Wednesday, and they’ll remain high for him against the Nets on Friday.
• Chris Douglas-Roberts had managed to play at least two minutes in seven straight games before Milwaukee’s loss to the Magic on Wednesday.  He was unable to make much of a difference in Milwaukee’s two worst losses, to the Celtics and Hawks, but we can hardly blame him for that, no one on the Bucks made much of a difference in those games.  He’s worth mentioning when the Bucks play the Nets, as he had one of his strongest games of the season against his former team on his birthday in January.  If Milwaukee needs an offensive boost tonight, it’s possible he could be granted an opportunity once again.

• With things going the way they have of late, it’s tough to ever feel confident about a Bucks win heading into a game.  But Milwaukee’s been strong against the Nets this season.  At least the pre-Williams version.  Williams is the type of player who makes a major impact on every game he plays in though and has transformed the Nets from miserable to middling simply by putting on a jersey.  If he bumps up his shooting percentage and keeps his assists at a high level, he turns the Nets into a legitimate eighth seed contender as soon as next season.  These certainly aren’t the Nets Milwaukee has walked over this season.

Prediction: Bucks 94 – Nets 87

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Not all these players are created equal though.  Some are veterans, some are rookies.  Some are big men, some are guards.  Some lack enough skills to earn regular minutes, while some have virtually no skill at all.

Often they earn the hearts of their team’s fans by not playing.  That’s right, these guys become fan favorites, not for what they are doing, but for what they aren’t doing.  They become the underdog, the guy who is denied an opportunity.  For a team like the Bucks (read: a team that has numerous players under-performing night in and night out), these players catch on even quicker.

The logic isn’t difficult to follow: “If John Salmons keeps playing this bad every night, why isn’t Chris Douglas-Roberts getting more of an opportunity?”  This isn’t crazy.  CD-R was a very good scorer in college, showed flashes last season and has had a couple 30-point games this season.  He suddenly dropped out of the rotation as January was ending just five games after his last 30-point effort.  Since his benching, he’s become something of a cult figure among Bucks fans.

But I think there’s a science to picking and choosing which players that have been relegated to the bench should be most adored.  It’s worthwhile to hope your favorite team starts playing some guys, while other guys are more or less a lost cause.

And I don’t mean to write CD-R off as an NBA player.  I just mean to write him off as a meaningful member of the Milwaukee Bucks.  But I don’t blame him.  It’s more them than him.

The two biggest case studies this season in players buried on the end of the Bucks bench have been CD-R and Larry Sanders.  I’ve delved into CD-R’s stretch a bit already.  Sanders minutes were so limited through January and February, that he eventually earned a demotion down to the D-League simply to get him some playing time.  All while Jon Brockman was figuring regularly into the rotation.

That’s one of the two biggest differences in the CD-R and Sanders situations.  CD-R is currently behind, in some order, Carlos Delfino, Corey Maggette, Salmons and Keyon Dooling as a Bucks wing.  Dooling has been splitting his minutes between the one and two for some time; Coach Skiles feels very confident in him as a two and he’s played there frequently throughout his career.  That’s four guys in front of CD-R, all of whom are signed up for at least one more season in Milwaukee.  CD-R is in the last year of his rookie minimum deal.

Sanders meanwhile, bounces between the four and five, where Andrew Bogut, Drew Gooden, Ersan Ilyasova and Brockman reside.  Sanders primary competition as backup center is Brockman, an undersized, limited upside banger.  Brockman isn’t the worst player in the NBA, but it’s unlikely a team is going to have a lot of success with the 6-foot-6 Brockman playing center.  Physically, there’s nothing he can do that anyone else in the Bucks front-court can’t do.

That’s where Sanders differs from Brockman and where CD-R doesn’t really differ from the Bucks other wings.  Sanders makes plays no one else on the Bucks can make.  Against the Suns last Friday, in one motion Sanders missed a short jump-hook, grabbed the offensive rebound, moved to the opposite side of the basket and dunked.  The whole thing happened in less than two seconds and showed the combination of length, quickness and power that’s unique to Sanders on the Bucks.  Each time he plays, it’s a learning experience.

CD-R isn’t blessed with those kinds of gifts.  His truest talent is what he can do in isolation.  He keeps his dribble alive often and finds seems into which he can drive.  His vision is limited to the basket though, so he’s not creating for anyone but himself.  And he doesn’t have the athleticism to do anything other than attempt very difficult shots when he is able to get into the paint.  So he’s a lot like John Salmons.  But even less consistent.

Sure, he’s only in his second year, so there’s some hope that CD-R can get better, and I’m sure he will.  He’s improved greatly as a shooter from last season.  But he’s not suddenly going to become a special player.  And I’m not so sure Larry Sanders will either.  But there’s a least a chance Sanders becomes a difference maker on most nights.  That’s the kind of guy you hate to see wasting away on the end of a bench for a team 10+ games below .500.

That’s the kind of guy worth being freed.  Now that Bogut is ready to roll and will return to the lineup, Sanders will likely head back to the bench for the Bucks, but hopefully not for Tuesday’s entire game, or any extended period of time.

And so long as we’re hoping, let’s hope too that CD-R is eventually able to find a spot in someone’s rotation down the line, so he’ll be able to get in the good graces of fans for what he is doing, rather than what he isn’t.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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Milwaukee had just come out of a timeout, a full timeout, and ended up with one of the worst shots they’ve attempted all season.  Without question the worst one I’ve seen them produce after a timeout.  This is a team that ran one of the finest sets of the year earlier this season in Boston in a late game situation.  Milwaukee is certainly capable of running effective offense.  More often than not though, four players seem content watching one try and go one on one.

When Milwaukee is moving the ball and players are moving without the ball, they have success.  Shots open up that way.  Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t, but at least the offense is active and engaged.  The worst kind of offense is one where there is initial movement followed by stationary basketball and one on one play.

The worst kind of offense, is this right here.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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Enemy: Hoopinion

Point Guard
Keyon Dooling vs. Mike Bibby

We’ve been over this a time or two.  Dooling: defense.  Bibby: offense.  Fortunately for Milwaukee, Dooling’s a better offensive player than Bibby is a defensive player.  Especially lately.  Dooling’s connected on 43.2% of his threes this month and 41.6% of his shots overall.  Injuries to Brandon Jennings and John Salmons have forced Dooling into a much bigger role over the past month and a half and for the most part, he’s responded well.  Defensively there are some players he matches up with better than others, but he’s always competitive at that end.  Earlier in the season his shooting was an adventure, but he’s normalized over the past month.  Dooling’s had plenty of criticism come his way this season, but he’s been more than adequate as Milwaukee’s number two point guard.

Advantage: Bucks

Shooting Guard
Chris Douglas-Roberts vs. Joe Johnson

CD-R is tough to peg.  The last time he scored 30 points, he followed that up with games of 24 points and 0 points.  Before his 30 point game in Chicago, he failed to score in 15 minutes against Memphis.  His successes seem to have something to do with him getting in good shots early, and then playing enough defense to stay on the court while he’s hot.  There’s no question, at times, that CD-R can be the Bucks best scorer.  But like many of his teammates, he’s searching for consistency.  Johnson has found consistency.  He’s averaging better than 26 points per game this month while shooting better than 50%.  He could alter CD-R’s night rather quickly with a strong start that sends Milwaukee’s mercurial shooting guard to the bench.

Advantage: Hawks

Small Forward
Corey Maggette vs. Josh Smith

Maggette’s been bothered by a sore hand lately, which he said contributed to his passive play against Memphis.  He played just 20 minutes against Chicago and only attempted four shots, so it appears the hand may still be bothering him.  Most of Maggette’s shot attempts are spot-up jump shots.  He said after the Memphis game that his hand hurt when he shot, so if Maggette’s feeling those effects on the majority of his shots, his accuracy could be an issue.  As is, Maggette’s making just 37.5% of his spot up attempts, a poor number that could get worse before it gets better due to his injury.

Advantage: Hawks

Power Forward
Ersan Ilyasova vs. Al Horford

Horford should be back from injury just in time to matchup with the Bucks.  He’s too quick for Ilyasova outside and strong enough to muscle him inside.  And he has a feathery touch on his mid-range jumper.  So, yeah, he’s going to be a problem for the Bucks power forward.  Best case scenario is that Ilyasova keeps Horford from doing too much damage on the glass and gets his jump shot going early.  When Ilyasova is playing confident, it makes a world of difference and can turn him into an impact player.  Milwaukee could use one of those to balance out Horford.

Advantage: Hawks

Center
Andrew Bogut vs. Jason Collins

The Hawks went with Zaza Pachulia as their starting center after their offensive debacle in New Orleans, so he could get the call again against the Bucks.  Collins has had moderate success against Milwaukee this season though, posting an ultra-rare double digit rebounding game in Milwaukee earlier this season.  Slowly but surely, Bogut’s rebounding numbers are creeping ahead of his scoring numbers as he continues to struggle offensively.  Aside from tap-ins around the rim and the occasional hook, it’s tough to rely on Bogut to do much consistently while he battles the virus that’s bothering him.  He tweeted that the virus that’s troubling him won’t be going away any time soon either.

Advantage: Bucks

Bench
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Earl Boykins, Garrett Temple, Larry Sanders and Carlos Delfino

vs.

Jamal Crawford, Zaza Pachulia, Marvin Williams and Maurice Evans

Without Jennings, Salmons or Drew Gooden, Milwaukee’s bench look awfully thin.  Garrette Temple, newly signed D-League veteran, could provide a boost on the wing.  He’s more defender than scorer, but could surprise.  If he can hit an open jump shot, he can play for the Bucks.  Delfino’s been struggling to make any shot at all since his return from a concussion, but certainly hasn’t been shy about shooting.  He’s made seven of 28 from the field since returning, and just two of 16 from behind the arc.  Atlanta’s bench starts with Jamal Crawford, the explosive scorer, but will get a boost from the returning Marvin Williams.  As the Bucks struggle for health, the Hawks have healed up.  Perfect.

Advantage: Hawks

Prediction: Hawks 103 – Bucks 90

Atlanta is a talented team that’s finally gotten healthy.  Milwaukee’s not quite so talented and just as unhealthy as they’ve been all season.  Plus, the Bucks have struggled all season to defend their home court, something they did very well a year ago.  Coming into Wednesday’s game, the Bucks are just 9-10 at home.  Add that all up and Milwaukee could be in danger of falling a season low 11 games under .500.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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Sometimes it’s just a quarter, sometimes a half, sometimes three quarters, but rarely this season have the Bucks been able to put together 48 minutes of their best basketball against good teams.  Wednesday night would be no different.

After taking a 51-43 lead into halftime, they made just 31% of their shots in the second half.  What’s unfortunate is how typical that’s been of this team.  A miserable third quarter in which they connected on just four of 17 shots wasn’t as shocking as it sounds.  After two strong offensive performances against the Heat and Nets and three days of rest thanks to the winter storm in Atlanta, instead of looking refreshed in the second half, the Bucks looked out of sorts and incapable of hanging with a determined Spurs squad.

When talking to reporters after the game, Earl Boykins aptly described the differences between the Bucks and Spurs.

“San Antonio, they’re one of the few teams that no matter what, they don’t have the peaks and valleys,” Boykins said. “They just play consistent basketball for 48 minutes, and we didn’t do that and it showed.”

Instead of “we didn’t do that” Boykins could have said “we rarely do that” or “against good teams we don’t do that.”  A blown lead against the Spurs qualifies as yet another moral victory though for the Bucks.  Give them that, they are really cornering the market on those.  But the time for moral victories has passed.  Milwaukee will not have another chance to beat a real good team at home until January 26th when the Hawks come back to town.  This was a shining opportunity for the Bucks to take a step towards re-establishing themselves as a feared home court team, but they were unable to put away the talented Spurs.

Milwaukee’s home record has dropped to 8-9, their overall record to 14-22 and their current position in the East to 10th.  This, hopefully, will be the low point of the season.  That’s actually the good news, as it means things will only get better from here on out.

Hopefully.

Offense

The first half often saw Andrew Bogut getting touches inside for the Bucks, be it off offensive rebounds or passes inside to him.  He responded with a very strong first half, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.  He twice scored on offensive rebounds and scored the rest of his points on passes inside to him on possessions in which getting him the ball was a focus.  The second half was a different story though.  Bogut made just one of six shots in the second half and didn’t attempt a shot in the fourth quarter until there was just 31 seconds remaining.  To reiterate: Milwaukee’s leading scorer in the first half attempted just six shots in the second half and didn’t ATTEMPT a shot in the fourth quarter until just 31 seconds remained.  Is it any wonder that the Bucks failed to gain traction in the second half?

Bogut isn’t always a reliable offensive performer, but when he is, he should be featured.  Post game, Coach Scott Skiles said that the Spurs were aggressive in doubling him throughout the second half and that he made a number of nice passes.  But with the Bucks offense struggling, it should be imperative that Milwaukee finds ways to put Bogut in position to succeed on offense.

• It was probably unlikely to expect Chris Douglas-Roberts to match big efforts against the Heat and Nets.  But it was equally unlikely to expect him to have almost no impact on Wednesday’s game whatsoever.  CD-R attempted just two shots, failed to make either, didn’t score and was whistled for four fouls in his 23 minutes.  Not exactly the game he had in mind after blowing up for 30 and 24 points respectively in the last two.

• Milwaukee turned the ball over just two times in the first half, but made up for that with nine in the second half.  They had five turnovers in the first five minutes of the third quarter and saw their lead shrink from eight to three, starting their downward spiral into yet another loss.

• Sometimes it seems as though Corey Maggette is hell bent on making basketball an unwatchable game.  Maggette managed to be involved in 10 fouls, drawing seven and committing three.  This resulted in a five of six effort at the free throw line for him, much better than his two of nine effort from the field.  Maggette finished with nine points in a much more forgettable effort than his strong performance in New Jersey.

Defense

After hitting just one three in the first half, the Spurs managed six in the second half, all while the Bucks launched long twos and drove into the paint without a plan.  To start the fourth quarter, the Spurs attempted and made four threes and one shot in the lane by Matt Bonner off a pump-fake outside the arc.  Meanwhile, the Bucks attempted six shots outside of 10 feet but inside the arc.  Mid-range jumpers aren’t Milwaukee’s strength, but they certainly seem to be their preference.

• Reliable Manu Ginobili scored 23 points and made eight of his 15 shots.  That’s just another night’s work for Ginobili, but would be a herculean effort for virtually anyone on the Bucks.  The only Bucks player that scored in double figures and shot better than 50% on the evening was Bogut.  And he was just one of six in the second half.  Sigh.

• The Spurs are now 16-0 when they shoot a better percentage than the opposition.  Milwaukee is now 6-19 when the opposition shoots a better percentage.  More telling, Milwaukee is now 2-16 when they score less than 90 points.  In 36 games this season, the Bucks have failed to crack 90 in exactly half of them.  That’s a disaster.

Final Thoughts

On this game: the Spurs are very good, the Bucks aren’t as good as they were advertised.  It was difficult to envision a Bucks victory, though their first half effort gave some hope.  But really good teams play well for 48 minutes against nearly every opponent.  The Bucks have trouble with that against the best teams.  Against bad teams?  We’re about to find out, but I think we’ll like what we see.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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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.

Offense

Without Bogut, Milwaukee would need the same strong wing play they got from CD-R and Salmons on Friday.  They got solid play again, but an unlikely source contributed.  Corey Maggette fought through foul trouble and scored 20 points in his first start of the season.  Ersan Ilyasova shifted over to center, Luc Mbah a Moute to power forward and Maggette started at the three.  Maggette scored 20 points in classic Maggette fashion.  A typical season’s Maggette, not this season’s.  He made five of nine shots and connected on 10 of 11 free throws, while turning the ball over just three times.  That’s the Maggette Milwaukee wanted to acquire last summer, not the one who’s often shot under 40% this season and has bowled over opponents and missed on passes time after time.

If he continues this sort of play, Milwaukee’s season could really take off.  It’s curious he had such a strong game, one night after playing under seven minutes, but it goes to show that he’s keeping himself prepared and ready.

• The Bucks connected on a season high 58.3% of their shots thanks to a combination of them finally finding the bottom of the net on jumpers and the Nets playing little to no defense often.  For Milwaukee the little bit of rain ended up in a blizzard of shooting success, as they made 42.9% of their threes and 86.2% of their free throws.

• It’s funny how good ball movement can appear on paper when a team finally starts making shots.  Milwaukee had 27 assists on 42 field goals, some of their finest numbers of the season.  Were they doing anything differently?  No.  They just finally started making some shots.

Defense

The Nets actually managed a respectable 45% shooting, but did most of their work in garbage time.  Where Milwaukee really shined was in limiting the Nets stars.  Brook Lopez scored just five points on two of five shooting despite Bogut’s absence.  Just as well, Travis Outlaw scored just three points on one of seven shooting.

• A night after Bogut tied the team record with 20 defensive rebounds, Ilyasova managed a strong game himself in his first start at center this season.  Ilyasova grabbed 12 defensive rebounds (13 total) and did a very good job helping to limit Lopez all night despite Lopez’s significant size advantage.  Ilyasova chipped in 22 points (10-14 FG) and three steals as well and looked comfortable up front with Mbah a Moute, who played well in his more natural power forward spot.

• Doing what he’s been doing whenever he’s received playing time, Larry Sanders managed three blocks in just 20 minutes.

Final Thoughts

For some time everyone’s suspected things would start to look brighter for the Bucks when the schedule softened, and Saturday night’s game was the first glimpse of what could possible lie ahead.  It’s a bit much to expect the Bucks to roll off 20 point wins every time they face a team that isn’t one of the league’s best, but the team that beat the Nets Saturday certainly looks like one ready to put together some consistent basketball.  That’s been missing all season, but Milwaukee looks ready to start putting together their best basketball at the right time.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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Nights like Friday night illustrate that difference.

Chris Douglas-Roberts is by no means a bad player, neither is John Salmons. But for differing reasons, neither has been able to put together much consistent basketball this season.  Sometimes, they look bad and sometimes, they look good.  Sometimes they look good separately, sometimes they both look good, sometimes they both look bad.  It’s a crap shoot, it’s the Milwaukee Bucks.

Fortunately, with the best team in the NBA in town Friday  night, they both spent large portions of the game looking good. And again showed what Milwaukee’s offense is capable of when it’s firing on all, or most, cylinders.

We’ll start with CD-R, because he was a little earlier to this party.  While Salmons stumbled through the first half, CD-R was absolutely feeling it early.  CD-R scored 15 points in the second quarter, making all but one shot while tossing in all the others in a variety of ways.  His offense was all-inclusive: teardrops, floaters, 3-pointers and free throws all fell for him.  And Milwaukee’s crowd did too, especially after a particularly scrappy hustle play in which he tipped a pass at half court and then wrestled it away from LeBron James before drawing a two shot foul on James.

His hot shooting would not be limited to the second quarter though, as CD-R chipped in X more after halftime.  This is the scorer Milwaukee dreamt they received from New Jersey this off-season, but had only seen sparingly.  And when CD-R has it going, it always helps remove the scoring burden from the shoulders of Salmons.

Salmons has had his ups and downs all season, even when CD-R has played well he’s struggled at times, but he often seems to find his way when he has a little help on the other half of the court.  With attention focused on CD-R and momentum in Milwaukee’s favor after cutting a 12-point Miami first quarter lead to a seven-point halftime deficit, Salmons got going. He scored seven points in the third quarter, making three of four shots, including one very, very difficult finish at the rim.

Both were working well in unison and it was reflected in the box score.  Milwaukee took the third quarter 24-20 and made 50% of their shots as a team.  Meanwhile, they played their usual tough defense and held Miami to 40% shooting.  If only for a quarter, things were looking great for Milwaukee.  After all these games, one frustrating offensive showing after the next, Milwaukee looked like the team everyone hoped they’d be this season.

It was easy to expect their good fortune or solid play, whatever it was, to run out when the fourth quarter began.  Or at least sometime during the fourth quarter.  But CD-R never stopped.  He came within a point of his career high of 31 and made nearly every big shot Milwaukee needed (well, almost, but we’ll get back to that).  And his energy was contagious.  Pretty soon Ersan Ilyasova was flying in for rebounds and putbacks.  And Luc Mbah a Moute was grabbing tough rebounds in traffic.  And Miami’s Big Three got a couple technicals and, oh yeah, Earl Boykins sent the game to overtime with a layup one second before the game ended.

Milwaukee just couldn’t quite pull it out.  Miami’s talent made plays big and small down the stretch, from drives from Dwyane Wade to a tip-in offensive rebound on a free throw by Chris Bosh. Then they got five extra minutes to display all that talent. Beating a good team in overtime is difficult, beating this Heat team in overtime would have been a positively monumental accomplishment.  One the Bucks just weren’t capable of Friday night.

But before Earl “You know what to put here” Boykins did his thing, CD-R and Salmons helped get Milwaukee where they wanted to go. CD-R was great and Salmons was very good.  and they did it together.

I don’t expect this roller coaster of an offense (one filled with an inordinate amount of drops for how few climbs it has) to suddenly get it together every night now.  But I expect more of this when the Bucks schedule softens up.  At least with a little more frequency.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com.  Follow him on Twitter.  Then become a fan on Facebook (in the sidebar).

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