I Think We’re All Thinking The Same Thing: Cavs 101 – Bucks 98
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010Another sign that the Bucks are moving in the right direction as the playoffs are nearing was Scott Skiles’ post game reaction to a question about whether or not he was happy with the team’s effort in a Wednesday night loss to Cleveland.
“It’s not that I don’t care about that right now, but we should have won that game. We gave them that game.”
Moral victories no longer have a stall in the Bucks locker room, be it on the road or at home. These days, the Bucks are only interested in actual, real life, concrete victories. Citing a botched layup attempt rather than a dunk attempt and a missed open three, Skiles was clearly annoyed and it may have had to do with more than just his players’ execution.
The Bucks have had problems with allowing free throw attempts all year, but those numbers reached a new low Wednesday night. The Cavs attempted 45 free throws to the Bucks nine. The Bucks previous largest free throw attempt deficit this season was 22. An exhausted and exasperated John Salmons looked none too pleased about it after the game.
“It’s a discouraging stat. Nine to 45? That’s got to be a record. I don’t want to lose my money.”
Part of Salmons appeal to the Bucks has been his knack for getting to the free-throw line and he was at it again Wednesday, finishing 7-7 from the line. The problem was the two free throws the rest of the team attempted.
The foul differential was silly, but I’m hesitant to throw out the “BOO STERN OMG THEY FIXED IT FOR LEBRON OMG!” card. Milwaukee is generally a team that doesn’t attack the hoop a lot, except for Salmons. And Salmons got his from the line. Andrew Bogut scores the majority of the Bucks points in the paint and he is constantly drifting away from the hoop on his shots. Most post scorers get tons of points from the line, but while Bogut is a classic post-up scorer, he doesn’t rely on fakes to get into his opponents. His superior touch allows him to glide across the lane moving parallel with the hoop, this doesn’t leave defenders crashing into him very often.
Milwaukee worked for everything they got and while it was valiant effort, they came up short. Two years ago that would have been exciting, a year ago it may have been acceptable, but now it’s just a disappointing loss. Welcome to the top half of the conference Milwaukee. (more…)
Game 24 Preview: Bucks @ Cavs
Friday, December 18th, 2009Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 11-12
(Likely) Inactives: Roko Ukic, Francisco Elson and Joe Alexander
at
Cleveland Cavaliers (Mike Brown) 19-7
(Likely) Inactives: Leon Powe, Danny Green and Coby Karl
Date: 12/18/2009
Time: 7:00
TV: ESPN, FS Wisconsin
Match-Ups
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Mo Williams
Mo just keeps hitting three’s. He’s up to 44 percent this year, a career high, and it’s easy to assume he’s feasting on kick outs from Lebron James, but that might not be the sole explanation for Mo Money’s success. 68 percent of his three-point shots have come off assists, or the lowest percentage in his last four seasons. Last year, 80 percent of his three’s came off assists. When he gets ready to pull up or catches a pass outside, it’ll be important for Jennings or Ridnour to run Williams off the three-point line, as his shooting percentage takes a sharp turn for the worse between 16 and 23 feet. From 44 percent to 34 percent, the lowest number he’s put up in years. This is another national stage for Jennings to burst back out, but that sort of thing doesn’t really seem to matter to him. He’s more focused on a win for the team than the spotlight for himself. If they both happen, they both happen, but Jennings has shown that wins mean a whole lot more to him. It should be interesting to see how Jennings and Redd mesh over these next few games.
Advantage: Cavs (If only for the cohesiveness) (more…)
