Detroit Pistons

93

Final Recap | Box Score

102

Milwaukee Bucks

	Stephen Jackson, SG 43 MIN | 9-17 FG | 4-4 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 25 PTS | +8 Among many others, I said on Tuesday that the Stephen Jackson that scored 35 points and handed out eight assists was the guy the Bucks traded for. That was probably a bit much. It’s tough so place that sort of expectation on the aching, aged Jackson. But Thursday’s effort is much more replicable. So I stand corrected: This is the Stephen Jackson the Bucks thought they traded for. But they won’t mind when Tuesday’s shows up here and there. That other one … we’ll refrain from discussion of that one for now.
	Jon Leuer, F 32 MIN | 6-9 FG | 3-3 FT | 6 REB | 5 AST | 15 PTS | +17 Grabbing boards, blocking shots, finishing with authority. I know Jon Leuer is your favorite Buck in years. I’m just glad he’s providing you with actual reasons to cheer for him.
	Andrew Bogut, C 35 MIN | 4-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 10 PTS | +22 I told a friend of mine who wasn’t happy with his play in our rec league Wednesday night that no matter how rough things go for him offensively, it’s almost impossible for him to have a bad game. He’s our strongest player, holds everything together defensively and probably grabs 60% of our rebounds. Andrew Bogut is not unlike him. Even on Thursday night when he grabbed just four rebounds, had loads of trouble with Greg Monroe and missed a number of hooks and shots around the hoop, he still is out there directing traffic on both sides and keying the Bucks defensive effort. But he looked winded and won’t soon forget the thrashing at the hand of Monroe.
	Carlos Delfino, SF 43 MIN | 3-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 6 REB | 4 AST | 9 PTS | +17 Carlos Delfino missed somewhere between three and 95 games last season with a concussion. While this was going on, some Bucks fans complained about how big his loss was. Other Bucks fans noted that if losing Carlos Delfino caused the team to fall apart, then the team wasn’t very good in the first place. This team could handle his absence better with all the offensive players Milwaukee added after last season. So when he’s just kind of filling the corners and shooting threes, its’ a nice reminder that he’s a good piece to have and even better when he isn’t a focal point.
	Brandon Jennings, PG 40 MIN | 9-15 FG | 6-6 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 27 PTS | +15 Jennings is capable of having any kind of night, and while he’s often in control of the ball, the team doesn’t necessarily take it’s cues from him every game. If you glance at Jennings’ numbers tonight, you’d think he came down, dribbled around, and shot more often than not. But Milwaukee’s offense Thursday often was operating with all of the smoothness of one of those Streetlife bass lines we heard when Stephen Jackson made a pair of free throws in the fourth. And Jennings was apart of it. Tonight, he played a different role than he did Tuesday when he had 11 assists, but he was no less effective.

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Having had their collective backs up against the wall for most of the second half of the season, the Bucks have nightly been faced with two choices: come out fighting or find a way to move that wall back just a bit further.  Unfortunately for Bucks fans, the second option has often been exercised.  Tuesday night was different though.   A height, experience and scoring deficient Bucks team responded to the circumstances challenges and defeated the Detroit Pistons at home, 92-90.

Without Andrew Bogut, Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Mbah a Moute, Milwaukee was forced to rely on the inexperienced starting combination of Larry Sanders and Jon Brockman. Both played to their strengths in contributing to the win.  Sanders, the prolific shot-blocker, rejected three shots while grabbing eight rebounds (seven defensive).  While Sanders manned the defensive glass and patrolled the paint, Brockman was more active on offense than usual.  The 6-7 power forward grabbed seven offensive rebounds and scored eight points around the hoop, including one soaring dunk that demonstrated some of the athleticism we haven’t often seen from him.

Matching Brockman’s rarely seen hops, was Milwaukee’s rarely seen fight.  While the Pistons and their famously grouchy veterans largely remained nailed to the bench or slow to get up to embrace teammates or life in general, Milwaukee appeared to be a team that still has a little hop in their step, losing season or not.  The difference in veterans was evident.

While Tracy McGrady watched the game with a disinterested smirk on his face and no worries about having to play, Keyon Dooling was, as he always is, the first guy out on the court during timeouts to high-five his teammates and quick to be up off the bench after big shots to celebrate.  For all the talk about whether or not Coach Scott Skiles has lost his guys once again, they certainly didn’t seem like a group that had been lost, especially when contrasted to a group that certainly has.

Maybe that was the difference Tuesday night, maybe it wasn’t.  Maybe Milwaukee just finally made some shots and everyone felt good about it.  It could have been playing without so many key figures once again that kept the group together and gave them some energy.  Whatever the case may be, Milwaukee picked up a win and, at least for one night, appeared to pick up their spirits.

Offensive

It wasn’t hard to tell Milwaukee was missing some of its primary finishers at the rim on Tuesday evening.  The Bucks made just 14 of 36 shots in the paint against the Pistons, good for 28 points.  Meanwhile, Detroit tallied 52 paint points, easily winning that battle.  Milwaukee can be credited for their ability to keep misses alive at the rim though.  One possession in particular stood out.  After an Earl Boykins missed layup in the second quarter, Brockman and Earl Barron combined to go one for four with four offensive rebounds on one possession.  The effort was there, if not the execution.  Only twice this season has Milwaukee scored fewer points in the paint in a victory.

• Brandon Jennings’s biggest play of the night came on the defensive end, but he also led the team with 21 points on eight of 19 shooting.  The young guard mentioned after the game that if he was going to publicly ask for the ball, he’d have to deliver, and while the jury is still out on whether or not 21 points on 19 shots is delivering, he did more good than bad in a win.  That’s all the Bucks can ask for at this point.

• Inconsistent three-point shooting has been a problem for Milwaukee, but inconsistency means there will be some better effort.  Tuesday was a better effort from deep for Milwaukee.  The Bucks made nine of 23 three-pointers, while Detroit connected on just four of 16.

Defensive

Maybe if Will Bynum had pump-faked from the corner with 16 seconds left, we wouldn’t be talking about a Bucks victory.  But Bynum loaded up from deep on an offensive rebound and tried to give the Pistons a lead, without hesitation.  Jennings ran him down, leaped and rejected his shot into the stands.  Given the speed Jennings was going on, there’s little doubt he would have flown by on a pump-fake, but that never appeared to be an option for Bynum.  The Pistons would miss again and Jennings would seal the the game at the free throw line.

• Bogut’s absence meant there would be rebounds to be had.  Brockman and Sanders each grabbed eight and Carlos Delfino chipped in with 10 of his own.  Newcomer Barron made the most of his minutes as a rebounder, grabbing nine rebounds (five offensive) in 16 minutes off the bench.

Final Thoughts

A loss to the Pistons in early February seemed to signal the end of any serious playoff hopes the Bucks would have this season.  This win, while satisfying as any other win, does little to change things in regard to the playoffs.  It’s fun to see the Bucks win again, but the most substantial impact this game honestly has, is that it separates Milwaukee from Detroit with regard to the lottery picture.  That’s the honest truth.  Maybe it doesn’t matter all that much if a team is drafting 7, 8, 9 or 10, but chances got a little better, wherever the Bucks are drafting, it will be after the Pistons.

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Enemy: Piston Powered

Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Rodney Stuckey

Stuckey is slowly turning into a better basketball player, if not a better point guard in his fourth season in the NBA.  His assist and usage rates have evened out, but he’s certainly far from a traditional pass first point guard.  Where Stuckey has excelled this season is in getting to the line.  He’s shooting more free throws than ever and converting at a career high 86.8% clip.  With his size and strength, free throws should be a lucrative source for points throughout the rest of  his career.  His size certainly is liable to cause some problems for the much smaller Jennings.  Jennings will likely try and use his quickness to harass Stuckey into some easy turnovers with full court pressure.

Advantage: Pistons

Shooting Guard
John Salmons vs. Ben Gordon

It’s been a rough two years in Detroit for Gordon.  He’s floated in and out of the starting lineup, unsure of his role and unstable with his shot.  The one-time sharpshooter has seen his three-point percentage climb back up to 39% this season after a career worst 32.1% effort last season, but still isn’t as accurate as he once was.  The shooting struggles have combined with fewer shots and decreased minutes to leave Gordon overpaid and going nowhere.  Kind of like this season’s John Salmons.  The one time Bulls teammates have even more in common now than they did when they were lighting up the Boston Celtics in the 2009 Playoffs.

Advantage: Bucks

Small Forward
Carlos Delfino vs. Austin Daye

To the untrained Pistons eye, it sure seems like Detroit should have been as active as possible in trying to unload the old Tayshaun Prince over the past two seasons with another version of him, less talented, but similar, ready and waiting.  At 6-11, Daye has underwhelmed as a rebounder but fared quite well as a three-point shooter this season for Detroit.  As he puts on muscle it’s possible he’ll be more willing to fight it out on the defensive glass, but that’s typically a mindset for a player rather than a physical development.  He has some solid talents and at this juncture, threatens the Bucks primarily as a shooter, similar to Delfino.

Advantage: Pistons

Power Forward
Luc Mbah a Moute vs. Chris Wilcox

This is the kind of game where Mbah a Moute loses value to the Bucks.  Detroit doesn’t have a scorer Milwaukee needs to key on and Mbah a Moute isn’t enough of a threat offensively against the Pistons porous defense.  It helps to have Mbah a Moute around, but in these situations, it would be ideal if he weren’t forced into a starting role.  This is why he’s largely a role player right now in his career still.  If he were on the bench, he may not play more than 15 minutes in this game if Milwaukee had a competent other option.   And yet, I’d still rather he were starting than Chris Wilcox.

Advantage: Bucks

Center
Larry Sanders vs. Greg Monroe

Monroe has been a constant for the turbulent Pistons over the past two months, averaging better than 30 minutes and making more than 59% of his shots while averaging a near double-double.  He’s been one of the better rookies not named Blake Griffin, despite having to wait a while this season before being given a shot.  Sanders has a ways to go, but should see his minutes sky-rocket as long as Andrew Bogut is out of the lineup.  Bogut’s out for Tuesday’s game and his status going forward is undetermined.

Advantage: Pistons

Bench
Corey Maggette, Earl Barron, Keyon Dooling, Earl Boykins and Jon Brockman

vs.

Jason Maxiell, Will Bynum, Charlie Villanueva and DaJuan Summers

The veteran mutiny in Detroit has its advantages: namely a shortened roster.  Almost every player on the Pistons roster averages double figure minutes, making for a cloudy playing time situation resulting in no consistent rotation and more players unhappy with their minutes than the opposite.  Having Ben Wallace away from the team and the combination of Rip Hamilton/Tayshaun Prince being held out/injured, gives the Pistons a shortened bench full of players ready to contribute.  They are dangerous, more dangerous than their record indicates right now.

Advantage: Pistons

Prediction: Pistons 89 – Bucks 82

Without Bogut, defense may be an issue for Milwaukee.  Offensively their survive fine without their struggling center, but the Bucks kind of fine isn’t the kind of fine that wins basketball games in the NBA.  How they respond defensively without their centerpiece will be the story that tells whether they win or lose this evening.

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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Is it time to wonder if the Bucks are even playing poorly anymore?  Bad is a relative term.  Compared to last season, Milwaukee is certainly playing bad.  But what if these sub-40% shooting games are just as good as these players can play together?

We know that individually, a lot of these players have some specific talents and can do some things on a basketball court.  Collectively though, they don’t appear capable of much.  Perhaps they are playing as well as they can.  It’s a terrifying thought, but one that’s difficult not to entertain at this point.  Teams shouldn’t take this long to come together.  Strong defensive teams don’t just fold up to the Detroit Pistons and roll over for a 103-89 loss.  This loss to the Pistons was a code-red moment if there wasn’t already one.

With Chris Douglas-Roberts hopefully returning to the lineup Saturday night, a shakeup appears in order in the coming days.  Can John Salmons really continue to trot out there and appear so over-matched and helpless?  New lineups must be experimented with and Bogut’s health must be prayed for.

Because as is, Milwaukee simply doesn’t have a prayer right now.

Offense

It was cool that Brandon Jennings was able to effectively penetrate and get to the rim against the Pistons, but not as cool that he finished just 6-14 at the rim.  That’s not going to cut it.  That is last year’s Jennings, not this year’s.  His problems Friday night weren’t all that different than the rest of the team’s struggles: Milwaukee shot just 19-39 at the rim.  Despite taking 13 more shots at the rim than the Pistons, they made just two more shots at the rim.  And that’s been an issue for these Bucks, just like it was last year.  Despite all the added muscle and size this off-season, Milwaukee is second to last in the league in field goal percentage at the rim at just 56.7%.

• Jennings was by far the best Buck on Friday, but even he couldn’t hit a three.  He finished without a make in three attempts and the Bucks as a team hit just two of their 14 3-point shots.  If Milwaukee were able to keep defenses honest and space the floor a little more with the 3-point shot, things could look a lot different right now, but it doesn’t look like that will be happening until Carlos Delfino returns.  Former 3-point shooters Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova 32.9% and 26.7% respectively.  Those aren’t the kind of numbers that will have defenders closing out hard.

• I wasn’t real stoked about Keyon Dooling’s strong performance against the Cavs, primarily because I didn’t assume it meant anything in the long run.  There’s beginning to be a large enough body of work here now that we can take the majority of games over one or two good ones as who these players are going to be in this system, this season, with this team.  Dooling returned to form against the Pistons, hitting one of his seven shots and missing all four of his 3-point attempts.

• Ilyasova managed to post a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, while blocking two shots and getting two steals, all while finishing the night with a -16.  That partly illustrates why a single game plus/minus isn’t a great stat, but it also illustrates how the Bucks played defensively against one of the worst offenses in the league.  But look who is talking.

Defense

Everything finally came crashing down on the other end.  One of the toughest things in the NBA is playing good defense while struggling on offense.  It takes an enormous amount of commitment, discipline and mental toughness, all traits the Bucks had been showing before arriving in Detroit.  Without Andrew Bogut and still unable to make a shot, the defense finally caved in.

• Detroit shot 56.2% from the field, thanks in large part to a number of easy dunks.  Jason Maxiell was a benefactor early, helping Detroit bust out to a 29-18 first quarter lead by dunking the ball thunderously twice, setting the tone for the evening.

• A sign of Detroit’s offensive prowess on Friday was 13 of their 17 made shots at the rim coming on assists.  They found players by the hoop or hit cutters going to the basket over and over.  Milwaukee was often slow to react and without Bogut, had no one to clean up the mess.  On the other hand, the Bucks assisted on just seven of 19 makes at the rim.  This is nothing new, as the Bucks rarely ever assist teammates in scoring.

• If nothing else, at least Larry Sanders has tossed up a couple strong games in these last two efforts.  The rookie showed a little rebounding prowess again, grabbing 10 boards in 31 minutes, though three of them came on the same offensive possession.  He blocked two shots and grabbed a steal, using his length and speed in positive ways once again.  He still isn’t always boxing out and he’s certainly got his rough spots, but the effort is there and some positive results have come.

Final Thoughts

This is officially ugly.  Lats in the division, blown away by the once lowly Pistons and still unable to conquer the 40% shooting barrier.  Last season, a lack of talent seemed an obvious problem when the Bucks were struggling on offense.  Once those players were shipped out and some new ones were shipped in, everything would take care of itself.  But what is the obvious problem now?  That they “just can’t make shots?”  There are no easy solutions right now, and that’s what has everyone worried.  Problems don’t just fix themselves.  There are no answers on the horizon for the Bucks, just a very difficult stretch of games that is now looking significantly more challenging than it did at the start of the year.

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

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at

Detroit Pistons (John Kuester) 5-10
Inactive: Terrico White, Jonas Jerebko, Chris Wilcox

Date: 11/26/2010
Time: 6:30 PM (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin

Enemy: Piston Powered

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Rodney Stuckey

Jennings is impossible to predict right now; he could blow Stuckey off the floor, or he could miss 20 shots, that’s just how things are going for the Bucks right now.  Stuckey has the size and strength to give Jennings all kinds of problems, but has consistency issues of his own.  When he played well against Milwaukee last season, the Pistons won.  If Bogut is unable to go, that could free Stuckey to get to the basket and do damage; that’s when he’s at his best.

Advantage: Pistons

Shooting Guard

John Salmons vs. Rip Hamilton

The Pistons don’t ask Hamilton to create as much as they ask him to spot up and come off screens, that’s logical basketball, as he’s not much of a creator.  Unfortunately, at this point Salmons isn’t either.  Every game, Bucks fans are hoping last season’s John Salmons suddenly makes his return, but so far he’s only played a handful of good games.  Since so many possessions are initiated by Salmons, he’s as good a barometer for the team as any.  If he struggles again, so will the Bucks.

Advantage: Pistons

Small Forward

Luc Mbah a Moute vs. Tayshaun Prince

Prince is still a sound defender, but he hasn’t done much else this year.  Once a capable 3-point shooter, he’s attempted only seven this season and he’s hit just 18 of 32 free throws on the year.  That doesn’t make for a very threatening offensive player.  When it comes to offensive players that aren’t threatening though, Mbah a Moute takes the cake.  He played well against the Cavs, getting to the basket on a number of occasions and finishing strong, that’s what he can do.  Against the Pistons who lack much of anything up front, he should have those opportunities again.

Advantage: Pistons

Power Forward

Drew Gooden vs. Austin Daye

When a team is starting Austin Daye at the four, they probably aren’t very good.  He’s likely the skinniest power forward in the league and Gooden theoretically should have a big night opportunity.  Since he’s on this season’s Milwaukee Bucks though, he probably won’t.  In all seriousness though, this should be a big rebounding night for Gooden.  It won’t take much to keep Daye off the glass and he doesn’t pose much of a threat on box outs.  A big offensive rebounding night from Gooden would go a long way for the Bucks in Detroit.

Advantage: Bucks

Center

Jon Brockman vs. Ben Wallace

If Brockman gets the start, I’m not sure.  He wasn’t very effective in Cleveland, probably because he’s not a very effective center.  He’s just too undersized and over-matched, though the Pistons have even less at the five than the Cavs did.  Hopefully Bogut can make a return this evening, but if he doesn’t, Larry Sanders should be in line for the majority of the minutes after a strong game in Cleveland.

Advantage: Pistons

Bench

Corey Maggette, Larry Sanders, Keyon Dooling and Ersan Ilyasova

vs.

Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiel and Tracy McGrady

Offensively, the Pistons have quite an imposing bench.  Villanueva has flipped the 3-point switch for the time being and Gordon can still shoot with anyone in the league.  Maxiel is a dirty work kind of guy, but has some athleticism too.  The downside to the Pistons bench is, they haven’t been able to stop anyone.  Milwaukee generally finds a way to stop themselves though, so that’s a good thing for the Pistons.  Dooling is coming off his finest game as a Bucks player in Cleveland the other night and Ilyasova looked strong crashing the boards again.

Advantage: Pistons

Prediction: Bucks 87 – Pistons 85

Milwaukee did everything but win in Cleveland, that’s a start.  While the Pistons seem like they have talent at every position, they have very little chemistry, as evidenced by their poor offensive rating (104) and even worse defensive rating (109.9). If Milwaukee is ever going to do anything offensively, the Pistons are the kind of team for them to do it against.

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

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Remember those old electric football games where the pieces moved about aimlessly as you hoped (At least I assumed you were hoping. I’m too young to have ever had the pleasure) your team ended up somehow scoring some points?

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) This was called a foul on Charlie Bell. For real. Nothing was going the Bucks way Tuesday night.

That was the Bucks offense in quarter one Tuesday.  The Bucks moved aimlessly about, throwing the ball in the general area of the hoop and prayed it went in.  A few times it worked, most of the time it did not.  Andrew Bogut, also known as the Bucks best offensive player, not only hit the side of the backboard with a shot, but airballed a one-handed attempt from the elbow.  He finished quarter one 0-7, which was just a touch worse than point guard Brandon Jennings’ 1-6 effort.

After his treacherous 0-8 start Bogut went on to hit six of his next seven.  Jennings followed his poor first quarter by hitting four of his next eight, which we’ll take with both hands open as Bucks fans at this point.  Suddenly, what started as an 11-point deficit after one quarter became a Bucks lead six minutes and 17 seconds into the third quarter.  From there it was anyone’s game.  Unfortunately, the Pistons apparently temporarily changed their name to “Anyone” and the Bucks went from eclectic electric football to Madden 2010 to a complete loss of electricity in the fourth quarter.

The Bucks turned it over five times and played nearly as poor in the fourth quarter as they did in the first in losing 93-81 to Detroit.  This game didn’t look much prettier than the Bucks win Saturday against the Pacers, which coincidentally finished with the same score, only in favor of the Bucks.  Very little was in the Bucks favor Tuesday though, and that’s evidenced heavily in Jennings final 5-16 shooting line.  Of course, that’s not too hard to believe given his shooting woes in the past few months.

When Detroit first came to the Bucks humble abode, Jennings introduced himself to Milwaukee, the Pistons and the league in a big way.  Jennings took over the third quarter scoring 16 points, winning the hearts and minds of Milwaukeeans in the process.  Tuesday, Jennings made numerous attempts at claiming ownership of the third, but was unsuccessful in each try.  Jennings pulled up for a three with the crowd beginning to buzz and his team down just three: no dice.  He pulled another after two makes sandwiched around free-throws: another miss.  Notice he was still able to hit a few shots, but the feel of the whole thing was different.

In November the building was on the edge of rocking and Jennings gave them the necessary push, but Tuesday he didn’t pack the oomph to get everyone over the edge.  Perhaps he’ll regain that, it’s certainly too early to write him off as incapable of pulling anything off, but right now he’s lost that mojo.

Offense

If I said I wasn’t nervous after watching Bogut struggle to start the fourth quarter and come out just minutes into the final period I’d be lying.  It looked like it may be up to Jennings or the Bucks plucky cast of role players to pitch in offensively.  Neither happened and the Bucks faltered.

• Bucks shooting percentages in the first-fourth quarters: 16, 52.4, 44.4 and 38.9.  Can you guess which quarters the Bucks ended up winning?  Sometimes it’s as simple as making shots and the Bucks couldn’t do that Tuesday.

• I know you aren’t questioning Bogut’s importance to the Bucks, but just in case you were the Bucks just shot 36.6 percent total in a game in which he shot 8-21.  Yes, Bogut finished with 17 points and 18 rebounds, but many of those boards came off his own misses, I assure you his evening wasn’t as pretty as the box score looks.  But as he goes, so go the Bucks.

• The Bucks 20-45 showing in the paint looks ugly as I write it and was even more difficult to look at as it was happening.  Milwaukee isn’t going to shoot that poorly in the paint too often, but I can’t say the Pistons had nothing to do with it.  Jason Maxiell and Ben Wallace were pushing around the Milwaukee bigs and forcing them away from the hoop.

Defense

Big guards hurt the Bucks.  Don’t believe me?  Rodney Stuckey finished with 18 points and seven assists on 9-19 shooting in a rare dominating effort for him.  Stuckey over powered Jennings so many times, I thought he had contacted the Bradley Center Board and rented out the Bucks paint for the evening.  Surprisingly Stuckey didn’t shoot a free-throw all night, which probably contributed to the Pistons slow pulling away.

• The Bucks 21 offensive rebounds can be somewhat be written off as a product of their bad shooting, but how do we explain the 17 Detroit grabbed?  Ah, Maxiell again, yes.  Maxiell’s relentless effort and musclely, massive body banged the Hakim Warrick’s of the world out of the way as he grabbed six offensive boards by his lonesome.

Final Thoughts

Where do the Bucks go from here?  I’ll let the team’s wise man Jerry Stackhouse take it away:

Man, that one’s over.  When that clock hits zeroes, it’s over.  You going to have bad games like that sometimes.  We been playin’ well, you just got to remember that.  Good thing for us is 24 hours and we back at it.  The really good teams always respond after a loss and this team is starting to really learn about itself. If we can take something from how we been playing over the last few weeks and tell ourselves we’re a good team and we’re supposed to come out tomorrow and, taking nothing away from New Jersey, go in and take care of our business.

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Inactives: Michael Redd, Francisco Elson and Joe Alexander

Vs.

Detroit Pistons (John Kuester) 17-32

Probable Inactives: Dajuan Summers and Chris Wilcox

Date: 2/9/2010

Time: 7:00 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Matchups

Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Rodney Stuckey

It couldn’t have been more than a year ago that Stuckey seemed like the future of “Deeeee-trooooooiiiiit Baaaasssskkkkeeeeettttttballllllll”, right?  Now he’s back down to 40 percent shooting with a cast of overpaid role players and aging veterans on the fast track to nowhere.  Is Stuckey really good?  It’s probably too early to say.  He’s had an injury here or there, but he’s playing on a team that’s been beat up and he’s probably been asked to bare too much of the burden for these guys.  He’s getting to the rim a lot (six shots a game) and finishing okay (50 percent) but he hasn’t been able to do anything from anywhere else.  If Stuckey can get his jumper going  from literally anywhere else it’ll make him a much more dangerous player and reinvigorate his career and the Pistons team.  Against Jennings though, Stuckey should be able to penetrate more often than not and knock Jennings out of the way if he’s by him at all.

Advantage: Pistons

Shooting Guard
Charlie Bell vs. Richard Hamilton

Hamilton has been fighting through injuries all year and they’ve likely contributed plenty to his career worst 39.7 percent shooting this season.  Hamilton’s once reliable 10-15 foot short jumpers haven’t been falling with the same success of recent years and he’s been taking them more than ever.  After shooting better than 45 percent in 2007 and 2008 from that range, Rip is down to just 42 percent this year.  Could that have something to do with the new staff?  I seem to recall the old elbow screen and curl that so often freed Hamilton for wide open jumpers was once a staple of Pistons basketball.  If they aren’t still running that, they are crazy.  Anyway, Hamilton still gets close to 20 a night and could drive the Bucks crazy with his perpetual motion, though they are less susceptible to that than most teams given their terrific help defense.

Advantage: Pistons

Small Forward
Carlos Delfino vs. Tayshaun Prince

Length alert for Delfino.  Carlos shouldn’t expect to see many open looks in this game, Prince has those arms that go on forever and a knack for blocking shots it seems like he won’t get to.  This may  force Delfino a step or two back for some of those deep threes he’s prone to shoot for some reason.  If he’s hitting them you won’t be hearing me complain though.  I’d like to see Delfino stay aggressive and try and get in the paint against Prince and make some plays for his teammates with his passing.

Advantage: Pistons

Power Forward
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute vs. Jonas Jerebko

Jerebko is a quiet favorite of many.  I’m not entirely sure why.  He’s a quietly decent offensive player with a 53.6 true shooting percentage, but he doesn’t do a whole lot else that I can see.  I don’t check out many Detroit games, so it’s possible he’s doing lots of “behind the box score” things.  He doesn’t seem to grab a lot of rebounds or get a lot of assists, but I guess a lot of the same things can be said about LRMAM and we all swear by him here in the Mil, so I’ll jump off Jerebko’s back.

Advantage: Bucks

Center
Andrew Bogut vs. Ben Wallace

Bogut’s long time nemesis Wallace returns to face the new, more consistent version of Bogut.  Bogut 2.0 if you will.  Can Bogut keep the good times rolling against the historically tough defending Wallace?  I don’t see why not.  It hasn’t mattered if it’s been a great athlete defending Bogut or crafty veteran or young rookie, he’s been doing equal opportunity work on the rest of the league lately.  If Bogut can get buckets against Wallace, consider that one more mental hurdle cleared for him.

Advantage: Bucks

Bench
Jerry Stackhouse, Luke Ridnour, Ersan Ilyasova, Kurt Thomas and Hakim Warrick

vs.

Ben Gordon, Will Bynum, Charlie Villanueva and Jason Maxiell

Your 2010 Detroit Pistons Bench: Now with over $70 million worth of bad contracts.  Maybe the Pistons have more talent on their bench, but where exactly has that got them this yer?  There doesn’t seem to be a real sense on continuity between any set of players they trot out there, which is the opposite of how you could describe the Bucks of recent weeks.  At the very least, Bynum could come in and cause some serious problems for Jennings and/or Ridnour.

Advantage: Bucks

Prediction: Bucks 93 – Pistons 88

Milwaukee can get to within a game of .500 if they beat Detroit at home and New Jersey on the road in their final two games before the all-star break.  Do you think Scott Skiles’ guys will come out flat with that carrot hanging in front of their collective faces?

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Had I started writing this immediately  after the Bucks game, things would not have been pretty.  The number of scathing criticisms going through my head had to have been up over 50.  We just hadn’t seen an effort like that out of this year’s Bucks team to date, so I had a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around the performance.  Lambasting the Bucks lack of energy is easy, as they had none.  It was virtually never a game from start to finish and the Pistons manhandled and at times embarrassed the Bucks.  And we’re not talking about the ‘96 Bulls here.  The Pistons (6-12 coming in) aren’t very good.  The weren’t even a better than average home team at 4-4 entering play Friday night.

So there is a lot do be disappointed about.

But the more I thought about it, the less the whole thing bothered me.  It’s all still frustrating, but I get it a little more.  Yes, anyone can have a high energy and effort level on any given night.  And yes, teams with less talent really should be bringing it with a full tank of pluckiness to make up for their deficiencies, but it’s not that simple.  But a team with as little overall talent as the Bucks can’t possibly match their opponents effort every single night.  The Pistons won only for the second time in ten days, they were very hungry and saw the Bucks as the perfect team to feast on.  It was evident almost immediately.  They pushed and got very little resistance.  This Pistons team didn’t necessarily have more talent than the Bucks, but they certainly were playing with a greater sense of need for this win.

At this stage in their development, the Bucks aren’t going to win any games where they don’t feel like the absolutely need it.  Why they played like they didn’t need this one is beyond me, the schedule isn’t getting any easier in the next week.  They have two or three quality starters on their team and then role players galore.  That’s a team that needs to scrape by with grit and determination, both of which were in short supply Friday.

Rebounding

• I’ve figured out the equation.  Foul trouble for Ersan Ilyasova ≠ rebounding success for the Milwaukee Bucks.  For the second straight game, Ilyasova missed a large portion of the game due to fouls and the Bucks were hammered on the glass.  46-30 was the gruesome result.  Troubling is that Hakim Warrick “had a good game”.  13 points and seven free throw attempts is all well and good, but he played 32 minutes at the power forward spot and grabbed a total of ONE REBOUND!  ONE! 1! O-N-E!  There is nothing “power” about that.  I don’t know if I should even be disappointed in the one rebound game.  When you sign a guy as little as Warrick to take minutes at the four, you have to kind of expect more one board nights than ten board nights, right?

• Domination sums up Ben Wallace’s glass work (and the rest of his work) on Andrew Bogut pretty well.  Wallace 11 – Bogut five.  Wallace 6-8 240 – Bogut 7′0 260.  I don’t get it and I never will.  How can Wallace always do it?  Is he some sort of super-human?  He continues to muscle up bigger guys, push them away from the paint and generally destroy their minds, rendering them completely ineffective.  Not only did Wallace pound Bogut on the glass, but he tossed up 11 points and three blocks to Bogut’s eight and one.  Bogut’s all-star campaign has come off the tracks and crashed into a house.

Offense

• Brandon Jennings was a mere shell of his former self against the all-NBA tandem of Chucky Atkins and Will Bynum.  When you’re going up against two former undrafted free agents, you know they’re going to be playing you hard.  At times it looked like Jennings just wanted nothing to do with it.  He’d dribble to half court, stop, and then pass and head the other way.  Gone was the once potent Jennings/Bogut pick and roll.  In it’s place was stop a step past half court because Will Bynum will not allow you any further.  When Jennings would give it up and try to get it back, Chucky Atkins would relentlessly hound him, preventing a return pass.  It wasn’t until a brief surge in the fourth quarter in which he was the only Buck with any energy that Jennings showed signs of life.  Another poor shooting effort just piles on to this effort for Jennings.  He’ll get this whole playing on the road thing down eventually, just like he’ll get the floater thing.  A game of patience.

• The Bucks made 10-30 three’s.  If they hit three more they would have equaled their shooting percentage for three’s on the season and the game would be tied.  The bad shooting probably is as much of a culprit for the bad effort as anything.  If they hit a few more shots, they probably would have been a little more determined and got a few more stops.  I’m not excusing the effort and saying it’s cool to play better defense only when you’re shooting well, but that’s the realities of life.

Defense

• None was played.  The Pistons shot 57.4 percent.  Ben Wallace had four uncontested dunks off pick and roll’s.  Chucky Atkins scored ten points.  Jonas Jerebko had 16 and seven.  Allowing 37 points to the those three combined says more about the Bucks defense in this one than I ever could.

Final Thoughts

Cleveland on Sunday.  So much for having a sense of urgency on winnable road games before a tough week.  Cleveland comes into the BC on Sunday and then the Bucks go to Boston for the rare Tuesday night game.  Toronto and Portland come to town Wednesday and Saturday.  The Bucks might have the upper hand against Toronto, but none of those teams are pushovers.  That’s why it’s puzzling to see the Bucks get so thoroughly walloped against Detroit Friday night.

They got CLEVELAND on Sunday.  Didn’t the Detroit game feel a little more important knowing that a likely loss is coming on Sunday?  Lebron had 56 last time he was here!  It’s not impossible that the Bucks, who are a completely different team at home, will win Sunday, but it IS improbable.  It’s starting to throw me back in to meltdown mode all over again thinking about how nice the Detroit win would have been.  I’ll just have to return to my default dealing with losses mechanism …

2011 … 2011 … 2011 … 2011.

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

at

Detroit Pistons (Jon Kuester) 6-12

(Probable) Inactives: Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton

Date: 12/4/09

Time: 7:00 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Match-ups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Chucky Atkins (!?)

These are like the grandfathers to the 2000 Pistons.  Chucky Atkins?  Ben Wallace?  Atkins has been bumped into the lineup over the last couple games as a way to get Rodney Stuckey some time at the two, apparently as a method of sustaining his energy.  Atkins is more a pure point guard than Stuckey or backup Will Bynum.  He’s mainly in that crappy starter who gives you less than 20 minutes of non-terrible defense role.  The Royal Ivey Memorial Starter if you will.  At any rate, Jennings may be able to get some good looks early if he chooses.  Jennings typically looks to get Bogut involved early in games though, so that may not really pay off.  By the time BJ usually starts to look to get off, Atkins will be on the bench.  Atkins isn’t any kind of threat on offense though, so at least BJ won’t get burned while he’s in.

Advantage: Bucks

Shooting Guard

Charlie Bell vs. Rodney Stuckey

Stuckey had a wonderful debut at shooting guard against the Hawks on Sunday, but not so much against the Bulls Wednesday.  From 10-23 to 4-16.  Handing the keys over to Stuckey hasn’t gone so smoothly this year.  Despite nearly six more minutes a game, Stuckey’s assists have fallen from 4.7 to 4.1 a night.  His shooting percentage has dropped under 40, which is notable for a guy who doesn’t shoot three’s.  Stuckey’s game is one built on power and getting in the paint, but this year he’s hitting just 34 percent of his shots within 10 feet, down from 56 percent last year.  Sounds like Brandon Jennings, only without the vision or three-point shooting.

Advantage: Pistons

Small Forward

Carlos Delfino vs. Jonas Jerebko

International flair in all it’s glory at the small forward position.  Jerebko is supposedly so valuable that even when the Pistons starters return he won’t be glued to the end of the bench according to Pistons coach Jon Kuester.  I guess I have a lot to learn about Jerebko, because his numbers say he absolutely should be on the bench, the far end of it.  Some players play better than their numbers though, Charlie Bell has been known for one, so I won’t rule out Jerebko not sucking, but his 8.9 PER and 54 percent free throw shooting suggest otherwise.

Advantage: Bucks

Power Forward

Ersan Ilyasova vs. Charlie Villanueva

Via Chuck V’s Facebook:

The antibiotics are kicking in, its helping me clear the congestion in my nasal paths. Its kinda nasty but its mainly clogged up with dry blood. I’m glad the surgery went well. Its a matter of healing now & getting use to the mask. Part of it is mental I think too.

You’re right Charlie, that is nasty.  A broken nose will have Charlie V. busting out a mask for the first time Friday night.  I don’t have much data to back this up, but I’d imagine first mask games aren’t easy.  It must take a least a game or two to get used to those awful things.  Ersan started erupting as soon as he was able to shake his.  I liked this one for the Bucks before I knew Chuck was going to be rocking the mask and I like it even more now.  Ersan’s relentless hustle, annoying defense and off-ball movement should give the antibiotic’d out Villanueva all kinds of issues Friday.  Ersan could have a huge night on the offensive glass.  Oh, and remember when Chuck turned into a money three-point shooter over his last few months in Milwaukee?  Well he’s back down to 32.8 percent and is shooting more than ever.  The Bucks dodged a bullet.

Advantage: Bucks

Center

Andrew Bogut vs. Ben Wallace

I’m having early season flashbacks.  Bogut opens the year with a poor performance against Sam Dalembert and then faces the born again Ben Wallace on the second night of the Bucks season.  The results were not pretty, six points and eight rebounds on 2-7 shooting.  Wallace, while not very big, is strong as hell and a smart defender to boot.  The surprising athleticism and quickness he has for a man of his advanced age serves him well against Bogut.  He knows how to play every center in the league and can still have success against a lot of them.  Look for Wallace to attack Bogut’s left hand and try to get him out of his comfort zones on offense.  I’d love to see Bogut respond to a poor game last game with a good game here.  Exercising his Ben Wallace demons would be a positive step towards further establishing himself as one of the better centers in the league.  At the absolute least, Bogut will need to work his hardest to keep Wallace off the offensive glass, he’s the league’s leader in offensive rebound percentage.

Advantage: Bucks

Bench

Luke Ridnour, Hakim Warrick, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Kurt Thomas and Jodie Meeks

vs.

Ben Gordon, Will Bynum, Jason Maxiell and Kwame Brown

Gordon is the one who may decide how this game turns out.  If he gets hot, all bets are off.  And he can get hot.  Fortunately he’s a little nicked up and struggled in his last game against Chicago.  Bynum is probably the best point guard the Pistons have, even if he can be a little greedy at times.  He’s built like Maurice Jones-Drew and is getting four attempts AT THE RIM a game.  That’s incredible for someone his size.  He could give Jennings problems in the fourth quarter.  Maxiell is no longer on the table, he’s fallen off of it and Brown still sucks.  The rare bench that can match the scoring prowess of Ridnour and Warrick, though Mbah a Moute’s return should help limit the Pistons effectiveness.  If he returns that is.

Advantage: Bucks

Prediction: Bucks 96 – Pistons 88

It’s rare the Bucks have played a team with more important injuries than their own this year, but that’s the opportunity the Pistons are offering Friday night.  With no Rip Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince, the Pistons have been unable to establish the defensive mindset that they’ve long used to win games.  You’d think that would allow new players like Gordon and Villanueva to establish themselves and turn the Pistons into a more potent offensive squad, right?  Well the Pistons rank 21st in defensive rating and 21st in offensive rating.  So they aren’t getting a lot of stops and they aren’t getting much offensive either.  They’re just not a very good team.  Coming into the season I’m sure a lot of people thought one of these teams would be  in last and one might be in second, but I’m thinking no one would have been able to play the match game and win.

The Pistons don’t have the big talented shooting guard that has been hurting the Bucks lately.  If Bell is able to contain Gordon throughout this one, the Bucks should be able to limit what the Pistons do on offense and come out ahead.  But limiting Ben Gordon is easier said than done.

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He’s gone apparently.

In his place is an offensive dynamo that can score from the paint or from behind the three point arc.  His name?  Brad Jennings. 

In as bizarre and lengthy a pregame introduction ceremony as one could ever imagine, each Bucks player got on a podium and was introduced by different members of the local workforce.  When it came time for Brandon Jennings introduction, the lady who was responsible mistakenly referred to him as Brad Jennings.  This seemed to fall right in line with the Bucks first half play.

The Bucks were out of sync and downright terrible at time.  The Bucks shot 30% in the first half, everyone not named Hakim Warrick lacked any type of aggressiveness and the loudest ovation from a crowd ready to turn on their team came when Danny Gokey took the stage at halftime.

Maybe that served to inspire the Bucks or maybe Scott Skiles is a genious for letting Jennings work the pick and roll game with whoever was willing, either way the third quarter was the Brandon Jennings Show.  In ten third quarter minutes Jennings had a +18 +/- ratio, piling up 16 points and two steals with only one turnover.  The Bucks took the third quarter 36-14 and were able to hold the lead the rest of the way.   If Friday night was Jennings’ coming out party, then Saturday was his “hey, I’m out and I’m staying out and no one will tell me to come back in” party.

It truly was a special ten minute display.  Each time Jennings shot I thought it couldn’t possibly go in again, yet time and time again he sank shots and ran back to half court, jacked up his shorts and did everything short of slapping the hardwood to fire everyone up.  If this doesn’t bring back a few of the fans who thought opening night would be good enough to satisfy their Bucks craving for the year, nothing will.

Offense

• Jennings should probably have his back checked out after his performance.  Take makes and attempts out of the books and the Bucks shot just 38%.  Jennings finished with only three assists, but that had a lot to do with what was going on around him.  Only Jennings (24) and Warrick (21) scored in double figures for the Bucks.

• Michael Redd was limited to just 24 minutes with what’s being reported as left knee soreness.  Yes, the same knee that was operated on in January.  Should we be worried?  Maybe.  While I’m sure it’s natural to have some minor soreness problems after a major surgery like the one Redd had, the Bucks have had a history of initially reporting something as minor, only to have that player miss a significant amount of time later.  Example: Andrew Bogut circa 2008-09.  If Redd is okay, the more significant problem is that he continues to miss wide open threes.  Jennings found him numerous times tonight with no one near him behind the arc and Redd finished just 1-4 from deep.

• I mentioned Hakim Warrick’s aggressiveness and 21 points before, but that doesn’t really do it justice.  I was at the game with a friend who A. doesn’t care for the NBA and B. doesn’t care for the Bucks and he continuously marveled at the way Warrick attacked the basket.  The ongoing theme for the evening was that Warrick paid little attention to the fact that people were in his way, because all he cared about was getting to the rim and attempting to dunk on someone.  It rarely worked out that way (see 5-14 shooting), but it did allow him to make 15 trips to the charity stripe, ten of which he converted.  On both accounts he almost had as many as the rest of the Bucks combined (Warrick 10-15, everyone else 14-18).  I like this.

• I’ll say this about Andrew Bogut’s “post moves” repertoire and his ability to convert any of these “moves”: I hope they are a work in progress and I’d much rather see them worked on in practice than in games.  Just catch passes from Jennings when he gets in the lane, convert those and then play good defense and rebound.  No need to force anything else.

Defense

• Welcome back Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. LRMAM was noticeably ineffective in the Bucks opener Friday, but looked much more active Saturday night.  It shows up in the numbers too, as he finished with seven points and eight rebounds.  He’s still yet to record a steal or a block, but those numbers don’t mean as much as the rebounds do.  If he’s attacking the glass and hitting the occasional jumper that means he needs to be accounted for.  If he needs to be accounted for, it gives Brandon Jennings more freedom to gamble on defense and get into the paint on offense.  (Notice how things are always coming back to Brad…Brandon Jennings?  That’s what potential franchise players do.)

• Dan Gadzuric looked like Danny G circa 2005 for a while tonight.  He was bouncing around, finishing around the hoop and generally being a productive energy guy.  Eight points, five rebounds and a block in 12 minutes (including the last few after Bogut fouled out) is a perfect night from Gadz.  He even corralled a key loose ball and took a charge (that they actually called in his favor!) in the fourth.

Overall it was some kind of night at the Bradley Center.  I’m used to people not caring and generally showing up at Bucks games just because it’s something to do, but people were nearly laughing at the team after the first half.  But Brandon Jennings changed an entire culture in about ten minutes.  The BC was rocking like it was 2001 and optimism swept over everyone like confetti falling from the ceiling.  Could the Bucks have found something in this point guard who looks more like a college student than a professional basketball assassin?  Maybe.  But one thing is for certain … his name is Brandon, not Brad.

For Bucks fans it will soon be impossible to forget.

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