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Posts Tagged ‘Ersan Ilyasova’

Another 30 point game from Brandon Jennings leads Bucks to first road win

January 20th, 2012 Jeremy Schmidt 9 comments

Milwaukee Bucks 100 Final

Recap | Box Score

 86 New York Knicks
Shaun Livingston, PG 34 MIN | 7-10 FG | 4-4 FT | 5 REB | 3 AST | 18 PTS | +22

Livingston has a very specific game and he executed it tonight. In his first start of the season for the suspended Stephen Jackson, Livingston made six of seven shots in the paint. He uses his size so well and is quick to move the ball too. It helps when he’s on the court with guys who can shoot the three, as it mitigates his inability from deep.
Carlos Delfino, SF 29 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 9 PTS | +8

Delfino and Luc Mbah a Moute did a stellar defensive job on Carmelo Anthony. They stayed with him, played physical and frustrated him into two technical fouls and a fairly inefficient line that saw him score 35 points on 26 shots. They made him stick with the long jumper, a shot he can make, but a short worth ceding.
Brandon Jennings, PG 36 MIN | 15-26 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 5 AST | 36 PTS | +17

Four shots. Jennings took just four shots against the Knicks that weren’t in the paint or from three-point range. With 26 attempts, that’s a pretty terrific ratio. He’s always seemed to like playing the Garden and Friday was certainly no exception. When he’s hitting threes, he’s a very difficult cover. New York’s patchwork point guards certainly were no match.
Drew Gooden, PF 22 MIN | 2-9 FG | 6-8 FT | 11 REB | 0 AST | 10 PTS | +2

In a backup role, with plenty of other talented players on the court, that allows him to focus on rebounding and put-backs, Gooden works well. He’s generally ridiculous to watch when he’s taking on a real active role, but he’s always been a useful rebounder. Rebounds, put-backs and the free throws that result from them can be his thing.
Ersan Ilyasova, PF 23 MIN | 1-5 FG | 0-0 FT | 9 REB | 3 AST | 3 PTS | +15

It seemed we never went more than a few seconds without hearing Ilyasova’s name when he was in the game tonight. He battled for rebounds all night and pestered the Knicks pricey frontline. He earned every one of his nine rebounds.

Three Things We Saw

  1. Jennings was on the court for 36 minutes, but certainly spent a good amount of time inside the mind of Carmelo Anthony late in the game. Jennings will encourage some chippy play here and there, especially when he’s feeling it from three and the Bucks are winning. I’m sure he reveled in Anthony’s second technical.
  2. I’m sure many will point to Jackson’s absence, the Bucks win and the solid play from Livingston as a clear pattern for success, but let’s avoid jumping that gun just yet. There’s a lot of season left and Jackson isn’t going anywhere any time soon. The Bucks need to find a way to get him playing well regularly.
  3. 1-8 on the road. A lot better than 0-9.

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Jon Leuer’s First Start; Wisconsin Swoons

January 12th, 2012 Ian Segovia No comments

Leuer is posing for a completely different picture

The big day is here Badger fans! Leuer is starting. Rejoice! Between him and Greg Stiemsma this is the greatest year for Badgers in the NBA ever.

Going into the season, it looked like the Bucks power forward spot was jam-packed and Leuer might not get a chance to shine. But he’s starting tonight against the Pistons. How did we get here and are the Bucks heading toward a new status quo?

  • No back-up center

Leuer impresses the Bucks enough that they decide to fill the last roster spot with him instead of a free agent backup center. Drew Gooden has to take backup center role.

  • Luc Mbah a Moute’s Knee Tendinitis

LRMAM would have been a prime candidate to take the power forward starting position, but he has only been able to play two games this year.

  • Larry Sanders has great fine motor skills, but poor basketball skills

Sanders is a nice artist. Heck, he could be the best player the Bucks have, but we’ll never know because he can’t hold on to the ball for very long (very long = two seconds). Read more…

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Bucks Had GREAT First Half: Sacramento Kings 103 – Milwaukee Bucks 100

January 6th, 2012 Ian Segovia 7 comments

Milwaukee Bucks 100 Final

Recap | Box Score

 103 Sacramento Kings
Stephen Jackson, SG 39 MIN | 4-10 FG | 3-3 FT | 5 REB | 4 AST | 13 PTS | -9

Jackson hit a jumper in the fourth, then yelled something like, “Give me the ball!” Except it was a lot more vulgar and this is a family site. Well the Bucks did give him the ball and he kept turning it over (seven for the game). Then with the game on the line, he got it on the block with his back to the basket. He failed. No one was surprised.
Ersan Ilyasova, PF 16 MIN | 2-3 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 4 PTS | -16

Does Ilyasova even exist? Does he work on this plane of existence? It sure doesn’t seem like it. Ilyasova isn’t even jab-stepping or pump-faking anymore. Something is off.
Drew Gooden, PF 34 MIN | 6-13 FG | 6-10 FT | 9 REB | 2 AST | 18 PTS | -7

18 points and 9 rebounds seem like a good game. But this is what I’m talking about when I say that Gooden’s numbers exist in a vacuum. They don’t really mean anything especially when the other team is snatching offensive boards left and right. They don’t mean anything when he’s not establishing post position. Everything he does in the game does nothing to set up an open look in the future. And he only exacerbates the Bucks problems of taking long twos.
Brandon Jennings, PG 43 MIN | 12-23 FG | 1-4 FT | 3 REB | 7 AST | 31 PTS | -7

Wow! Did you see that lay-up? Swag. He was the only Buck playing at the end of the game. His late game steals were the Bucks only lifeblood in the fourth quarter. He was the only guy who actually went to foul Tyreke Evans at the end of the game after the Jackson miss. It is a wonder why he was so far away from the ball to begin with on that Jackson iso.
Beno Udrih, PG 25 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 8 PTS | -3

I called for Beno Udrih to take more threes. I was wrong. Other note: Jennings needs to learn how to use his body to block out defenders when he goes to the rim. He can learn that from Udrih.
Jon Leuer, F 21 MIN | 3-5 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 7 PTS | +16

Leuer should probably be starting as long as Ilyasova is going to be just a void of nothingness and Bogut is away. He’s not going to do much rebounding, but the Bucks weren’t doing that anyway against Jog DMC (DeMarcus Cousins). They needed his offense late in the game.
Larry Sanders, C 21 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 8 PTS | +10

I really enjoyed watching Sanders get his Vlade Divac on. I’m going to stop typing now before I start describing this pipe dream I had.

Two Things We Saw

  1. 30, 28, 24,18. Lost numbers or the Bucks scoring per quarter from first to fourth?
  2. 55 to 31. The rebounding discrepancy between the Kings and Bucks. Jog DMC did a number on the Bucks in this department and Evans was gobbling up the all long rebounds. The Kings shot 19 percent from three. The Bucks even had a better field goal percentage. But as long as Bogut’s away, the second chance points are going to crush the Bucks.

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The battle for Ersan Ilyasova’s mind

January 2nd, 2012 Jeremy Schmidt 2 comments

Without some sort of portal into his head ala Being John Malkovich, we’ll never know truly how much one thing or the next impacts the performance of Ersan Ilyasova. It’s easy to speculate on his mental state, on his confidence. We can’t say for sure though.

But it’s easy to see how the performance of Ilyasova impacts the Bucks. Last season in wins, Ilyasova shot 49.5% and averaged 10.7 points per game. In Bucks losses last season, Ilyasova shot 39.8% and averaged 8.7 points per game. In our limited sample size of data this season, we’ve once again seen his performance mean a great deal. In Milwaukee’s loss to the Bobcats, Ilyasova scored just two points (though he did grab nine rebounds). When the Bucks rolled over the Wizards, Ilyasova played a key role, dropping 16 points on just eight shots.

Obviously, this isn’t rocket science. He’s a starter for the Bucks. He regularly plays lots of minutes. If he’s playing well, it’s going to make a big difference. But what’s unusual about Ilyasova is how much of a variable he can be. We know that even when Andrew Bogut shoots under 40%, he’ll be playing all-NBA type defense. We know Brandon Jennings might shoot a low percentage, but he applies pressure on the opposing point guards and usually is able to give the other team some problems with his driving.

But Ilyasova’s play, especially his play early, gives hints about his state each game.

Read more…

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Ersan Ilyasova wants to stay in the NBA

December 13th, 2011 Jeremy Schmidt 4 comments

The rumors of Ersan Ilyasova’s unhappiness might not have been totally accurate.

While he didn’t profess his undying love for Milwaukee, Ilyasova took time to re-establish the goal he’s had for many years with the media. And that goal is to be in the NBA.

“My goal is just be an NBA player,” Ilysaova said at media day last Saturday. “That’s why I broke out of my contract with Barcelona two years ago and come play for the Bucks. The main thing is just be an NBA player and stay here as much longer as I can.”

With one year left on his contract in Milwaukee, his future as a Buck may be in doubt past this season, even if the NBA is his goal.

After Ilyasova’s first season back in Milwaukee in 2009, it looked like he would be able to dictate how long his stay with the Bucks would be.  His knack for rebounding and aggressive, physical defense were a welcome compliment to his three-point shooting, something the team only expected him to get better at.

But season two back with the Bucks did not go so smooth. Coming off a strong run at the World Championships, Ilyasova often looked indecisive. His pump fakes were less action orientated, less part of a plan of how to attack and more defensive in nature. He was slow to swing passes around on the wing and struggled with his shot, hitting just 29.8% of his threes.

June trade rumors and the lockout forcing him into a job with a European team all seemed to contribute to rumblings that went on throughout the off-season that Ilyasova was not long for either the Bucks or the NBA. But both Ersan and the team have seemed happy enough with each other since camp has begun.

“It was difficult, to just start adjusting to the one place and now we have to go back to what’s basically our home here,” he said. “You know, we’re okay with it. I’m mostly happy now that’s the lockout is over and the season is starting. The best thing we can do now is take care of ourselves and not get hurt and be competitive and have a good season.”

Read more…

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