Between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, things are getting a tad chippy.

(For more on the Celtics, check out TrueHoop Network Boston Celtics blog, CelticsHub)

Well, I’ll give the Celtics one thing.  As far as a team the Bucks can learn from, they won’t be a bad playoff opponent.  It looks like it’ll make for an entertaining series to boot.

In another game that had a couple chippy moments, the Bucks lost a game that didn’t really mean all that much in front of a sold out Bradley Center crowd Saturday night, 105-90.  And when I say it didn’t mean all that much, I’m referring to the fact that it’s looking more and more like these two teams are going to end up seeing each other in the first round of the playoffs.  Atlanta won again Saturday, they’ll likely beat out Boston for the third seed and while the Bucks lost, they still hold a half game lead for fifth and have a tiebreaker over Miami.  But I think a few things in this one meant a little something.

Teams that play hard defense can occasionally rub their opponents the wrong way and both the Celtics and the Bucks do this.  Teams that have won a championship with a core that’s slipping off the top of its perch often give the impression to new challengers that they aren’t worthy.  Boston has won a title with this core.  Teams that haven’t made the playoffs in some time and are making their first run together often want to prove like they belong.  That’d be the Bucks.  So we’re looking at a first round series between the “Old Irish” and the “Young Bucks”, one on the way down, the other on the way up.  They’ll meet in the middle, chips on shoulders in tow.

So believe me when I write that the miniature dust-ups mean at least mean a little something.  No one wants to be disrespected in the NBA.  No one.

But the Celtics are a great first round opponent for tons of reasons.  Not just because they appear most beatable, but because the Bucks can learn lots from their guys.  They can see the intensity they’ll need.  They can feel the type of defense pressure that wins games in the playoffs.  They can see a star at work in fourth quarters in Paul Pierce, watch what he does and how he operates.

But not all the Celtics serve that purpose.  Some of the Celtics are in need of some learning themselves.  Frankly, on Saturday night, Glen “Big Baby” Davis looked like, well, pardon the obvious pun, but, a Big Baby.  His reaction to a hard foul by Kurt Thomas led to a technical for his time, an on court talking to by Celtics Coach Doc Rivers and … a flagrant foul on Thomas?  Perhaps Davis did know what he was doing.  It’s possible he was just working the refs.

Ah, working the refs.  Few skills seem more difficult to develop in the NBA or as valuable.  The Celtics are always reminding the refs which team has a title under the belt, though not so obviously.  Constantly, you’ll see a Celtic put their arm around the ref, scowl after a call or, in Rasheed Wallace’s case, scream “and one” every shot attempt.  This was a Michael Redd specialty and, truth be told, may be the area where the Bucks will miss him most during the playoffs.  But playing the masters of this craft will give the Bucks an up close and personal tutoring session on this ever so necessary skill.

Of course, Milwaukee will have plenty of time to watch and learn once this regular season gets out of the way and the playoffs start.  This was simply the appetizer before round one.  Hopefully Milwaukee was paying attention.

Offense

The Celtics have a terrific defense.  They’re tough to beat.  That being said, any team can get out of their comfort zone and make some mistakes.  So what did Scott Skiles try and do?  Get the Celtics out of their comfort zone.  Milwaukee spent the majority of the third quarter “going small” with a lineup consisting of Brandon Jennings, John Salmons, Jerry Stackhouse, Carlos Delfino and Ersan Ilyasova. And the results were mixed.  They kept it close, but couldn’t overtake Boston.  Milwaukee saw their gap vary from one to five points, but could never take the lead.  A shot here or a shot there falls differently, and who knows how we’re looking at this game right now.

What’s most important is that Milwaukee was able to dictate the game in the third quarter.  Coach Skiles:

We just weren’t making any headway.  It’s strictly to, hopefully, get them to play the game we are trying to get them to play rather than the game they are playing right now, which we can’t do anything with.  And we did.  Unfortunately their smalls played better than ours the rest of the game.

Boston initially left their bigs on the court, but then countered with various combinations of Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Pierce, Tony Allen, Wallace and Kedrick Perkins.

• As it typically is, shooting percentage was an issue for Milwaukee.  The Bucks were under 40% for the second time in the four games without Andrew Bogut. Milwaukee is now 3-13 when shooting under 40%.

• A much needed strong game shooting the ball came from Jennings (7-11 FG 4-6 3FG), who finished with 21 point.  Milwaukee will need more outings like this from him come playoff time.  He did a great job of hitting open shots of penetration or ball swings back to him.  Sometimes he struggles with those, already set-up waiting to catch open threes, but he was hitting them against Boston.

Defense

Rondo goes wherever he wants, that’s a problem.  The Celtics have shot over 30 free throws twice in the three games Milwaukee has played them, that’s a problem.  But an issue that may be even more troubling than either of those two and more difficult to control, is Paul Pierce.

That Paul Pierce midrange jumper I’ve heard so much about lately?  It looked pretty good against Milwaukee.  Was his answer for every Milwaukee made baskets a minor annoyance, like a baby waking up over night?  Or is this Pierce hitting jumpers against Milwaukee thing going to last throughout the next few weeks and be a big problem, like a baby becoming a toddler.

Pierce finished with 24 points on Saturday (10-17 FG 4-4 FT) and didn’t miss a shot in scoring 10 points in critical fashion during the third quarter.  Eight of his points came with the Bucks either winning by one (at the very start of the quarter) or the Celtics holding the one point lead after a Bucks basket.  He constantly had answers.

If Milwaukee can find a way to box him up some, they’ll be in much better shape against the C’s.

• Don’t get me wrong though, I’m worried about Rondo.  He has so many tricks and ball fakes it’s nearly impossible to keep track of him or the rock.  Fortunately, Rondo still is a very poor shooter, so if the Bucks can find a way to wall him out of the paint they’ll have a fighting chance against him.  That’s much easier said than done though.  He had a very loud 15 points (5-14 FG 5-8 FT) and 10 assists Saturday.

Final Thoughts

A barrage of late technical fouls and silliness made this score look a little worse than it should have.  Coach Skiles got rang defending his guys and Jerry Stackhouse picked one up in scrumming it up with Paul Pierce.  Stackhouse wrote it all off to playoff intensity and let us know we should be expecting more to come.  He said it’d be an entertaining series if it comes to be that Milwaukee plays Boston.  And I don’t know about you, but I’m rarely one to disagree with Jerry Stackhouse.

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Video Courtesy of CelticsHub.com (They have more! Go check it out!)

Recap/Box Score

He flew out at the Celtics best player, his arm extended far as it could go.  Another night full of blocked shots, his arms must have looked like stop signs to the Celtics.  Every time they ventured into the lane he awaited, ready to throw one of his big, red, horizontal shaped hands at them with the same message warning them to cease.

But he could not get to this one.  The crafty Celtic veteran Paul Pierce faded just far enough back to launch his shot just out of the reach of the Bucks defensive anchor, who’d roamed out to challenge the Celtics tying attempt.  The ball sailed through the air; surely many in the Bradley Center were having Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant flashbacks as if Tuesday’s game were nothing more than a bad horror movie.  We’d seen this killer before in his other shapes, would he do it again?

And then the final shot rimmed out.  Andrew Bogut could breathe a sigh of relief.  Another Herculean effort of his would not go to waste and the Bucks would not bow out at the buzzer yet again.

Bogut finished Tuesday with 25 points (10-18 FG 5-5 FT), 17 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Bucks over the Celtics 86-84 in a game that gave the home crowd and, more importantly, the home team a little taste of the playoffs in early March.  From scoring the Bucks first four points, to helping to deny the Celtics of their possible last two, Bogut did it all for the Bucks.  The typically strong defender Kendrick Perkins did his best to muscle Bogut out of the lane and challenge his shots, only to see the Aussie drop in one running hook and spin after the next.  Especially pleasing for Bucks fans were the moments when Bogut was truly aggressive.

I love seeing Bogut drop in hooks as much as the next person, but it can leave him out of position for rebounds and keep him from getting to the line.  That’s why it was so delightful to see Bogut grab a rebound for a put back dunk or cram in a top ten nominee on Glen Davis.  Defensively Bogut is the total package and offensively he has as good a finesse game around the hoop as any big man in the league.  At times I’ve thought he lacked killer instinct, nasty demeanor and a midrange game.  Tonight?  Well, he missed a 15-footer that would have put it away with a minute to go, but I can live with that — especially if I keep seeing the instinct and the nasty that was on display Tuesday.

Offense

Bogut was the focal point, but he wasn’t doing it all alone.  To be honest, there were moments that the Bucks looked on the verge of letting this one get totally away from them.

Down seven heading into half can sound demoralizing, especially for a team shooting nearly 50%.  Well that’s where the Bucks were heading, until Carlos Delfino drilled a three with just over a minute to go in the half.  Suddenly the Bucks are down four and can feel a little better.  The Bucks spent the first four minutes of overtime trying as hard as they could to avoid tying the game or taking the lead.  Until Delfino hit another three to tie it up at the 6:54 mark.  The flu-stricken Delfino finished with 19 points (7-15 FG 5-8 3FG) and eight rebounds in 41 minutes.

• Brandon Jennings isn’t going to get punked and fortunately for Bucks fans, that means the Bucks aren’t either.  Asked about his encounter with Glen Davis, Jennings had this to say, “They’re known for punking people, but you know, they wasn’t going to come in here and punk me.  Hard foul, I looked at him, made sure he was all right, I was all right.  I just stood over him let him know, ‘I’m all right, I got right back up.’ No, Jennings isn’t making any friends around the league with his banter and penchant for chirping at stars like LeBron James and Kevin Garnett, but he’s putting his team first.  Jennings finished with just 13 points Tuesday, but he was judicious with his shots (5-10 FG 1-3 3FG) and made the right decisions down the stretch.

• A special kudos for what may have been my favorite play of the game.  The Bucks were up two after a John Salmons three finally put them over the hump in the fourth and they threw it down to Bogut.  Feeling a double team, Bogut quickly tossed it to Ersan Ilyasova on the other block for what seemed to be a layup.  But Garnett was there, because he’s everywhere.  Ilyasova, ever the pump-faker, tossed up a quick fake that got Garnett flying off the ground and simply allowed Garnett’s weight to carry him back down and jumped underneath Garnett, finished the layup and got the “and-one”.  Easier said than done, but prettier done than said.  Bucks up five, Jeremy feeling giddy.

Defense

As the games mean more defense gets amplified.  Those who recognize its importance will thrive and those who ignore it won’t.  Sometimes, it’s just that simple.  These two teams, they know a thing or two about it.  The Bucks and Celtics came in 3^rd and 1^st respectively in defensive rating and it showed in this one.  The Celtics laid out some hard fouls and forced the Bucks into some uncharacteristic turnovers early.  But it was Milwaukee that had the last laugh, holding the C’s to 36.8% shooting in the fourth quarter and allowing just five points in the final 4:43.

• Rajon Rondo posed a problem for the Bucks.  His quickness and finishing skills often give opponents fits and the Bucks were no different.  Rondo scored 20 points (6-10 FG 8-9 FT) and did it by weaving in and out of the Bucks interior as he pleased.  “We’ve got to do a much better job of cutting off his angles,” said Coach Skiles. ”He does it against most teams, he penetrates along the baseline and finds people.  We definitely need to do a better job against him.”

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re a college hoops fan or into the NBA game, games like Tuesday night’s scrum are what fans live for.  Two very talented teams doing everything they could to win a game.  For once, it wasn’t about the refs or tanking or anything else.  It was just about getting a win.  The crowd was into the game and Bucks players, specifically Jennings, were putting their emotions out on display.  Call him brash, call him cocky, but one thing Brandon Jennings doesn’t want you to call him, is a loser.

“A lot of people doubted us at the beginning of the season, had us almost last in the finish,” Jennings said.  “We’re here too, we’re fighting for the playoffs too, so don’t forget about us.  They’re a team that don’t take no mess and we don’t either.”

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