Box Score/Recap

(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) Hak' = Dunk

New York’s basketball team isn’t typically apart of my basketball viewing schedule.  They aren’t on national television very often and when they are I tend to look the other way.  I’m not big on teams that have gutted their roster in order to pursue free agents.    While I generally liked Mike D’Antoni’s Suns teams, I know the Knicks can’t be as efficient, mainly because they have few shooters and even less competent point guards.  Plus they play even less defense than those Suns teams did.  There’s a word that I can’t think of right now that would describe them aptly I assumed, but I had little proof since I never watched them.  But I had high hopes for the Bucks on Friday night coming into their game on Broadway.

Then Andrew Bogut got hurt.  So I went from hopeful that the Bucks would be able to leave the Big Apple with a win, to downtrodden that Bogut’s injury might be more than a migraine.  My thought process went something like this:

Migraine?  What?  He’s never had migraines before.  Didn’t he just take a charge a minute or two ago?  Is this another back injury?  Will we see Bogut again this season?  Is his career in jeopardy?

So that may have been an overreaction.  Call me a little snake bit after years of injury problems that seem to never end and spread across the roster.  Bogut walked out fine, no limp, no slouch, no teammates dragging his body to the locker room, so I’ll operate going forward under the assumption that all is well.  As for Friday night’s game, I thought of the word I was looking for and it isn’t even very fancy.  Simply put, the Knicks are defenseless. Read more…

(Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images) Warrick found little room to operate Tuesday night

One thing was very clear by the end of Tuesday night’s Bucks game in Orlando: Orlando is very good, much better than Milwaukee.  Breaking news, I know, but I just wanted to get that out there so we were all on the same page, just in case by some chance we weren’t.  The Magic are a NBA Finals contender and the Bucks are finally scraping back towards respectability, unfortunately that’s just the reality of the situation.  So it’s hard to be too heartbroken about a blowout loss in The Magic Kingdom.  The Bucks had been playing some of their best basketball of the season before Tuesday’s game, but it was apparently too much to ask for that to continue on through the evening.  The question going forward will be whether or not Tuesday had more to do with playing against Orlando or whether the not-so-long-ago inconsistent Bucks have once again reared their ugly head.

Offense

Non-existent once again, the Bucks shot just 36.3 percent.  When Jodie Meeks is getting playing time at this point, it’s generally a bad sign.  It seems to mean no answers are apparent or the Bucks are looking tired and ragged.  Both of those schools of thought applied to a Bucks team in the second game of a road back-to-back. Read more…

Recap/Box Score

In front of what appeared to be only close friends and relatives of both teams, it was very clear that the Miami Heat can be boiled down to two parts: Dwyane Wade and a bunch of guys.  Just as clear Monday night was that the Bucks continue their recent uptick in play and are looking more and more like a team that has begun to figure things out.  I’ve been contesting that the Bucks have looked like a much better team since an overtime loss on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Houston and the numbers don’t lie.

In the eight games starting with the loss at Houston, the Bucks are 5-3 with a +7.5 scoring margin.  One of the biggest reasons for the recent Bucks miniature surge has simply been consistent offense.  All season long the Bucks have played stifling defense, but have struggled to put the ball through the rim on the other end.  Andrew Bogut has averaged 20.4 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, but the most important statistic for Bogut has been his 68 percent shooting.  All year he’s been pretty good for the Bucks, but he’s only been hitting around half it shots, which is a little below average for a seven-footer as talented as he.  The 68 percent shooting provides the Bucks a solid base for their attack.

(Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) This is a confident bunch right here. Except Jodie Meeks, he's just kind of there.

Monday night, Bogut was again the focal point for the Bucks.  After missing their first 10 shots, the Bucks were able to find Bogut for a few easy ones to get them going.  Bogut finished the first quarter with eight, the Bucks finished the quarter with the lead and the Heat were just about finished, as they made only cursory runs the rest of the way.  I guess that’s what happens when Wade has a bad night, because Milwaukee has now seen D-Wade twice this year when he’s been off and the rest of the Heat haven’t responded kindly to their stars struggles. Read more…

Recap/Box Score

Dear Dwyane Wade,

Flash, you truly are the gift that keeps on giving.  You’re generosity when it comes to the city where it is windy rather than the Windy City seems to know no bounds.  Aside from delivering what will probably be Marquette’s only Final Four in the first quarter of this century, you’ve shown up at Marquette Madness in order to help with the always challenging recruiting battle and you worked with the university to secure a sponsorship deal through first Converse and now your Jordan brand.  A more dedicated alumni you cannot have been.

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) The way things were going for Wade on Saturday this was probably a turnover.

But Marquette is not the only basketball program that’s reaped the benefits of your significant Milwaukee pull. In the nine Heat games played in Milwaukee during your pro career that you’ve played in coming in to Saturday night, the Bucks have had an average attendance of 16,546, roughly five hundred people better than their average attendance over the last six years. See, those fans come to see you play well, but they still are Milwaukeeans.  They don’t want to see the Bucks lose to a team from a city where the weather is nice and the night life is livelier. They want a Bucks victory with their great Wade play.  You bring them, but they cheer for the other team – funny how that works.

And things were no different Saturday night.  You may have got the loudest cheer during introductions, but throughout the game a passionate fan base cheered on their Bucks.  In turn, the Bucks gave them lots to cheer about.  The Bucks were able to do work for most of the night against your seriously over matched Heat team, but that’s not really your fault.  You don’t have much of a supporting cast down in South Beach or anywhere else you play actually.  Carlos Arroyo?  Joel Anthony?  If you don’t have a superstar night scoring and fail to set up your teammates on a silver platter, you guys are going to struggle.

And you didn’t have a superstar night Saturday.  Five fouls on Dwyane Wade, who are they trying to kid, right?  The fouls weren’t your only problem though: 21 points on 6-20 shooting with four turnovers in a 95-84 loss is probably not the way you envisioned your only trip back to the Mil going.  On the plus side, you made a couple plays that drew ooo’s and ahh’s from the crowd and Marquette pulled off an upset at Connecticut, so you and your old boys gave Milwaukee plenty to smile about Saturday.

It’s not all gumdrops and lollypops when you come around though. Your play turns people into conspiracy theorists on par with Mel Gibson’s character in the aptly titled 1997 movie “Conspiracy Theory”. I’m sure some thought you could have taken a bat onto the court to play defense with after committing your fifth foul and the refs would have looked the other way each time you swung it. But we can’t love everything about you, right?

Overall, its clear Milwaukee’s love affair with Dwyane Wade is as strong as ever, you just give too much for everyone to forget you D-Wade.  And about the rough night Saturday, remember: fall down eight, get up seven … or something like that.

Regards,

Bucksketball.com

PS.

Don’t get revenge Monday night. Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 18-25

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

Vs.

Philadelphia 76ers (Eddie Jordan) 15-29

(Probable) Inactives:  Primoz Brezec and Jason Kapono

Date: 1/27/2010

Game Time: 7:00 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Match-Ups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Jrue Holiday

The guy the Bucks drafted versus the guy they thought about drafting.  It’s safe to say, that for this year the Bucks should be glad they went with Jennings.  Holiday is already a better defender than Jennings, but not the playmaker or shot-taker (and occasional shot-maker) that BJ is.  Holiday has only recently been given the keys to the car that is the starting line-up and is kind of taking on the “Royal Ivey Memorial Starting Point Guard” role.  He’s getting around 15 minutes, is expected to play defense, distribute the ball and not make mistakes.  It will be interesting to see if Jennings has a little extra pep in his step going at another rookie.

Advantage: Bucks Read more…