Recap/Box Score

(Note: Sorry about the lack of a game preview and slow to arrive recap of the Kings game.  It’s the holidays, friends are in town, things are going on, I’ll try to see to it that this doesn’t happen again.  The Kings game was the first game I was unable to make it to, and naturally it wasn’t on TV either, so it’s hard for me to be exceptionally thorough about this one.)

• Another night, another last second loss.  This type of thing is becoming as common as flying and dribbling for the Milwaukee Bucks of 2009-10.  After a particularly gut-wrenching home loss to the Sacramento Kings Saturday night, I’m left with a number of questions.

• Why can’t the Bucks win close games?

• Why do other teams get good looks in important spots and the Bucks are left to flail contested impossible heaves?

• How could Andrew Bogut ever go 6-20?

• Has anyone ever before seen such violent swings in minutes as in the case of Charlie Bell?  His four minutes Saturday come after 32 and 27 in the previous two, which followed two DNP-CD’s.

• And speaking of Bell, it comes to my attention that he was on the court for the very final play of the game.  On offense.  Which may be a little more difficult to succeed at after not having played for a while.  He came back in, after having played four minutes all night.  Didn’t Luc Richard Mbah a Moute not come in against the Lakers because he hadn’t been playing?  Didn’t that happen!?  DIDN’T IT!?  Sigh.

• Will Michael Redd ever again hit two free throws in a row?

• Why can’t Redd hit free throws?

• Did Brandon Jennings and  Bogut combine to miss their last 13 shots?  Is this an accurate figure?  I counted twice.  What are the odds of that?  50-1? 100-1?  5-1?

• After a rough two games at the office, has Luke Ridnour finally come back down to Earth?

• In games LRMAM plays at least 30 minutes, the Bucks are now 4-2.  In games he plays less the Bucks are 3-7.  Has he proven he needs over 30 minutes a night yet?

• Now that the Bucks are healthy, is there any hope for a semblance of a rotation emerging?  Kurt Thomas has appeared to grab hold of backup center minutes, Hakim Warrick is entrenched as the backup power forward and Ridnour at point, but when will a rotation work itself out amongst the swingmen?

• And if a rotation is established, will Jodie Meeks be facing the D-League?  He had a nice line against the Kings, five points two assists and two steals in nine minutes, but doesn’t Redd squeeze him out?

• When the Bucks staff watched Jason Thompson, were they thinking, “This is exactly the guy we need here,”?  Because they should have been.

• Isn’t Tyreke Evans the other piece the Bucks need?  But I’d love him to be playing NEXT to Brandon Jennings, not instead of him.  Evans is a helluva wing player, but this point guard thing will never makes sense to me.  In the last few minutes, sure.  Then just give him the ball and let him make a play, but I’d rather have Jennings running my team for the first 45 minutes.

Lots more questions than answers at this point for the Milwaukee Bucks.  But when a team is trying to reincorporate it’s ex-star with it’s new stars, it’s not easy.  Yes, Redd’s been struggling the last two games after one  nice game, but it’s all just a work in progress.  Give Milwaukee at least ten games with Redd before panic is allowed to set it.  As long as the Bucks keep games close, they’re bound to win a few more of these last second games.  I refuse to panic until after ten games of Redd’s return or a dip down to five games below .500.

If I told you that the Knicks came out and punched the Bucks in the face early in this game, I don’t think you would believe me.  But they did!  The Knicks jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first two minutes.

And then the Bucks went on a 22-2 run.  22-2! Read more…

The point guard match-up fizzled.  Heck, the game itself had very little sizzle in it.  But what’s most important, is that the Bucks pulled out the win in Minnesota Friday night, 87-72.  Even more important?  For the first time this year the Bucks were not “The Brandon Jennings Show”.  Other people scored!

The Bucks did it with defense and yet another strong third quarter performance.  Hakim Warrick scored 11 of his 12 points as the Bucks won the third quarter 31-14.  Aside from Andrew Bogut, the Bucks had shown little spark before halftime, so Warrick’s strong third was crucial to the Bucks success.  Up 12 heading into the fourth, Luke Ridnour scored nine points to keep the Bucks in control for the entire fourth quarter.

While it’s encouraging that the Bucks put some room between themselves and the true bottom feeders of the NBA by picking up the win, it’s still concerning that they’ve yet to put anything close to a full game together.  Against the Pistons they used a similar strong third quarter to set themselves up for a win after a poor start.  In Chicago, the Bucks came out hot and had an 18 point lead early in the third quarter before wilting down the stretch and blowing a great opportunity.  If the Bucks hope to battle for that eighth seed this season, they’ll need to string together four quarters at a time rather than just one or two.  Against Minnesota, two quarters will do.  Against the Bulls or the Heat or the Hawks?  It’s not the recipe for success. Read more…

Fortunately we can look at this for two weeks.  (Hat tip: Henry Abbott)

(I could listen to Johnny Mac’s hooting and hollering about this one for a couple weeks no problem.)

From ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan:

Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks will miss at least two weeks after experiencing soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, a source told ESPN.com on Monday.

Obviously, this is not good news.  I figured after the game that Redd would be out more than just a day or two, given that’s typically the way the Bucks describe every injury, whether it’s swelling of a wrist or decapitation of a head.  Bucks fans have been hoping against hope that Redd would be able to make it through this season unscathed, but apparently that will not be the case.  Whether the Bucks can weather this injury better than they have in the past remains to be seen. Read more…

I noted in a post last week that it was my season preview.  That was kind of a lie.  It wasn’t a total lie, it was more of a partial lie.  That was my philosophical preview of where the Bucks sit as a franchise right now.  I’ve actually been crafting my season preview with a certain set of guidelines.  The guidelines follow and this is my ACTUAL season preview that will appear in the TrueHoop Network’s NBA Preview. Read more…