Goin’ alphabetical this season.  First half today, second half tomorrow.  Enjoy.

Earl Barron

Once finished a play
Coming out of timeout. Sad.
Clear role, in swamp O.

He was only in Milwaukee briefly, playing in seven March games, but he did well what he does.  He crashed the offensive glass and made mid-range jumpers.  He made seven of 16 shots from 16-23 feet and half of his 14 attempts at the rim.  On the Bucks, those qualified as stunning offensive numbers.  And it was a small sample size, but his 16% offensive rebound rate led the team.

Andrew Bogut

Kept on keeping on,
Through sickness and injury.
Offensive struggles.

So that was the season after the injury.  He struggled through the first few months, wore a bulky elbow pad and had us looking away as he missed free throw after free throw.  But he kept trotting out there every night, anchoring a terrific defense and occasionally contributing something offensively.  Next season will be an important one for Bogut.  It’s probably going to be the season where we all find out if he’s ever going to be an All-Star or not.  He’s had another surgery, it’s supposedly gone well and he should have most of the summer to work on his game.  Hopefully we’ll be able to tell in November.

Earl Boykins

Scores like a rabbit
Couldn’t be reliable.
Could be electric.

He won the Laker game.  And he did the same against the Kings.  And he did it a few more times, because that’s kind of what Earl Boykins does.  That’s why Boykins is such a quality third point guard.  He doesn’t need to play every night and won’t make much of a stink if he doesn’t.  But when he’s called on, Earl is ready.  That’s commendable.  On more than one occasion, Scott Skiles referred to Boykins as the best shooter on the team.  Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for him to get his shot off without a little bit of trickery or ball-handling involved.  And therein lies the reason Boykins is what he is: fun.
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Now you can’t say this season has no highlight.  My favorite?  The bounce from the upper reaches of the 200 level.  Are you kidding me?

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

Recap/Box Score/Enemy

Wednesday night wasn’t the first time the Milwaukee Bucks needed Earl Boykins to jump-start a stalling offense.  Perhaps you remember Los Angeles.  Or Sacramento.  Or a home games against Dallas and Atlanta.  You get the picture.  It wasn’t Boykins first shot-making rodeo.

And it probably won’t be his last, or the last one the Bucks require of him.  Making shots has kind of been Boykins role this season; come in when the Bucks first or second units have dug a hole and missed shots and keep the team afloat.  For a team that’s largely been devoid of a consistent offensive presence, his dependability has been rather comforting.

Milwaukee needed a big dose of little Earl early on Wednesday.  The Bucks were down 25-18 when Boykins made his first three-pointer of the night with 1:39 remaining in the first quarter.  By the time he scored the last of his 18 first half points, the Bucks had firmly taken control of things with a 62-49 lead.  During his 12 minutes, Milwaukee’s guard made all eight of his shots and was was the driving force behind an offense that shot 60.5% in the first half.

Coach Scott Skiles was not so surprised after the game, as he rarely is when a guy who he dubbed the Bucks best shooter scores well.  He thought back to when Boykins was signed when the summer was nearing an end.

“We talked about it with Earl, and we talked about it internally,” Skiles said after Wednesday’s game. “could Earl be a guy that could come in and help us win five, six, seven games?  And that, no question, has already happened.”

Milwaukee wouldn’t require quite so much out of their pocket-sized point-getter in the second half, after all, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers in town.

Brandon Jennings picked up the offensive slack (14 of his 18 points came in the second half.  He made seven of 10 shots, so it’s worth noting now: back-to-back games of equal to or greater than 50% shooting for Jennings. Eyes open, people.) and the Bucks defense did their usual thing against a Cavs offense that did their usual thing.  The second half saw the Bucks split evenly the ball amongst a number of prospering offensive players, something that hasn’t been seen often in Milwaukee, or anywhere else the Bucks have played this season.

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There are a lot of players not playing in the NBA.  A lot of guys come to the arena night in and night out, prepare themselves, go through warm-ups, toss on a jersey and find themselves glued to the end of the bench all night long.  They do this night after night.  They’ll play here or there — blow outs are usually a strong opportunity for them — but they typically can safely assume they won’t be getting any run.

Not all these players are created equal though.  Some are veterans, some are rookies.  Some are big men, some are guards.  Some lack enough skills to earn regular minutes, while some have virtually no skill at all.

Often they earn the hearts of their team’s fans by not playing.  That’s right, these guys become fan favorites, not for what they are doing, but for what they aren’t doing.  They become the underdog, the guy who is denied an opportunity.  For a team like the Bucks (read: a team that has numerous players under-performing night in and night out), these players catch on even quicker.

The logic isn’t difficult to follow: “If John Salmons keeps playing this bad every night, why isn’t Chris Douglas-Roberts getting more of an opportunity?”  This isn’t crazy.  CD-R was a very good scorer in college, showed flashes last season and has had a couple 30-point games this season.  He suddenly dropped out of the rotation as January was ending just five games after his last 30-point effort.  Since his benching, he’s become something of a cult figure among Bucks fans.

But I think there’s a science to picking and choosing which players that have been relegated to the bench should be most adored.  It’s worthwhile to hope your favorite team starts playing some guys, while other guys are more or less a lost cause.

And I don’t mean to write CD-R off as an NBA player.  I just mean to write him off as a meaningful member of the Milwaukee Bucks.  But I don’t blame him.  It’s more them than him.

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Recap/Box Score/Enemy

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.

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