Recap/Box Score

Had I started writing this immediately  after the Bucks game, things would not have been pretty.  The number of scathing criticisms going through my head had to have been up over 50.  We just hadn’t seen an effort like that out of this year’s Bucks team to date, so I had a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around the performance.  Lambasting the Bucks lack of energy is easy, as they had none.  It was virtually never a game from start to finish and the Pistons manhandled and at times embarrassed the Bucks.  And we’re not talking about the ‘96 Bulls here.  The Pistons (6-12 coming in) aren’t very good.  The weren’t even a better than average home team at 4-4 entering play Friday night.

So there is a lot do be disappointed about.

But the more I thought about it, the less the whole thing bothered me.  It’s all still frustrating, but I get it a little more.  Yes, anyone can have a high energy and effort level on any given night.  And yes, teams with less talent really should be bringing it with a full tank of pluckiness to make up for their deficiencies, but it’s not that simple.  But a team with as little overall talent as the Bucks can’t possibly match their opponents effort every single night.  The Pistons won only for the second time in ten days, they were very hungry and saw the Bucks as the perfect team to feast on.  It was evident almost immediately.  They pushed and got very little resistance.  This Pistons team didn’t necessarily have more talent than the Bucks, but they certainly were playing with a greater sense of need for this win.

At this stage in their development, the Bucks aren’t going to win any games where they don’t feel like the absolutely need it.  Why they played like they didn’t need this one is beyond me, the schedule isn’t getting any easier in the next week.  They have two or three quality starters on their team and then role players galore.  That’s a team that needs to scrape by with grit and determination, both of which were in short supply Friday. (more…)