Jennings has taken some positive steps forward in March after a brutal February in which he was returning from foot surgery. He’s been better from the field overall and has seen his three-point shooting trend upwards over the past few games. If he can make modest improvements in shot-selection from this season to next season, he’s more than capable of being a 42% guy from the field and a 37% guy from three. When Jennings is catching and shooting, his primary role for Milwaukee, he’s pretty good. He just gets into trouble when he’s taking shots off the dribble, primarily that off the dribble fadeaway from mid-range that he so rarely makes, but too frequently attempts. Hinrich is a tough matchup for Jennings though: a strong, quick point guard that is a fierce competitor on defense. He’s a good point guard for the Hawks and one that gives Milwaukee trouble a lot.
If you only have been watching Bucks games this season, you’re certainly aware of the three-point shot, but you may not have known how quickly it can turn a game around.
Now you know.
The simple way to explain Milwaukee’s improbable comeback from down 11 points to begin the fourth quarter is like this: they got hot. Hot enough to outscore the Atlanta Hawks by 19 points in the fourth quarter on their way to a 98-90 victory in Milwaukee Wednesday night.
It started with Carlos Delfino. Having struggled miserably in his first three games back from injury, some were calling for reduced minutes, or at least reduced shots for Delfino. At least until he started making shots again. Things can turn quickly in basketball though and Delfino appeared to have found his form early Wednesday night. Delfino had made two of four threes heading into the fourth quarter. He then hit another on Milwaukee’s first possession of the fourth quarter to cut Atlanta’s lead to eight and by the time he made his third and final three in the period, he was putting the Bucks up five.
He didn’t do it all by himself though.
Former D-Leaguer Garrett Temple sprinkled in a pair of timely threes and Earl Boykins went on one of his patented shot-making sprees to key a Bucks offense that had been lifeless throughout the game. Defensively the Bucks kept after the Hawks and Atlanta did little to put pressure back onto a surging Milwaukee team. The Hawks had been moving the ball well enough to get good looks and got solid play inside from Al Horford for three quarters. But when things fell apart in the fourth quarter, the team started relying on Josh Smith jump-shots to get them back into the game. Predictably, that failed miserably.
And on every miss the Bucks had a little more energy and countered with the plays they needed to make.
We’ve been over this a time or two. Dooling: defense. Bibby: offense. Fortunately for Milwaukee, Dooling’s a better offensive player than Bibby is a defensive player. Especially lately. Dooling’s connected on 43.2% of his threes this month and 41.6% of his shots overall. Injuries to Brandon Jennings and John Salmons have forced Dooling into a much bigger role over the past month and a half and for the most part, he’s responded well. Defensively there are some players he matches up with better than others, but he’s always competitive at that end. Earlier in the season his shooting was an adventure, but he’s normalized over the past month. Dooling’s had plenty of criticism come his way this season, but he’s been more than adequate as Milwaukee’s number two point guard.
UPDATE: Tonight’s game has been postponed due to weather conditions in Atlanta. It will be made up March 15th. Tomorrow’s Bucks game at home against San Antonio will be played as scheduled.
Dooling has far more freedom to impact games than Bibby. It seems as though if it were practical, Atlanta would replace their starting point guard with some sort of machine that never ventured inside of the arc and only shot 3-pointers. Milwaukee’s point guards, on the contrary, are heavily involved with the Bucks offense and have a significant hand in figuring who is getting what shots. Dooling has only twice had fewer than five assists since stepping in for the injured Brandon Jennings. I wouldn’t expect Tuesday night to differ any for him. In the last meeting between these teams, Dooling had 15 points and nine assists.
Isn’t it funny how a matter of moments can alter the perception of one shot?
Along with many others that joined me on Wednesday evening’s Daily Dime Live, I thought Josh Smith had finished off the Bucks with just over four minutes to go Wednesday night. Smith faded a little bit from the top of the key and drilled a long perimeter shot that I’d been very enthused about from the moment it left his hand until the second I realized it dropped through the bottom of the net. Josh Smith simply isn’t supposed to hit those shots. One of those consensuses that form when this kind of things happens quickly formed. You know what I mean, where everyone collectively says, “Well, if he’s hitting those kinds of shots, the Bucks are doomed.”
A few voices did manage to get their dissenting thoughts out there though. Perhaps it would be a good thing for the Bucks that Smith hit a long shot. It may persuade him to try hitting another unlikely jumper later. I just didn’t feel there was enough time for any of that to matter though. The Bucks were down more possessions than there were minutes left on the clock, that’s never a recipe for success.
Then John Salmons put together five points in less than 48 seconds and the lead was down to four. The shot still lingered in the back of my mind, but it remained buried since Joe Johnson would very likely be the guy with the ball in his hands for Atlanta as this game wound down.
Except he didn’t get the ball, because he committed two fouls in the next 29 seconds and was relegated to cheerleader duty for the rest of the contest. Sandwiched between those Johnson fouls were three more Milwaukee free throws and suddenly the Bucks had the ball down only a point.
After Ersan Ilyasova caught a pass and scored over Smith in the lane to give the Bucks a one point lead with just under two minutes to go, the Bucks had the lead and the Hawks didn’t even have a leader. Where would they turn?
Well it’s a funny thing that happened. Maybe that shot that I had previously assumed finished off the Bucks was still fresh in Smith’s memory, or maybe it wasn’t, either way Smith took another shot that he had no business taking, a three with eight seconds left on the shot clock. Smith predictably missed and Al Horford rushed a shot attempt after controlling the offensive rebound. The Hawks were rattled. The Bucks were rolling and wouldn’t look back.
When it was all said and done, Milwaukee went on a 14-0 run after that Josh Smith jump-shot that worried me so. The very shot that I thought may have ended the Bucks season has them on the brink of an upset in round one. Read more…
