Bulls were happy, Bucks were sad. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

The Bulls were very happy on Saturday night. They won by a lot and dominated all 48 minutes of the game against the Bucks. Also, the crowd was absolutely in Chicago’s favor. There were MVP chants for Derrick Rose throughout the night. There was a chant, an embarrassing one, for Brian Scalabrine as the game wound down.

Rose either assisted or scored each of the Bulls first 15 points. Luol Deng made a triumphant return to the lineup. The Bucks fouled the Bulls just eight times despite Chicago’s repeated trips into the lane to the hoop.

Everything was bad.

Momentum from that Miami win? Gone. Hopes right now? Low.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Recap/Box Score/Enemy

When a team is attempting to figure out how they’ll be able to manage without Earl Boykins, obviously that’s a sign of a rough night ahead.

But Milwaukee battled.  That’s more that could have been said about Monday night’s defeat.  With no Boykins, or Brandon Jennings or Drew Gooden or Carlos Delfino, the Bucks simply didn’t have the offense to stick with the Bulls Tuesday night in a 90-77 defeat at the United Center.  Somehow, despite making under 33% of their first half shots, the Bucks actually led by three at halftime.  For most teams, that would be cause of optimism.  Most teams would have figured there’s no way they could shoot that poorly for another half.  Most team’s luck would turn around and they’d ride a better second half to an easy win.

Most teams aren’t the Bucks.  Milwaukee’s poor shooting kept on keeping on and the Bucks finished a remarkable 32.1% from the field, marking the 16th time this season that they’ve shot under 40% (H/T Charles F. Gardner).

The loss leaves the Bucks at the dreaded six games under .500 mark.  Six games was the low light of Milwaukee’s season last year, a seventh would officially leave the Bucks in a worse position than they were in at any point during the last season.  A seventh game under .500 probably isn’t needed to further pound home the point that the expectations for this season dramatically out shot reality.  The reality now is that the Bucks are looking like a team that will have to use another second half surge this season to push them into the playoffs rather than to fight for better seeding.

The reality is that the Bucks are more capable of shooting 33% on any given night than they are of shooting 50%.  Read more…

Enemy: By the Horns

Point Guard
Keyon Dooling vs. Derrick Rose

Rose has been something of a monster this year.  He’s visibly improved in every aspect of the game, from defense to 3-point shooting to passing.  He’s looking every bit like a former number one pick and is a safe bet to wreak all kinds of havoc on the Bucks makeshift point guard unit of Dooling and Earl Boykins.  The shakiest part of his game offensively is the in-between space of 10-15 feet.  Last season he shot 50% from that range, but he’s down to just 31% this year.  Milwaukee has to run him off the 3-point line and keep him from getting all the way to the cup.  Defending Dooling will start with Dooling and end with Bogut.

Advantage: Bulls Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 42-34
vs.
Chicago Bulls (Vinny Del Negro) 37-39

Date: April 6, 2010
Time: 7:00 (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin

Matchups

Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Derrick Rose

Two of the best young point guards in the East go head-to-head once again, this time, with even more at stake.  The Bucks win and they clinch a playoff spot without having to back in.  The Bulls need all the wins they can get if they really want to make the playoffs.  Jennings and Rose will have the ball in their hands all night, leading the charges.  Jennings got the best of Rose the last time these teams met, most famously in the highlight above.  We could see some changes in the Bucks offense that results in a little more Jennings, especially with Kurt Thomas starting.  Thomas does his best work a few steps outside the paint, so in theory that should result in more operating room for Jennings on drives.  We’ll see how it all shakes out though.  Containing Rose is going to be a HUGE key for the Bucks.

Advantage: Bulls

Read more…

From my TrueHoop Network Season Preview:

Botching last second plays seemed to be a rite of passage in Scott Skiles’ first season as Bucks head coach last year, so hopefully he’ll have this figured out by October 30.

It looks like it may still be an issue.

The Bucks were down two with 12.9 seconds left after two missed free throws from Joakim Noah.  The Bucks were faced with a similar situation roughly ten seconds earlier when they went to Brandon Jennings on the inbound pass.  Jennings went at Derrick Rose after failing to find Hakim Warrick streaking to the basket.  Jennings looked to have an opportunity, but ultimately was blocked on a fade away in the lane by Rose, resulting in a rebound for Noah who was subsequently fouled.

So do the Bucks go back to Jennings?

Not quite.  Jennings got a double screen from Warrick and Ersan Ilyasova, looked back over his shoulder and fired a pass to Ilyasova, who cut to the right of the top of the key outside the three point line.  Ilyasova immediately pump faked, never a good sign with him, and then fired a contested three over Luol Deng, also known as the Bulls longest most active defender.  Predictably, Ilyasova air balled the shot and the Bucks air balled a very good opportunity to win a road game in their division.

Things were so perfect.  The Bucks were up 18 with 6:56 left in the third quarter, the defense was swarming, every loose ball was going the Bucks way, turnovers were being forced and the Bucks were hanging in their offensively.  But when things were their bleakest for the Bulls, Deng, Brad Miller and Jannero Pargo led the Bulls all the way back when Pargo hit a three with six minutes to go in the fourth.

As described above, the Bucks had a shot in the end, but were unable to convert. Read more…