I did not envy Ersan Ilyasova during this game. He was guarding either Marc Gasol or Zach Randolph for the majority of the evening, guys that are much larger and stronger than him in the post. He split his time absorbing punishment and drawing charges as a defender, but found a way to contribute on offense anyway. Also he was the only Bucks player with more than five rebounds. IT’S ON YOU ERS must have been the whiteboard message pre-game.

There was a lot of talk from coach Skiles about Gooden before the game. Apparently he’s quite the hot topic amongst Milwaukee media. I’ll sum it up for you: Milwaukee knows they are losing something without a true center, but they expect to make up some of that with Gooden’s offense forcing other centers to come out and defend him. He’s being asked to do a lot and he’s answered the call.

Against the Grizzlies things fell in line with what Coach Skiles said before the game. He had his hands full on defense, but he got Gasol to step away from the hoop and was fairly productive on offense. Still, the Bucks could really have used another center option this season. Gooden’s five rebounds at the end of this game helped make that abundantly clear yet again.

I know he’s getting adjusted and that he’s got to find himself and figure out how he can best interact with new teammates and all that stuff. I know. But the Bucks didn’t trade for Monta Ellis to not score 20 points. Everyone saw this as a home run for the Bucks because they gave up two inactive players for a guy who would step in and get them points. We’re 10 games into this thing and Ellis still isn’t doing his thing the way he did it in Golden State. He’s missing difficult shots. The shots he gets within 10 feet may be shots he can make, but he isn’t going to magically start making difficult shots at a 40% clip.

The plus with Ellis is that he’s done well to hand out assists despite shooting about 40%. For those of you who were so ecstatic about his acquisition, I ask, is that what you were hoping for? Probably not. Fortunately, he still has time to turn it around. But it’s running out.

Jennings came out firing. Seven shots in his first stint, a few of them that had me wondering what has this guy shooting these shots tonight? Was he still feeling himself from yesterday? Was he approaching a matchup with Jeremy Pargo the way a lion approaches a gazelle? Whatever the case, he came out firing. He got more accurate as the night went on fortunately after making just two of his first seven.

He and Ellis still haven’t really seemed to find a rhythm together. We’re not exactly seeing that dynamic guard play we were promised when they share the court. Just same old Jennings with a fairly average Ellis.

Dunleavy was basically all of the Bucks bench scoring. He had 10, the rest of the bench chipped in six. He wasn’t the superhero he’d been lately though. Milwaukee needed Super Dunleavy if they wanted to win this one. It almost seems like he was a little too deferential or that the team needed to do more to get him looks from outside. Given the way he’s shot lately, two 3-point attempts hardly seems like enough. Dunleavy spoke after the game about the lack of ball movement and a failure to make the right reads. Against better teams that kind of thing comes back to haunt you was his overall message.

Huge start for Ersan as he put up 14 points in his first eight minutes. Everything else was just going through the motions. My goodness were the Cavs terrible and Bucks hot.

He didn’t have the same game everyone else had, but who cares? This game was like an exceptional practice. Milwaukee is still better off is Monta is scoring more than 20 points the way he did against the Hawks.

Killed it. Pulled up jumpers, Threes. Passed the ball. Steals. Fast breaks. Jennings had it all going. The whole team had it all going.

By the time Dunleavy checked out of the game in the second quarter after his first stint, this game was over and he played a big hand. 14 points with a 4-5 effort on threes with what seemed like hardly any effort. He helped stretch the Bucks lead from nine to 24.

Someone had to help move the ball with everyone knocking down shots. Kudos to Beno. If I were Udrih I would have been out there chucking up threes like a madman the second Milwaukee had a 25 point lead.

The Knicks outrebounded the Bucks 54-41. It shouldn’t have been that lopsided. Not with Stoudemire out. And not with the Knicks using guard-heavy lineups all night. Ilyasova’s bad game is really inexplicable. He got two fouls early and Skiles chose to sit him, but didn’t play him the rest of the first half. Then his play in the second half was very unagressive.

Once again, no Stoudemire playing. This should have been easy. I don’t exactly know how this happened, but if Drew Gooden isn’t passing well then the team doesn’t play well. This is all going to end poorly.

Ellis and Jennings are both shooting less and shooting worse than before the trade. Monta has been a capable distributor, but that’s not why he’s here. He’s supposed to be a scorer and hasn’t shown even a flash of that capability yet. He’s been useless shooting threes. He attacks the paint, but misses lay-ups and has been terrible at shooting free throws.

Jennings could not seem to hold onto the ball during a fast break. Baron Davis would just waddle his way into the break and snatch the ball as if was no big thing. He’s still not getting to the line and he’s been less aggressive in every way since the Ellis trade.

In his four first quarter minutes, Dunleavy poured in 14 points. He continued that hot streak with 10 points in the second quarter. He also got possessed by the ghost of Larry Johnson and threw in a four-point play just for kicks. This performance wasn’t the usual Dunleavy performance where he’s using his opponent’s athleticism and speed against them to get open looks. The Knicks were rather good about staying on their feet on Dunleavy pump fakes. They just couldn’t keep track of him. Either he’d break away off a screen for an open look or be in the perfect spot on a fast break, the man was just in the right place at the right time all first quarter. Delfino left the game in the first half due to a groin injury so it would seem like the perfect time to start Dunleavy in the second half, but Skiles wouldn’t play the hot-shooting Dunleavy until halfway through the third.

Udoh showed some flashes of offensive prowess in the game with some spins and head-fakes that lead to some easy buckets. You should probably take these as just flashes for now, at best, Udoh’s ceiling is probably an 8 ppg game. But once again he looked good on defense despite his poor performance on the boards.

Pretty awesome game from Ilyasova. While his fellow starters matched points and shot attempts, Milwaukee’s suddenly powerful forward once again piled up the points on limited shots. A nice night and plenty of rest was perfect for Ers with the Bucks playing their third straight game tomorrow.

He had more shots falling against the Bobcats than he did against the Celtics. I bet he would have sacrificed a few tonight to have a few more yesterday though. Charlotte’s lack of a big man that doubles as a competent basketball player must have been quite a relief for Gooden.

Still hitting shots. Also a nice no-look dish to Mbah a Moute on a drive to the rim.

It’s amazing how easily Udrih seems to pile up the assists. Many of them are coming thanks to Mike Dunleavy’s incredible scoring prowess of late, but it seems no matter how few minutes he plays he finds a way to almost lead the team in dimes.

Played a lot of small forward but still found a way to be effective. He found his seams and worked in close to the hoop as the high shooting percentage and eight free throw attempts would indicate. This game was similar to the Warriors game for him in that sense.

It was interesting to see him and Udoh on the court at the same time. It gave me some good perspective on how raw an NBA player can be. Udoh isn’t raw. Not when compared to Biyombo. Or Sanders for that matter. He’s better than Larry Sanders, let’s squash any statements made otherwise right now. Watch him move, watch how he reads plays and how he makes an impact often.