Once again, the good folks at Stubhub.com have been generous enough to provide Bucksketball.com with some Bucks tickets to giveaway to our readers.
In the comments section of this post, leave your prediction for tonight’s Bucks-Nets game. Final score and both team’s top scorers. The winner will receive FOUR tickets to Sunday’s Bucks-Knicks game in section 111, row GGG.
Don’t feel any pressure to pick Milwaukee either. If you think they’ll lose, then you think they’ll lose. I’m looking for the closest pick, not the homeriest pick (yes, I made that word up).
Onto a few quick notes about tonight’s game. Read more…
There’s a lot of positive talk about Brandon Jennings returning to play the Nets Saturday night, but it seems that he’ll be coming off the bench in his first game back from injury. Coach Skiles told Charles F. Gardner he only expected Jennings to play limited minutes in his return. Any minutes Jennings is given will more likely cut into the playing time of Earl Boykins rather than Dooling. Dooling and Boykins have both had their moments in Jennings’s absence, but Dooling has been a much more steady defender. Boykins scoring outbursts have always been enjoyable, but his penchant for over-dribbling and limited impact defensively cannot be overlooked. Against the famously quick Harris, Dooling is a better matchup.
The one Saturday night that the Bucks aren’t in Milwaukee and they go and do this. Figures.
But that was the only thing to complain about after Milwaukee’s 115-92 destruction of the New Jersey Nets Saturday evening. Playing without Andrew Bogut (viral infection), Milwaukee displayed the same shooting ability they did in the latter parts of Friday night’s close loss to the Miami Heat, but this time combined it with care for the ball and four quarters of tough defense.
And another heaping dose of Chris Douglas-Roberts.
CD-R finished with 24 points on his 24th birthday, hitting nine of 14 shots (1-3 3FG 5-5 FT). After a messy second season that finished with the Nets practically giving him away for nothing over the summer, CD-R was certainly playing his old teammates with some extra motivation. The timing worked out well for him too, coming into Saturday night’s game after compiling a season high 30-points in Friday’s loss to Miami. While CD-R’s good play carried over from one game to the next, some of the issues that plagued the Bucks didn’t.
After turning the ball over 23 times Friday, Milwaukee limited their turnovers to just 10 against a significantly less imposing Nets defense. There was some concern that the Bucks would suffer a bit of a hangover after an emotional loss, but the strong effort against the Heat seemed to have reinforced the Bucks confidence instead. Milwaukee stepped on the collective throats of the Nets immediately and never let them so much as gasp for air.
A John Salmons three put the Bucks up 5-2 and Milwaukee led the rest of the way, giving Milwaukee their most comfortable win since November 9th at home against the Knicks. Read more…
One of the many keys to continued success the rest of the way for the Milwaukee Bucks was prominently on display Wednesday night at the Bradley Center. They need balance. A team that lacks a true star to begin with, the Bucks have needed to get something out of everyone all year, even before Andrew Bogut’s injury. Now, they need balance more than ever. And when they get it, good things can happen. Milwaukee was about as balanced as they could be in their 108-89 victory over the Nets Wednesday night – 120 minutes for the starters, 120 minutes for the reserves.
While the Bucks starters were outscored 64-59 on the night, the bench did their part and then some, out-scoring New Jersey’s backups 49-25. This shouldn’t have been surprising though. The Nets are 11-67 for a reason. They have some starters that are above-average players, but their bench is full of young, inexperienced and, as far as I could tell, relatively uninterested players. New Jersey certainly looked the part of the league’s bottom feeder. Everyone was hooting and hollering from the sidelines during a fast start by Devin Harris, but there was a clear sense of indifference as the game began to slip away. But hey, a job is a job, and if I had a stat at my work that said we’d only had a successful day 11 out of the last 77 times we operated, I’d be waiting for a vacation myself. But back to the bench.
Role player was a fitting definition of the Bucks reserves on this evening. Read more…
(Probable) Inactives: Joe Alexander and Dan Gadzuric
at
New Jersey Nets (Kiki Vanderwegh) 3-30
(Probable) Inactives: Eduardo Najera, Tony Battie and Sean Williams
Date: 1/5/2010
Time: 6:00 (CST)
TV: Nah, not today
Match-Ups
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Devin Harris
Like most of these match-ups, this one won’t be quite as easy as the last time these teams met. In the first game it was Rafer Alston manning the point for the 0-12 Nets. Jennings burned Alston for 19 points, eight assists and his lone dunk of the season. That was a different Nets team led by a different man though. While Devin Harris hasn’t exactly righted the ship since his return from an early season ankle injury, he (along with the many other Nets who have returned from injuries since they last met the Bucks) at least helps make the Nets a competitive team. Harris has not matched the lofty standard he set for himself last year though. Shooting under 40 percent and averaging less than 20 points and dishing out fewer assists was probably not what Harris had in mind as a follow up to his all-star season last year. If Harris can begin to get himself on track, the Nets become more than a team desperate for all the wins they can get. Physically, Harris is still quick and strong and will be a load for Jennings on both sides of the court.
