The Philadelphia 76ers have been something of a league darling early on in the 2011-12 NBA season. The Milwaukee Bucks have been largely ignored. The Sixers hadn’t lost at home before the Bucks took the floor against them early Monday afternoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Bucks hadn’t won on the road. The stage was set, either for something wholly predictable or one of those upsets that would have had analysts and fans alike shrugging their shoulders, owing it to the lockout.

Something wholly predictable happened.

It was so predictable, that Scott Skiles basically called it before it happened. Before the game, Skiles said this to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

“For us, we’ve turned it over more in some games recently,” Skiles said. “That will be the end of us, if we have a high turnover game today. We really have to have a low turnover game and try to turn them over.

“The turnover battle is going to be big.”

The Bucks proceeded to lose the turnover battle 16-9, but more importantly, lost the points off turnovers battle 16-2. In a 94-82 battle, those 14 points proved important. If nothing else, this game was a testament to how well Skiles knows his team I suppose. Calling that turnover thing before the game? That’s impressive.

Less impressive was Milwaukee’s continued downward descent on three-point shooting. The three ball was kind to the Bucks in home games against the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons, but cruel in games against the Dallas Mavericks and Sixers. Milwaukee made just three of 14 threes against the Sixers, while Philly poured in 11 threes on 23 attempts.

Between the turnovers and the three-point shooting numbers, this one was easy enough to understand.

More difficult to understand were Andrew Bogut’s strong numbers. Bogut scored a season high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, dished four assists and blocked three shots, rounding out his stat lie nicely.

But it was the way Bogut scored that was so unique (all stats courtesy of Hoopdata.com).

Read more…

Enemy: Philadunkia

Point Guard
Keyon Dooling vs. Jrue Holiday

I was big on both Jrue Holiday and Brandon Jennings before the 2009 draft.  I’m still big on both, but now I’m growing even more intrigued with Holiday, probably because I don’t see him as much and because Jennings hasn’t played in nearly a month.  Holiday is coming into his own this season after a slow rookie year.  He’s shown improvements virtually across the board while maintaining some of the better numbers he had last season.  Holiday shot an unbelievable 39% on threes last season, even though he wasn’t touted as much of a shooter coming out of UCLA.  That number has dipped a bit this season — he’s down to 34.9 from three — but he’s still a threat.  What’s particularly impressive about Holiday is the solid mid-range game he’s displayed and his “sky’s the limit” defense.

Advantage: Sixers Read more…

And Friday’s hero was …

*Cue cheesy Latin horn*

Carlos Delfino.

Another night and another player steps up for the Milwaukee Bucks.  It certainly seems like every night the Bucks are getting some big play out of somebody (or bodies), but it’s always tough to tell who’ll be the star that night.  Coming off a couple strong games in a row, Kurt Thomas was a possibility.  Jerry Stackhouse had his best game in a few weeks on Wednesday, so I thought maybe he’d bring it again in Philly.  Brandon Jennings is the ticking time bomb, ready to go off for five or six threes on any given night.  But I have to say, ‘Los was due.

After initially struggling in his return from injury, Delfino finally got it going Friday night in the Bucks 95-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.  23 points (8-14 FG 5-8 3FG 2-2 FT) and five assists are the exact type of numbers I’d hoped to see from Delfino once Andrew Bogut went down.

Delfino’s various skills make him so crucial to the Bucks success.  An underrated creator, Delfino can certainly put the ball on the ground and get to the hoop on occasion.  He does it enough that I’ve noticed his go-to move – the reverse layup.  No one on the Bucks uses the hoop to protect their layup at the rim better than Delfino with his reverse.  When he’s aggressive with that thing and hitting threes, he can really be an effective player.

Of course, there’s a reason he’s on his third team and had a stint in Europe.  He’s not super consistent with his talents.  It’s hard to count on Delfino to make his threes on a nightly basis.  And  for some reason, he’s not always busting out those reverse layups and drives to the hoop either.  Yes, he’s always an active defender, but his offensive inconsistencies have baffled me this season.  If the Bucks want to win a series in the playoffs, the prospect of which seemed plausible with Bogut, impossible right after his injury and now slightly more feasible after three straight wins, they’ll need this Delfino every night.

*Cue the Latin horn* Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 44-34

at

Philadelphia 76ers (Eddie Jordan) 26-52

Time: 6:00 (CST)
NO TV

Go on, admit it.  You’re tired of Philadelphia.  I certainly am.  The Sixers have given the Bucks fits all year.  We know the drill at this point, they’re athletic, they have more talent than their record indicates and if they’re able to hit some threes, all hell can break loose.

So, what can Milwaukee do to take one from Philly for once?

• Control the ball

Milwaukee’s had very good assist to turnover numbers when they’ve played well this year.  Philadelphia has given them trouble in this area all season.  Twice when playing the Sixers, Milwaukee has turned the ball over more times than they assisted on baskets.  The other game Milwaukee had a 10-8 assist to turnover ratio.  Those aren’t encouraging numbers.  Perhaps with Bogut out, the Bucks will be able to go small in an effort to get more ball handlers on the court to combat the Sixers athleticism.

Matchups

Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Jrue Holiday.

Holiday is horrifying.  He’s like Rajon Rondo was as a rookie.  After a bounce back March, April hasn’t been so kind to Brandon Jennings.  Let’s move on.

Advantage: Sixers Read more…

Recap/Box Score

And we have a new word for the glossary.

The Trap Game.

The trap game is simple.  Let’s say you have a team that’s been hot, really hot, like let’s say 15-2 over their last 17 games hot.  And there were some pretty good wins in that 15, like recent ones over Denver, in Denver nonetheless, and at home against a possible playoff opponent in Atlanta.  There are some tough games coming up too, like the one against another team fighting for playoff positioning in the conference.  But there’s a game before the schedule toughens up.  A game against a team languishing near the bottom of the conference, a team that hasn’t performed up to expectations and is caught in some sort of purgatory, not super bad, but without much of a future.  They come out sluggish and look like they weren’t completely ready for this team and … they blow it.

That’s your trap game and that’s what happened to the Bucks Wednesday night against the Sixers.

Milwaukee had been coming out flat for the last few games, but typically clawed their way back into them and found a way to win.  In Sacramento it took overtime and a little bit of luck, but the Bucks kept it close enough to be lucky.  Against Atlanta, John Salmons got hot and carried the Bucks past the Hawks.  But there was no getting hot against Philadelphia, there was no keeping it close and there was no happy ending, just a disappointing loss that detracts from the impressive win in Denver last Saturday.  Beating the better teams means a lot more when a team takes care of business against the dregs of the league and the Bucks were unable to do that against Philly.

So, losing a trap game is an issue, but I took something else out of this one too, something that means much more.

Coming into the year, the Sixers were supposed to be a good team and it’s possible that’s the team that showed up tonight.  They’re athletic, they have good one on one players, they force turnovers and they’re a tough matchup for a lot of teams.  In short, they remind of me of the Hawks.  The switching on screens, the length all over and athletic front court were all problems for the Bucks offensively.  Sure, Milwaukee was passive going inside or driving to the hoop (see 5-28 3FG), but when they did get in it seemed like Philadelphia had defenders waiting, with length.

Jrue Holiday gave the Milwaukee point guards lots of problems on offense and defense and with his size and wingspan, he’s reminiscent of Joe Johnson, who took the challenge of guarding the Milwaukee point guards in the last two matchups.  Coach Scott Skiles was asked why his Bucks have had problems with the Sixers this year and he was quick to answer:

“They’re very athletic, they’re quicker than we are at some key spots and, you know, they get in some passing lanes, they’re disruptive and it’s bothered us.”

Sound like anyone you know?  Hint: they won Wednesday night. Read more…