Game 28 Preview: Bucks vs. Spurs
Saturday, December 26th, 2009San Antonio Spurs (Greg Popovich) 15-11
(Probable) Inactives: Matt Bonner, Michael Finley and Marcus Haislip
at
Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 12-15
(Probable) Inactives: Joe Alexander, Dan Gadzuric and Roko Ukic
Date: 12/26/2009
Time: 7:30 (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin
Match-Ups
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Tony Parker
Parker has made a career out of blowing by defenders and finishing at the rim or in the paint. Jennings has shown the ability to do the first part of that, but hasn’t quite mastered the second half. Jennings is finishing on only 46 percent of his shots at the rim, whereas Parker has consistently finished between 64 and 65 percent of his over the past four years. But it wasn’t always so easy for Parker. He never approached 50 percent on overall shooting until his fourth season and, while I don’t have the numbers, it’s unlikely he was as successful at the rim early in his career either. The NBA paint is a tough place for smaller players, especially younger ones. But with development and smarts they can evolve, as Parker has.
Advantage: Spurs (more…)
These things happen: Spurs 112 – Bucks 98
Monday, November 23rd, 2009A lot of negative things can be taken out of this one.
Virtually every weakness the Andrew Bogut-less Bucks have was exposed in their 112-98 loss to the San Antonio Spurs Monday night. Without Bogut, the Bucks had few answers for Tim Duncan inside and had to resort to double teams on him more often than not. In turn, the Spurs were able to work the ball around, find the open man and hit open three after open three. Sans Bogut, the Bucks struggled to keep the Spurs off the boards. Coming into this one, the Bucks were out-rebounding the Spurs 45.8-42.8. Sure, Bogut was gone, but the Bucks have still looked sharp on the boards even without the center. The Spurs absolutely crushed the Bucks on the boards (more on this later).
The Bucks certainly haven’t seen a team like the Spurs.
The Bucks have faced a pillow soft schedule thus far, fattening up on the dregs of the NBA. Bobcats, Grizzlies, Nets and Knicks are all no Spurs. They offer little in the ways of crisp ball movement. None of the teams the Bucks have been able to knock off has had a go-to guy like Tim Duncan. So a logical question to be raised after this particularly brutal defeat is, are the Bucks close to being as good as their record indicates? (more…)
Game 12 Preview: Bucks at Spurs
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 8-3
(Likely) Inactives: Michael Redd, Joe Alexander and Andrew Bogut
at
San Antonio Spurs (Gregg Popovich) 5-6
(Likely) Inactives: Manu Ginobili
Game time: 7:30 (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin
Match-ups
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Tony Parker
Parker returned on Saturday after missing two games with a left ankle sprain. Tony Parker on a sprained left ankle is more dangerous than most guards on two healthy ones, so it’s not like he’ll be an easy guard just because he’s had some injuries this year. His numbers are down a little from a year ago when he had what was likely his best season ever. The fact that the question can seriously be posed as to whether he’s taken the reins on this team from Tim Duncan says a lot about his talent. Jennings has faced some talented point guards thus far, but hasn’t faced one with Parker’s scorer mentality. He gets in the paint and scores more than most. The back-and-forth battle between these two should be worth the price of admission, Jennings has been nearly unconscious all season long. It’s very safe to say he’s outperformed Parker even. In fact, this seems like the very type of game Jennings will bring just a little bit extra for.
Advantage: Bucks (more…)
