Recap/Box Score/Enemy

The fourth quarter seems like a logical place to start.  After all, the Milwaukee Bucks were right there.  They didn’t have to spend the period playing catchup.  They didn’t dig themselves a hole, they weren’t in trouble.  Coming into the fourth quarter, the Bucks actually held a lead.  It wasn’t large, just a point, but Milwaukee needed one more quarter of solid basketball to salvage the last game of their three game trip out West.

12 minutes later, the Bucks would walk out of the Oracle Center with a three game losing streak.  The good work Milwaukee had done a week ago had been undone.  Once again, Milwaukee was 10 games under .500.

So how did it happen?

It wasn’t missed shots.  Typically the Bucks get looks and blow open jumpers, that’s just been the season.  Down the stretch against the Warriors though, Milwaukee didn’t even get that far.  The Bucks blew four consecutive possessions from the 3:28 mark of the fourth quarter to the 1:47 mark.  Over this stretch, the Bucks attempted two shots: a Keyon Dooling desperation three as the shot-clock expired and a Carlos Delfino three that was little more than an attempt to draw a foul.

In the past Scott Skiles has praised his team for generally executing well, but this was the worst execution the Bucks have had all season.  And the timing was abysmal.  The whole turnover spectacle started after back-to-back Corey Maggette baskets in isolation left the Bucks down just two.  Suddenly the Warriors lead had expanded to six after they capitalized on the Buck poor play.

Maggette battled back to keep the Bucks within two, but he would have had to have been perfect to bring the Bucks all the way back after their charitable offense handed the Warriors so many opportunities earlier.  He wasn’t perfect.  Maggette missed a free throw on an and-1 that would have left Milwaukee down one.  The Bucks could never close the gap all the way and the Warriors walked away with a win.

Read more…

Enemy: Warriors World

Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Stephen Curry

Jennings should be on track to log at least 30 minutes this evening, after seeing his playing time grow from 12 to 21 minutes in his first three games back from injury.  His playing time has been something he’s groused about lately, saying if he had a limit, he may as well not play at all.  30 minutes should be more than enough time for him to get in the rhythm he’s been looking for since returning.  He’s always seemed to have had an extra hop in his step against Sophomore classmate Curry, so perhaps this will be the game that gets Jennings heading in the right direction again.  Milwaukee’s guard is just seven of 26 from the field in three games.

Advantage: Warriors

Read more…

Recap/Box Score/Enemy

Ah, so this is what Milwaukee’s second game of the season was supposed to look like.  You remember that game, right?  The Bucks held the Timberwolves for 37.6% shooting, managed only 35.6% accuracy themselves and saw Minnesota ride 26 second chance points to victory.

Well the narratives were similar in Milwaukee’s 79-72 victory over Golden State Saturday night.  Only this time, it was Milwaukee who grabbed their own often errant shots repeatedly and did the Warriors in with extra effort.  Of Milwaukee’s season high 58 rebounds on the evening, 19 of them came on the offensive end.  The Bucks used their aggressiveness on the offensive glass wisely, scoring 21 second chance points.

Standing at the top of the Bucks hill of second chances at game’s end, was Drew Gooden.  Milwaukee’s already much maligned power forward scored six second chance points himself and grabbed a team high six offensive rebound.  In addition, he flashed passing skills that we saw on occasion in the pre-season, but have rarely been put to use since the real games began.  He had two fine assists to Andrew Bogut, perhaps a sign of things to come. Since he’s struggled so much to start the season, it’s easy to forget why Milwaukee signed him this off-season, but over the past few games, Gooden has shown at the very, very least, he can be a tenacious rebounding presence for Milwaukee.  At his best, he’ll compliment Bogut well and keep the offense humming.  Without question, this was Gooden’s finest game as a Buck.

Today was more of a case of him helping just to keep Milwaukee’s offense afloat though.  Make no mistake, the Bucks’ offense had very little to do with them preserving in a game they should have run away with.  The Warriors scored just 30 points in the first half, thanks to a stingy Bucks defense that refused to let anyone other than Monta Ellis get going.  Ellis finished the first quarter with 11 of the Warriors 16 points and that would be a theme throughout.  Subtracting Ellis’ 24 points on 9-16 FG, the Warriors scored just 48 points on 19-66 shooting (28.8%).  Before the game, Coach Scott Skiles spoke about limiting the Warriors guards Ellis and Stephen Curry to a combined 40 points or less as a key.

“They (Ellis and Curry) are at 48 a game roughly and if we can get them down around 40, that goes a long way towards us hopefully winning the game,” he said.  “No slight against their other guys, but those two guys are very explosive.”

Ellis: 24
Curry: 7

Mission accomplished and the Bucks are now .500. Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 4-5
Inactive: Chris Douglas Roberts, Michael Redd, Darington Hobson

vs

Golden State Warriors (Keith Smart) 6-3
Inactive: David Lee, Louis Amundson, Ekpe Udoh

Date: 11/13/2010
Game Time: 7:30 PM (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin / NBA TV

The Other Guys: WarriorsWorld.net

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Stephen Curry

Jennings is still working towards establishing consistency in his game, but he’s taken baby steps towards that with back-to-back solid games in blowout Milwaukee wins.  He’s been more aggressive in looking for his shots at times in each of the past two wins, but hasn’t been overbearing about shooting.  There’s an important distinction between the two.  It’s good for a point guard to be aggressive, but it’s bad for a point guard to be too shot happy.  At times last season, often because of a lack of talent around him, Jennings got shot happy.  That hasn’t been the case lately.  Of course, it helps when he’s making his shots too.  In the past three games, he’s connected on 8-14 threes.  Curry has gotten even better this season after a strong rookie year last year.  He’s shooting close to 50% and has boosted his percentage of field goals assisted on while he’s on the floor from 24.6% to 34.1%.  He gets the edge over Jennings for his seven fairly consistent games, but if Jennings keeps up the stellar play of late, this could easily be a push.

Advantage: Warriors
Read more…

Milwaukee Bucks (Scott Skiles) 15-21

Probable Inactives: Joe Alexander

at

Golden State Warriors (Don Nelson) 11-26

Probable Inactives: Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Randolph and Raja Bell

Date: 1/15/2010

Time: 9:30 (CST)

TV: FS Wisconsin

Match-Ups

Point Guard

Brandon Jennings vs. Stephen Curry

Let me throw some numbers at you

These are the monthly progressions of Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings.  Player A, B and C represent Curry in the months of November, December and January in the league, while D, E and F are Jennings numbers over the same period of time.  Since the start of November, Curry has been blowing Jennings out of the water as a shooter and has been equal to or better with regard to accumulating steals all season.  Jennings numbers would suggest he’s the superior playmaker at this point and that seems likely, as Curry played shooting guard for the majority of his time in college.  Across the board elsewhere though, Curry seems to have the edge after a considerable head start by Jennings.

Advantage: Warriors Read more…