From ClipperBlog comes a video on last night’s miniature dust-up between Steve Blake and the Bucks.
The part that stands out to me is how easily Blake tosses aside Ersan Ilyasova. Which makes sense, from a guy who trains with Mixed Martial Artists. Check out the 1:15 point in the video below.
Even if it was a game later than Bucks fans would like, the REAL Los Angeles Clippers showed up in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. You know, the team that doesn’t (can’t?) defend, that takes bad shots and appears to go without an offensive strategy for significant portions of the game. That’s the Clippers we’ve all come to know and love, that’s the Clippers that opposing teams love to see, that’s the Clippers Milwaukee got on Tuesday. The results were predictable.
Using runs of 10-0 in the first quarter and 18-8 in the second, the Bucks never lost their double digit lead in the second half. And that was before a dust-up renewed the Bucks interest in a game that they had been keeping at arms length.
That seemed to pique the interest of the Bucks and more importantly, drew the interest of a crowd that had been in and out of the game beforehand. I’ve carried with me the vague memory of the Bradley Center crowd’s airline hangar noise level from the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals, but it’s hard to recall that. That was nearly 10 years ago and rarely has there been much to get all that excited about since then. So when a moment crops up that get the crowd more than just “involved” in the game, those are the best. After the miniature dust-up, Squad Six began an “An-drew Bo-gut” chant. Soon the whole crowd joined in. Bogut noticed.
“That was pretty cool. I haven’t seen the place rockin’ like that for a while, where the whole crowd got involved. Hopefully we can encourage the rest of our fans out there to feel free to join in when Squad Six is chanting, it brings a great atmosphere.”
That atmosphere Bogut has been looking to recapture? That’s called a playoff atmosphere. It helped that Bogut’s Squad Six has been at it game in and game out, but Milwaukee has a history of stepping up in the moment.
And its basketball team is looking like they can play that game too. Read more…
Date: 3/30/2010
Time: 7:00 (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Steve Blake
Baron Davis is not accompanying the Clippers on their road trip due to back spasms, leaving Blake at the helm. This is significantly good news for the Bucks. Davis is quite physically imposing and really played well the last time these teams met. Blake is more of a fit in kind of guy, rather than a take over kind of guy. He can hit threes and he runs an okay game, but he won’t be able to punish Jennings or harass him too much defensively.
Advantage: Bucks Read more…
(Likely) Inactives: Greg Oden, Travis Outlaw, Patrick Mills
(Likely) Inactives: Joe Alexander, Francisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric?
Date: 12/12/2009
Time: 7:00 (CST)
TV: FS Wisconsin
Point Guard
Brandon Jennings vs. Steve Blake
Blake has retained the starting spot despite the off-season acquisition of Andre Miller. Blake is a better shooter and can work off the ball a little better, which allows Brandon Roy to do a lot more ball handling, something he enjoys. Blake’s primary requirement is to stand off the ball and get ready to shoot open three’s. He’s having a slightly down year at 37 percent, but can knock them down with pretty good regularity on the right night. Jennings had a strong game against Toronto and has performed very well at home this year. The Blazers will likely look to contain him and are a pretty good defensive squad. They held the high scoring Aaron Brooks to six points on nine attempts the game following center Greg Oden’s injury, so they’ve had at least some success against high scoring point guards this year.
Advantage: Bucks Read more…
