• The Bucks made one field goal over the last 6:45.

• The Kings grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and scored 10 second chance points in the third quater. Five and four in the fourth.

• 10 Milwaukee turnovers led to 17 Kings points in the second half.

• The Kings shot 14-44 (31.8%) in the first half and made eight of nine free throws. They were 23-47 (48.9%) from the field and 18-22 from the line in the second half.

• The Bucks were 2-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. The Kings were 9-10.

• Sacramento’s three best players, Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and DeMarcus Cousins took 14 of the team’s 21 shots and nine of the team’s 11 free throws in the fourth quarter.

This is what happened in the second half Thursday night.

It’s tough to explain how two halves of basketball between the same two teams could look any different, but whatever switch Sacramento flipped at halftime changed the dynamic of the game. Suddenly, Evans, Thornton and Cousins, three of the four most talented players these teams had, played like it. Evans was impossible to keep out of the paint, Thornton made every shot he missed in the first half and Cousins turned from Winnie the Pooh to that bear that ended the movie Grizzly Man.

And the Bucks could do little but hope for Brandon Jennings to bail them out. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t do it.

Read more…

Enemy: Cowbell Kingdom

• Last season’s Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans will miss his 19 consecutive game when the Kings take the court Wednesday night.  A Kings team that hasn’t been very good WITH Evans this season is even worse without him, having won just four of the 21 games Evans has missed this season.

• Sacramento is coming off an emotional home win Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers.  Kings fans united under the “Here We Stay” mantra, as they attempt to convince ownership not to pursue other options for the future of the team.  Once the league’s very loudest building, Arco Arena was sold out and rocking as the Kings fed off the fans and downed the visiting Clippers.  At the least, it seems unlikely Kings players will be able to capture that energy and bring it on the road to Milwaukee.  Sacramento is just 8-25 on the road this season.

• A bright spot for the team of late has been the play of recently acquired guard Marcus Thornton. In 14 games with Sacramento, Thornton has averaged 21.4 points per game while tallying a healthy 20.8 PER.  While it’s easy to write off his accomplishments as the ball hogging of a second year player on a sinking ship, it seems like Thornton’s scoring spree is a little more meaningful than that.  He proved in his rookie season with the Hornets that he was a capable bench scorer, not a role most rookies fit so naturally.  It’s tough to project that Thornton will be a 20-point scorer consistently in the NBA, but at the very least, he’s solidifying himself as a very good scorer off the bench.

• DeMarcus Cousins did not start in Monday’s win and was ejected in the game previous.  No word on whether he’ll start Wednesday night, but he’s certainly a player Milwaukee will have to watch.  He has the talent, and temperament, to impact every game one way or the other.

• In three of Carlos Delfino’s last seven games he’s made just two of 17 shots.  In the other five he’s connected on 28 of 45.  Which Delfino will show up against the Kings?  Thanks to Sacramento’s shaky defense, probably the second one.  And if things are going well for the Bucks, they may not even need another 40 minutes of that Carlos like they did in the past two.

Prediction: Bucks 106 – Kings 86

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter.  Become a fan on Facebook (right sidebar).

This video is A. an illustration of Milwaukee's love for Jennings and
B. some delightful over dribbling that worked out

The word is out and Tyreke Evans will be named rookie of the year later this week.

But don’t tell Bucks fans that they are supposed to want anyone else manning their team for the foreseeable future, because Brandon Jennings has captured the imagination of Milwaukee during the playoffs.

Throughout the season, Evans handily dominated the numbers in the rookie of the year debate.  After all, Evans is one of just four rookies ever to average over 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. So the trophy that is on the way to his mantle is nothing if not well deserved. Jennings averages weren’t so flashy, 15.5 points and 5.7 assists and he wasn’t able to physically dominate in the same manner the hulking 6’6, 220 pound Evans was. This post season has been a shot in the arm for Jennings statistics though.  Putting his regular season that featured many more nights at less than 40% shooting behind him, Jennings is currently shooting 46.2% in the playoffs while hitting 38% of his threes an turning the ball over just 1.3 times per game.

As has been his way all season, Coach Skiles has been impressed with Jennings ability to take care of the ball in the playoffs even when things haven’t gone well.

“He’s been good.  Game two he struggled shooting the ball, but as he’s done most of the year, it doesn’t spill into the rest of his game,” said Coach Skiles before game four. “He’s not turning the ball over, he’s still running the offense well. So far so good, he’s played well.”

But for the vast majority of these playoffs, Jennings has done more than just “play well”. Jennings has seen his modest 14.5 PER skyrocket up to 23.3 in the playoffs, largely due to his drastic 7.5% improvement in true shooting percentage.  In fact, during these playoffs, Jennings has held up very well when compared to other budding stars at the point guard position.  Allow me to present exhibit A, a breakdown of usage, turnover percentage and true shooting percentage.  Essentially, we’ll see what point guards are using the most possessions and whether they are using them effectively. (Stats are accurate as of before Tuesday’s games)

While each of these players has a very different role in his respective team’s offense, I think it’s fair to say Jennings is, at the very least, competitive among some of the better young point guards in the league.  He hasn’t exactly been super-human like Russell Westbrook, but had Jennings simply played an average game in the second game of the series (he shot 3-15 while notching just two assists), who knows how good his numbers could look right now.

But as it has been all year with him, it’s about so much more than the statistics with Brandon Jennings.

With Andrew Bogut out of the lineup, Jennings has taken the reigns as the team’s emotional leader and ambassador to the fans.  It’s Jennings you saw waving his arms in the air as the final seconds ticked off in the Bucks game four victory.  It’s Jennings that was preening and prancing after hitting three early three-point shots in a game three victory and it’s Jennings who has the crowd in the palm of his hand.

“I feel like the crowd, they set the tone,” said Jennings after game four. “They’re the ones that get us going.  I can’t wait until Friday, to come back home and try and finish up the series hopefully.  It’s been exciting.  I’ve been hear all year, this is the loudest I’ve ever heard the Bradley Center.”

Coach Skiles has seen Jennings growth as a leader in the playoffs.

“I think the guys understand that he’s got a lot of talent. And he’s not afraid of playing at this level, he’s not afraid of playing in the playoffs.  Every game he tries to come out and be aggressive.  So far in this series he’s made the floater a little bit, his three has gone in and obviously it’s a big boost for us when he starts a game knocking down shots because it allows our crowd to get in the game.”

So maybe Brandon Jennings wasn’t the rookie of the year this season.  But you’d be hard pressed to find many in Milwaukee who think the city didn’t get a perfect fit in the kid with no fear and a thing for the playoffs.

If you’ve never been to Hoopdata.com, then you’re missing out on a lot of great basketball information.  Does it seem like your team gives up a lot of shots at the rim?  Go to Hoopdata and they’ll verify your suspicions.  Think you’re team sucks at shooting mid-range jumpers?  Hoopdata can tell you whether or not they do.  Think your scrappy power forward draws a lot of charges?  Hoopdata tracks that too.

It’s awesome.

Occasionally they’ll have some interesting charts and graphs about things too.  One of these recent “things” was the at rim field goal percentages of Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans.  In short, Jennings had a great start but has tailed off considerably, whereas Evans has been climbing and performing very well all year.  If I told you Tyreke Evans was doing a much better job finishing at the rim than Brandon Jennings coming into the year, you probably would have said, “Well duh, he’s got five inches and fifty pounds on him,” and that would have made sense to us both.

So it’s no surprise to me that Evans is doing such a good job at the rim while Jennings has struggled.  However, I’ve maintained that it’s important for Jennings to continue to attack the rim and be aggressive despite his misses for a couple reasons.  One, he’ll probably get better at finishing as his career goes on and it’s important to develop good habits as a young player.  He’s bound to add some more muscle, so that should help him absorb contact.  On top of that, as he grows as a player, he should figure out how to better shield the ball from shot-blockers and draw more fouls.  That’s all down the road stuff though.  In the meantime it’s still benefiting the Bucks when Jennings is going to the rack, poor shooting percentage be damned.

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) Brandon Jennings needs to keep getting to the rack for the Bucks

Through his last six games, Jennings is just 11-26 at the rim, just 42.3 percent, but when we look behind the numbers things actually look a lot better.  On seven of those attempts, the Bucks secured the offensive rebound and scored a basket, typically a tip shot or layup.  One time the Bucks had to take it back out, but that just resulted in a driving basket by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (he grabbed the initial rebound as well).  So add those seven baskets off the rebounds to Jennings 11-26 and suddenly we have 26 attempts at the rim resulting in 18 makes and 69.2 percent shooting.  That’s not bad.

I’m sure Jennings is not alone in his ability to draw defenders and open up easy opportunities for teammates when he attacks the rim, but for this team it’s especially important.  The Bucks are a very good offensive rebounding squad (eighth in the league) and a very bad offensive team.  Any opportunities the Bucks have for easy shots at the rim have to be exploited.  Not many Bucks excel at creating their own shot or getting good looks at the rim, so the more Jennings heads to the rack, whether he makes it or misses it, the better the Bucks are sure to fare when it comes to actual scoring.  His shooting percentage may not pick up for a while, but as long as the Bucks are getting better looks because of his shots everything will take care of itself.

Recap/Box Score

(Note: Sorry about the lack of a game preview and slow to arrive recap of the Kings game.  It’s the holidays, friends are in town, things are going on, I’ll try to see to it that this doesn’t happen again.  The Kings game was the first game I was unable to make it to, and naturally it wasn’t on TV either, so it’s hard for me to be exceptionally thorough about this one.)

• Another night, another last second loss.  This type of thing is becoming as common as flying and dribbling for the Milwaukee Bucks of 2009-10.  After a particularly gut-wrenching home loss to the Sacramento Kings Saturday night, I’m left with a number of questions.

• Why can’t the Bucks win close games?

• Why do other teams get good looks in important spots and the Bucks are left to flail contested impossible heaves?

• How could Andrew Bogut ever go 6-20?

• Has anyone ever before seen such violent swings in minutes as in the case of Charlie Bell?  His four minutes Saturday come after 32 and 27 in the previous two, which followed two DNP-CD’s.

• And speaking of Bell, it comes to my attention that he was on the court for the very final play of the game.  On offense.  Which may be a little more difficult to succeed at after not having played for a while.  He came back in, after having played four minutes all night.  Didn’t Luc Richard Mbah a Moute not come in against the Lakers because he hadn’t been playing?  Didn’t that happen!?  DIDN’T IT!?  Sigh.

• Will Michael Redd ever again hit two free throws in a row?

• Why can’t Redd hit free throws?

• Did Brandon Jennings and  Bogut combine to miss their last 13 shots?  Is this an accurate figure?  I counted twice.  What are the odds of that?  50-1? 100-1?  5-1?

• After a rough two games at the office, has Luke Ridnour finally come back down to Earth?

• In games LRMAM plays at least 30 minutes, the Bucks are now 4-2.  In games he plays less the Bucks are 3-7.  Has he proven he needs over 30 minutes a night yet?

• Now that the Bucks are healthy, is there any hope for a semblance of a rotation emerging?  Kurt Thomas has appeared to grab hold of backup center minutes, Hakim Warrick is entrenched as the backup power forward and Ridnour at point, but when will a rotation work itself out amongst the swingmen?

• And if a rotation is established, will Jodie Meeks be facing the D-League?  He had a nice line against the Kings, five points two assists and two steals in nine minutes, but doesn’t Redd squeeze him out?

• When the Bucks staff watched Jason Thompson, were they thinking, “This is exactly the guy we need here,”?  Because they should have been.

• Isn’t Tyreke Evans the other piece the Bucks need?  But I’d love him to be playing NEXT to Brandon Jennings, not instead of him.  Evans is a helluva wing player, but this point guard thing will never makes sense to me.  In the last few minutes, sure.  Then just give him the ball and let him make a play, but I’d rather have Jennings running my team for the first 45 minutes.

Lots more questions than answers at this point for the Milwaukee Bucks.  But when a team is trying to reincorporate it’s ex-star with it’s new stars, it’s not easy.  Yes, Redd’s been struggling the last two games after one  nice game, but it’s all just a work in progress.  Give Milwaukee at least ten games with Redd before panic is allowed to set it.  As long as the Bucks keep games close, they’re bound to win a few more of these last second games.  I refuse to panic until after ten games of Redd’s return or a dip down to five games below .500.