Avert your eyes and hide the children: Utah Jazz 85 – Milwaukee Bucks 73
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Stephen Jackson, SG 5-17 FG | 5-6 FT | 6 REB | 4 AST | 16 PTS | -12
Things did not go well for Jackson. He’s holding the ball a ton over the past two games after making quick decisions over and over when the Bucks were thriving in transition against the Wizards. He’s forcing drives into traffic, he’s missing shots. Over the past two games, he’s been John Salmons. |
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Ersan Ilyasova, PF 2-9 FG | 2-2 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 7 PTS | -2
Overmatched. That’s the easiest way to define Ilyasova’s night. He had trouble banging with Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson all night. The eight rebounds are nice, but they mean little when you look at how many rebounds were available Tuesday night. |
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Drew Gooden, PF 12-20 FG | 0-0 FT | 12 REB | 1 AST | 24 PTS | -6
Gooden had a terrific statistical game full of bonehead lapses. For every tip shot he fought to put in, for every long jumper he hit, there was an airballed shot he tried to draw a foul on or a silly foul of a Jazz big man that had blown by him. He was the Bucks offense though, so there’s that. |
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Carlos Delfino, SF 0-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 2 PTS | +3
An oh-for for Delfino. His drives resulted in wild shots in the paint. His threes weren’t falling and he was often standing around off the ball. For whatever reason, Milwaukee hasn’t been able to run with Delfino in the lineup like they did with Dunleavy. Small sample size and defensive stops figure into this, but he certainly lacks the movement and passing skills Dunleavy has. |
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Brandon Jennings, PG 4-19 FG | 0-1 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 8 PTS | -14
With Bogut out, a nation of Bucks fans turned their lonely eyes to Brandon Jennings. They’ll need sunglasses. Jennings’ layup that failed to so much as hit the rim in the fourth quarter summed his night up. It’s nice that Jennings competes hard all game, but if that’s all he has going for him in a game, that’s a problem. The past two games have been a rough regression for Jennings. |
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Four Things We Saw
- The theory goes something like, if an important player is out, it’s just an opportunity for someone else to step up. I thought about this when Al Jefferson drove by Drew Gooden at one point in the second quarter and Gooden jumped and windmilled his arm into the driving Jefferson. In short the Milwaukee reserves failed to step up with Andrew Bogut, Beno Udrih and Mike Dunleavy out.
- No Udrih and no Dunleavy left the Bucks with no three-point shooting. At least no accuracy. Milwaukee made just two of 19 threes. Stephen Jackson connected on one of seven attempts. He is now 5-26 on threes this season. Brandon Jennings missed on all seven of his attempts. He is now 5-28 this season from deep. Oh, and the Bucks shot 30.5% as a team. Sigh.
- Milwaukee found themselves trailing by two and three repeatedly in the third and fourth quarter, but never found a way to close the gap. Each time they’d string together enough to cut the Jazz lead, they’d follow with turnovers or missed shots. Without Bogut or the terrific version of Brandon Jennings we saw in the first three games of the season, Milwaukee looked lost when they needed baskets the most.
- What we didn’t see was Jon Leuer. Despite Bogut’s absence for personal reasons, Leuer played just six minutes. Hopefully that isn’t due to some injury that’s yet to be reported, but when factoring in how things have gone for the Bucks over the past year, who knows.
