A feel good balancing act: Bucks 92 – Pistons 90
Having had their collective backs up against the wall for most of the second half of the season, the Bucks have nightly been faced with two choices: come out fighting or find a way to move that wall back just a bit further. Unfortunately for Bucks fans, the second option has often been exercised. Tuesday night was different though. A height, experience and scoring deficient Bucks team responded to the circumstances challenges and defeated the Detroit Pistons at home, 92-90.
Without Andrew Bogut, Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Mbah a Moute, Milwaukee was forced to rely on the inexperienced starting combination of Larry Sanders and Jon Brockman. Both played to their strengths in contributing to the win. Sanders, the prolific shot-blocker, rejected three shots while grabbing eight rebounds (seven defensive). While Sanders manned the defensive glass and patrolled the paint, Brockman was more active on offense than usual. The 6-7 power forward grabbed seven offensive rebounds and scored eight points around the hoop, including one soaring dunk that demonstrated some of the athleticism we haven’t often seen from him.
Matching Brockman’s rarely seen hops, was Milwaukee’s rarely seen fight. While the Pistons and their famously grouchy veterans largely remained nailed to the bench or slow to get up to embrace teammates or life in general, Milwaukee appeared to be a team that still has a little hop in their step, losing season or not. The difference in veterans was evident.
While Tracy McGrady watched the game with a disinterested smirk on his face and no worries about having to play, Keyon Dooling was, as he always is, the first guy out on the court during timeouts to high-five his teammates and quick to be up off the bench after big shots to celebrate. For all the talk about whether or not Coach Scott Skiles has lost his guys once again, they certainly didn’t seem like a group that had been lost, especially when contrasted to a group that certainly has.
Maybe that was the difference Tuesday night, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe Milwaukee just finally made some shots and everyone felt good about it. It could have been playing without so many key figures once again that kept the group together and gave them some energy. Whatever the case may be, Milwaukee picked up a win and, at least for one night, appeared to pick up their spirits.
