Before Saturday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Bucks coach Scott Skiles discussed how Memphis big man Zach Randolph could alter a game.

“He’s one of those rare guys who can do it in different ways,” Skiles said.  “He can get the ball in the low post with his back to the basket, he’s got multiple moves and put fouls on you and he can score.  You take that away and he’ll pop out, shoot spot-up shots from even college three type distance.  He can put it on the floor and shoot off the dribble.”

With all that in mind, Skiles said Randolph wasn’t an ideal matchup for the Bucks best defender Andrew Bogut.

“That’s not Bogues’ (Bogut’s) strength.  People tend to just drive right by him when he’s out there.”

So, while Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders spent the majority of the night guarding Radolph with mixed results, Bogut stuck with Grizzlies center Marc Gasol.  And Gasol, as if he had heard what Skiles said earlier in the evening, went to work on Bogut.

With Milwaukee trailing by just three points heading into halftime, Gasol came out in the third quarter with a purpose.  He caught the ball at the free throw line on a number of occasions, faced up and attacked Bogut off the dribble.  When he wasn’t attacking, he was crashing the offensive glass to putback misses by teammates when Bogut would attempt to block their shots at the rim.  He led the Grizzlies in scoring in Memphis’s crucial third quarter run, scoring 11 of their 29 points and was key to their points in the paint advantage in the quarter (22-12) and the entire game (56-42).

On a night when Milwaukee’s offense struggled again (37.8% shooting), it was the defensive breakdowns throughout that third quarter that allowed Memphis to pad their lead.  The Bucks would spend the fourth quarter battling back, but failed to both get stops and make shots when they most needed to.

Offense

Earl Boykins makes a lot of timely shots for the Bucks.  He saves a lot of ugly possessions that don’t appear to be going anywhere, either by drawing a foul or making a difficult shot.  But at the same time, Boykins isn’t exactly adept at creating much for his teammates.  He dribbles around, comes off handoffs and lightly penetrates, but his size makes it a challenge for him to see the court very well or find teammates.  In the end, he’s more of a one-man offensive spark than he is a point guard who can direct a team.  Boykins was one of the only Bucks hitting shots at certain periods for the Bucks, but was part of the problem at others.  He finished the night eight for 22 from the field (3-6 3FG 4-4 FT) and scored 23 points.  Not an overly efficient night from the prominent bench scorer.

• On a night in which Milwaukee was struggling to make shots, it was odd to see Corey Maggette playing fairly passive.  Maggette attempted just 11 shots, often deferring to Boykins it seemed.  He converted on five of his 11 attempts and hit two of his four free throws while grabbing eight rebounds and handing out a season high five assists.  It was a truly strange night for Maggette.  He certainly didn’t appear to be the player who had been scoring 20 points with regularity since joining the starting lineup.  Milwaukee could have used that guy Saturday night.

• It’s fun to see Larry Sanders making jump shots.  Once they go in at least.  Before they head in, it’s a sight that leaves most nervous.  But Sanders was one of the Bucks best offensive options throughout the fourth quarter, which goes a long ways towards explaining why Milwaukee struggled to score points down the stretch.  Stepping up in place of the injured Drew Gooden, Sanders scored 12 points on six of 11 shooting and blocked three shots.

Defense

For only one quarter could the Bucks hold the Grizzlies under 50% shooting.  Milwaukee’s defense was simply overmatched by the powerful frontcourt of Gasol and Randolph.  They teamed up for 40 points and 27 rebounds.  Bogut and Ilyasova, Milwaukee’s starting frontcourt, combined for 20 points and 11 rebounds.  And if that shellacking weren’t enough, Memphis power forward Darrell Arthur came off the bench to score 14 points on seven of 11 shooting.  Big man advantage: Memphis.

• Milwaukee’s one of the better rebounding teams in the league, but the Grizzlies dominated the glass all night.  Memphis grabbed 49 rebounds to Milwaukee’s 36, though the Bucks were as active on the offensive glass as they were on the defensive.  Milwaukee finished with 16 offensive rebounds.  Unfortunately for the Bucks, they only turned those boards into 16 points, another sign of their offensive ineptitude on the evening.  Memphis grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and scored 19 points off them.

Final Thoughts

After feel good performances against the Wizards and Cavaliers, Milwaukee returned to reality against Memphis.  Without Brandon Jennings, the Bucks point guards couldn’t create much and without John Salmons, Milwaukee’s wings couldn’t produce enough scoring.  Chris Douglas-Roberts played 15 impact-less minutes and Carlos Delfino proved to everyone it’s difficult to make shots in the NBA when you’ve been out for a long time (2-12 FG 1-7 3FG).  Milwaukee lacked the firepower to out shoot the Grizzlies and the defenders up front to slow them down.  They were outplayed by a more talented team from start to finish.

With a chance to finish the week 3-1, the Bucks finished it 2-2 and are back to nine games below .500, with time running out to get everyone healthy and on the same page.

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

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A few weeks ago in his pregame Q&A session, Scott Skiles commented on how coming out of September he thought he had a real good shooting team on his hands.  Then the season started and the Bucks struggled out of the gate.  Guys were shooting less than their career norms and the offense was a possible cause for panic.  Skiles said he expected things to turn around and he wasn’t going to worry about it so early into the season.

Well, it looks like he had cause not to panic.

The Bucks hit nine threes Saturday night, five out of Charlie Bell and overcame a 24-point deficit in points in the paint to ease by Memphis Saturday night, 103-98.  With Andrew Bogut out of the line-up it was obvious that protecting the paint was going to become increasingly difficult, but scoring in the paint has been as tall of a challenge.  The Bucks have very few players with slasher skill sets who can get in the paint and finish.  So it has become all the more important for Brandon Jennings to operate as a drive-and-kick point guard, hitting open shooters for three’s.  Both he and Luke Ridnour have excelled at this since Bogut’s been out.

The Bucks hot three point shooting kept them in it when they fell behind early AGAIN and helped put it away for them late.  Without Bogut they’ll have to find other ways to score and this is a terrific sign.  You’d think things can only get better from outside when Michael Redd gets back then, right?  I sure hope so.

Offense

• Ridnour finished with 13 points and 12 assists and has firmly established himself as a premier back-up point guard.  In the second quarter, a quarter in which the Bucks began to assert their control, Ridnour had six points and five assists.  As the perfect back-up should do, he provided great support until Brandon Jennings (29 points, 24 in the second half) was able to get his game going.  39 points and 14 assists out of your point guards is pretty good.  It’s certainly better than the 11 and seven Memphis got out of their duo.

• Fourth quarter Ersan Ilyasova: seven points and five rebounds. Fourth quarter Zach Randolph: two points and zero rebounds.  Randolph had 18 points and six rebounds, but after the first quarter mattered relatively little.  Ilyasova played hard all game, finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for his second double double in the Bucks last three games and won the match-up with Randolph.  It was important that he use his ability to stretch the floor and generally be a good, smart teammate to out play the Grizzly big men and he did just that.  Ersan consistently knew when to make the extra pass, when to screen and how to play against the opposition depending who was on him.  Another terrific role player plus game from him.

Defense

• Wondering why the Bucks didn’t buy out or trade Kurt Thomas before the season?  Bogut insurance.  The Bucks struggled behind a foul-prone Dan Gadzuric early, but righted the ship when Kurt Thomas started getting heavy minutes Saturday night.  Thomas ended the game with eight points, ten rebounds, two steals and three blocks in 31 minutes.  A true stat-stuff evening for the wily vet.  The Bucks were getting bullied early, but when Thomas came in nothing was moving inside.  He uses his girth so well and gets great low position making him nearly impossible to move off the block on defense.  A great night from him.

• Turnovers were a boon for the Bucks after a rough patch of late.  The Bucks only forced three more turnovers than the Grizzlies (16-13), but were able to score 25 points off turnovers, ten more than Memphis.  This helped negate the Grizzlies 54-30 advantage in the paint.

• Part of Memphis’ inside advantage was their rebounding edge.  A night after allowing just two offensive rebounds to Charlotte, the Bucks lost that battle 11-6.  Rudy Gay in particular was active and had one fierce dunk off an offensive board.  Poor Gay and Marc Gasol battled admirably in this one, but simply are not part of a team strong enough as a unit.  This game featured a team with lots of talent losing to a team that plays stronger as a unit.  It’s a lesson for Memphis.

The Bucks teamwork tonight was really something you had to see to appreciate.  Constantly making extra passes and setting extra screens, the Bucks were looking to open things up for teammates all night.  Charlie Bell constantly planted himself in the corners for open threes and his teammates did their best to get it to him, allowing him to shoot 11 threes, a season high.  Ersan was stepping out, using wise ball-fakes and setting screens after passes, helping the Bucks look sharp.  I like the idea of Ersan as a role player-plus.  He’s capable of providing more scoring than a typical role player, but isn’t someone you want to have to rely on every night at this stage in his career.  You CAN rely on him being pesky and hitting the boards though, just like any other scrappy guy that typically can’t shoot.  Ersan has been a godsend thus far and fits Skiles to a tee.

It all starts with the two point guards on offense though.  They are constantly looking to kick out and find open teammates.  Unselfishness spreads throughout teams like a virus and the Bucks were positively sick on Saturday night and got the Bucks four game trip off to the absolute best start possible.

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