SB Nation - Luke Ridnour

Game 25 Recap: Blazers 101, Bucks 108

Dave — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:08:09 -0000

Arrgh. It stinks to have to write about another loss. But you kind of knew when the game went into overtime, let alone double-overtime, that this would be a hard one for the Blazers to pull out. Shorthanded and on the tail end of a road swing against a team that's been waiting isn't a good recipe for extra-period success. Nevertheless the Blazers had their chances but couldn't overcome their mistakes and in the end couldn't pull out the win.

The game started with both teams looking to their big men to provide scoring. LaMarcus Aldridge tore up the Bucks most of the night. Andrew Bogut returned the favor. Both were mobile enough and had enough range to their game that their counterparts couldn't stop them. Centers and power forwards were the order of the day early and the Blazers were fine with that. But when the various guards stepped up to the plate Portland got outplayed. Luke Ridnour did damage in the first half, carrying the torch for Brandon Jennings who didn't attempt a single shot in the opening 24 minutes of the game. Michael Redd chipped in a little bit. On the other side Brandon Roy was quiet and Steve Blake and Andre Miller were noisy in all the wrong ways...and in the clanging of loud rims. Nobody but Martell Webster could hit a three. By now you know what happens to the Blazer offense when nobody hits threes. Portland exited the first period down 5 and it looked like it could be a long night.

In the second period Roy went on a run, which in turn developed some shots for Martell and for Jerryd Bayless. Bayless didn't get many opportunities but he did well with what he had. Martell was still doing well in the first half, so it actually made a decent lineup. It's important to realize that many of these shots were coming off of movement and screens, which seems to be a consistent factor when Portland's offense is going well. The Bucks, meanwhile, suffered from a lack of backcourt scoring. Also Andrew Bogut sat out half the period. That was a bad combination for the Bucks. Portland made an enormous comeback behind their rejuvenated backcourt and turned the 5-point deficit into a 5-point lead at the half.

Apparently Brandon Jennings looked at the stat sheet at the half and realized it is really hard to win Rookie of the Year without attempting any shots whatsoever. Perhaps he looked at LeBron tape from last night's game as well. Whatever the cause, he came out in the third quarter firing. The Blazers had to know it was coming but they're a little shy on point guard defense at the moment. Once Jennings hit a couple of threes the court opened up for anything Milwaukee liked. It was like going through a pound box of See's soft-center candies for them. No matter what they picked, everything was good. Portland started the period by driving inside but after they were rejected at the rim they apparently decided that three-point shooting was the better part of valor. They got a couple of close shots but mostly it was Brick City. Only some well-timed free throws saved the period from total disaster. (You'll recall that giving up copious amounts of charity tosses is in Milwaukee's M.O.) The game's wobble increased again as the Bucks outscored the Blazers by 15. For those counting that means the first quarter one team outscored the other by 5, the second quarter it was by 10, the third quarter was by 15, and the superior team alternated each quarter.

Obviously all of the people who believe in an orderly universe are assuming that Portland outscored the Bucks by 20 in the final period and walked out victorious. You're half right. They outscored the Bucks by 10. Both Roy and Aldridge came alive at the same time to spur the comeback. They even helped each other out a time or two, which is something you don't see often. Milwaukee shared the ball but maybe they should have considered going with Jennings, Bogut, or Ridnour alone as the Blazers couldn't seem to stop any of them. In the process of sharing the ball with each other they also shared it plenty of times with Portland, aiding the comeback's progress. Andre Miller was the third scorer for the Blazers in the period but he was a mixed blessing. It's easy to love the 5 points and especially the 4 assists he posted in the period. It's difficult to forgive two critical turnovers down the stretch when Portland had a chance to score crucial buckets. They were nearly identical, featuring Miller trying to force the tempo by driving against superior numbers on the break when his teammates weren't with him. He got stripped both times, once by Redd and once by Jennings. Both of these occurred in the last two minutes of a then-tight game. The first one the Blazers got right back. Not so the second. But either one could have made the difference and you don't expect that kind of thing from a 14-year veteran point guard. That's not to pin the loss on Miller...it was a group effort. But it's indicative that every time the Blazers felt the win in their sails in this game they hit a rock.

The final 38 seconds of regulation featured a medley of nice offensive plays. Andrew Bogut hit a hook shot to put the Bucks up three then Brandon Roy pulled the defense to him and threaded a sweeeeeet pass to LaMarcus Aldridge for a dunk plus the foul to tie it. After the big man had their curtain call Brandon Jennings made a teardrop runner in the lane to recapture the lead by 2 followed by Brandon Roy hitting a turn-around with 12 seconds left that was so bad that we would have barbequed anyone but Brandon who took it. We maybe would have barbequed him too but we'll never know because it went in. You could almost hear the Bucks' fans (who were quite vocal and sounded amazing all game, by the way) lose their beer and pretzels. The Bucks almost got a tip-in off of a missed Jennings jumper at the buzzer but it was a nanosecond or two too late. Overtime.

The overtime started out well. After Andrew Bogut made a layup followed by a short Roy jumper the Blazers fed a running Aldridge thrice. It was like three punches to Milwaukee's ribs. It looked like they could be headed for the exit. Unfortunately the Blazers never scored again after the third conversion. Perhaps they relaxed. Perhaps they were fatigued. Certainly we began to see signs of the perimeter defense breaking down as the Milwaukee smalls scored repeatedly, often times after a screen left them either free or mismatched.

There was a semi-controversial play near the end of the overtime wherein the officials invoked instant replay review for a second time in the game, the first having been the shot at the end of regulation. Milwaukee missed a shot and there was a scrum for the rebound. LaMarcus Aldridge was touching the ball but hadn't fully controlled it yet when two Bucks tried to tip it away from behind. They succeed and the ball went out of bounds along the baseline. The officials initially awarded the ball to the Blazers but the video review would show that LaMarcus' hand was the last to touch it (by about the same nanosecond as before) so they reversed their call. Technically they were correct in their determination. Full marks there. But this does highlight that even instant replay isn't foolproof because technical correctness sometimes breaks precedent. Every other call in the game is made in real-time. And made in real time that call always goes against the team whose players come from behind to tip. Had this been any time but the last, critical moments of the game that would have been Portland's ball. As it was, the call was made differently because it was reviewed. This begs the question: is technical correctness really correct or is it consistency?

Anyway, Brandon Jennings made a final shot to end the overtime and we were knotted again.

There's not much to say about the second OT except that the Blazers looked even more tired. Jumpers fell well short. Brandon Roy drove expecting to get fouled and threw up the shot as an afterthought. In overtime games you have to get the shot in and expect the foul to be called as an afterthought. Needless to say, he came away with neither. Meanwhile the perimeter defense got even worse as switches on screens became comical. Jennings, Ridnour, and guard Carlos Delfino scored repeatedly. Portland did not. End of game.

The Blazers didn't hit enough jumpers and didn't throw a wide enough defensive net to win in this game and that's pretty much the story. They're tired. They're banged up. They need to go home and hope to recover with a little rest and a friendly crowd.

Click through for the rest...

Individual Observations

These are going to be quite brief tonight.

Brandon Roy scored copiously but less than efficiently again, shooting only 8-24 to get his 23 points. Part of it is him, part of it is that his backcourt mates are playing like doo-doo right now. He was streaky, pouring on the points when needed and hitting the critical shot. But the confidence just isn't there. 8 rebounds and 6 assists but also 4 turnovers.

Blake and Miller combined for 5-22 shooting, 8 assists, and 6 turnovers. That was ouchy.

LaMarcus Aldridge had a whale of a game with 31 points and 11 rebounds. The Bucks had a hard time handling him.

Poor Joel Przybilla gets used so badly by his backcourt on defense. He never gets to worry about just his own guy. Not that being able to worry about Bogut would have allowed him to stop Bogut, but I do feel bad that Joel has to do everyone else's laundry as well as his own. He managed 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Both Martell Webster and Steve Blake seemed to take some advice we offered last night and stepped in for a few shots instead of just bombing. It worked OK for Steve. He was 1-7 on his threes but 2-3 on the shorter shots. Martell hit 3-6 threes, 3-8 of the remainder. Keep at it.

Jerryd Bayless played 18 minutes and scored 9 points. His best moment came when he was set up on the left sideline while Roy drove the lane, Brandon pitched him the ball, and Jerryd drained the three. That's something Blazer guards playing with Roy need to do. Jerryd nodded like he knew it and Roy high-fived him afterwards. 18 minutes is better than the 8 he got last night. We're going to talk more about Jerryd's court situation tomorrow so I'll leave it at that.

Final Thoughts

This was a rough stretch. You have pretty much GOT to get these two upcoming home games now. Remember though that we're trying to get through December without totally getting ruined. It may not be pretty but it doesn't have to be. It just can't be fatal. And things are seldom fatal in December anyway.

Boxscore

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See your Jersey Contest scores here and enter Tuesday's game form here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Game 25 Preview: Blazers vs. Bucks

Dave — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:09:23 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Amir Johnson and Ersan Ilyasova audition for "So You Think You Can Dance?" I'd be keeping my day job, guys.

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Game Time: 5:30p.m. Pacific TV: Comcast

When news came down that Milwaukee's main star, Olympian Michael Redd, had strained a knee tendon and would be down for an indefinite period the assumption was the Bucks were going to struggle. Correction...the assumption was the Bucks were going to struggle even more than they otherwise would have struggled, which was presumed to be a fair amount. Surprise! Milwaukee has actually managed to eke out a decent season so far. They're 10-11 overall but were cruising at 9-7 before a tough road swing and a home date with the Cavaliers busted them in the chops for four straight losses. They won their last game against Toronto and are looking for a critical gasp of air while they're near the surface because the L*kers and Cleveland are next on the docket.

The guy getting all the headlines for the new-look Bucks is rookie Brandon Jennings. The 6'1" 20-year-old has posted double-figures in every game of the season but one including pasting 55 on the Warriors back in mid-November. Jennings is also dishing 5.7 assists, grabbing 3.8 rebounds, and shooting 44% three-point range. He's actually better from distance than he is inside the arc. You literally have to watch him everywhere because he's made a cottage industry of tearing teams apart and then letting his teammates feast on the carcass. In fact there's a bright, nearly-straight line running right down the middle of the Bucks' schedule. When he tops 40% shooting on the night the Bucks win. Under that and they lose. He's everything for them right now.

That doesn't mean that Jennings is absent help, however. A bright spot on the season has been Turkish forward Ersan Ilyasova. He's long, rangy, and tends to score and rebound in flurries. Oh, and he too can shoot the three. He doesn't bring it every night but he's a double-double waiting to happen, especially if you take him lightly. Luke Ridnour's defense hasn't improved any since his Seattle days but he's found a niche with this team taking smart shots and dishing the rock when Jennings doesn't have it. Veteran sharpshooter Charlie Bell also haunts the roster along with small forward Carlos Delfino. Both of them can hit the long ball as well.

If you're starting to notice a pattern here that's because there is one. The Bucks take and hit a ton of three-pointers. The constant threat of toxic rain keeps the middle clear for penetrators and for center Andrew Bogut, who started the season slowly but now is rounding into form, averaging 52% from the field, 15 points and 9 rebounds. Forwards Hakim Warrick and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute round out the rotation adding athleticism and a little more scoring punch.

In their element any of the Bucks players can cause you harm, which is the secret to Milwaukee's battle plan. They want you thinking in four directions at once. They like to space the floor and watch you scramble. On good nights you need to field at least two octopi in order to cover them all.

Unfortunately most of these guys are spotty, up to and including Jennings himself...likely due to being a rookie and all. When it goes bad for the Bucks it goes really bad. If they're in the 80's they're done. They are just not set up to win that kind of game. It happens every now and again because they're neither a great paint scoring team nor a fast breaking team. They rely on the jumper and the jumper is a fickle mistress. When push comes to shove they'll settle for getting up more shots than you do and hope for the best.

Here's the thing, though. Unlike Bucks teams of yore this year's incarnation often wins when scoring in the 90's because (gasp!) they can play a little defense. Mind you, we said a little. Nobody's going to confuse this team with the Robinson-Duncan Spurs. But they get after it most nights, possibly because they play a legit 10 guys and keep them fresh. What they lack in individual prowess they make up for in covering ground, though they can get caught lapsing in transition sometimes. Like many young teams their defense tends to feed off of their offense. On nights when the scoring is easy the energy is high. Grind them down offensively and they'll lose focus on the other end too. Their huge, HUGE Achilles Heel is that they foul like a mug-mug, again an example of enthusiasm over true defensive chops. They're giving opponents 29 free throws on average while drawing fewer than 20 themselves, losing around 7.5 points per game at the stripe. Even a decent turnover differential can't make up for that.

The Bucks are better offensive rebounders than defensive. Their eyes light up when they get a chance to score. You have to worry about nearly every forward they put out there plus Bogut. Boxing out is an important skill against them.

Pivotal Points to the Game

1. Just deal with Jennings somehow and the Bucks are your oyster. Unfortunately that key has been on the chalkboard of every team they've played since he broke out. Obviously you should never leave him alone to help on anyone else...ever. If he gets a single shot uncovered beating sticks should appear in the hands of the coaches. Portland's propensity to mix defenses may come in handy here, as he's yet inexperienced in the league and overall. Throw different looks and different players at him. If nothing else put Bayless on him and let them fight.

2. The Bucks KILL teams that play fast and play no defense. The Blazers' best bet is to grind it out and make them work for their points.

3. Limit their offensive rebounds. Remember lots of shots are going to come long and on the whole you have better rebounding guards than they.

4. Take care of the ball, eh?

5. If you don't drive on this team and draw some fouls it's like telling those Publisher's Clearing House guys to get the hell away from your door when they bring that oversized check and balloons down your walk.

Final Thoughts

Need a win here. Just take the good things you did last night, repeat them, and patch up a small hole or two. At least you know you won't have LeBron driving a truck through your roadblock tonight. Come out to win this one and don't let go until you have done it.

Check out the Milwaukee point of view at the fantastic Brewhoop!

You can enter tonight's Jersey Contest form right here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Raptors Rapid Recap - Toronto 95 Milwaukee 117

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:37:09 -0000

- The Raps were short both Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani on this evening but even without two starters it is hard to defend what went on against Milwaukee. The Raptors, outside of Bosh, played with little intensity and the team couldn't continue their recent winning ways.

- Old habits die hard. The Raps allowed the Bucks to get open looks by getting into the paint and the defensive rotations were late more often than not. The Raps did a solid job making the likes of Luke Ridnour and Roko Ukic look good.

- Give credit where credit is due however. The Bucks played a great game. Their ball movement was more than commendable, the played some hard-nosed defense and the hit shots down the stretch. They also got a terrific performance from Brandon Jennings who is the real deal.

- Should we send out a search party for Hedo Turkoglu? The Raps needed someone to step-up tonight and help Bosh and one would think that the guy getting paid mad loot would be up to the task. Not so. Hedo was all but invisible in this game yet was smiling and hugging it out with the Bucks after the game. Good one.

- Bad loss. These are the opponents the Raps have to beat. They will be fighting with the Bucks for the lower playoff positions when it is all said and done.

Tip-In: Toronto Raptors Post Game Report - A Beautifully Ugly Win

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:41:33 -0000

More photos » by FRANK GUNN - AP

Hedo Turkoglu couldn't get it going from outside, but helped lead the charge to the free-throw line last night for Toronto; a crucial point in the Raptors' win.

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It wasn't pretty, but the Toronto Raptors got the win they needed in a 94 to 88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves last night. Franchise breaks it down and tees up tonight's match against the Milwaukee Bucks...

If you missed last night's win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, give yourself a round of applause.

If you stuck around and either watched the game live on TV or in person at the Air Canada Center, I hope you managed to grab a drink or two...

The Raps grinded out a 94 to 88 victory yesterday evening in a game that is probably best summed up Clint Eastwood style; the good, the bad, and the ugly:

-The Good:

Let's start with the most positive thing about last night's performance, Toronto in the end got the win. As one of our readers described it yesterday evening, this was the perfect "trap game;" a sure-fire win on paper that hardly played out the same way in reality. While the T-Wolves are lacking in talent, they don't take a possession off and fought this one down to the wire. I found the game quite similar to the Raps' second game of the season against a stubborn Memphis team, only this time, Toronto put in the necessary effort to ensure the match didn't end up in a loss.

This effort was especially apparent on the defensive end where Toronto did a fairly good job for the third straight game as well. We're not talking lock-down D here, but not all of Minny's 38 per cent shooting on the night was due to poor shot selection and simple misses. The Dinos dug in and got some key stops, especially down the stretch.

On the individual plus side, Jarrett Jack did a reasonable job replacing Jose Calderon, who sat out this game with a sore left hip, and Chris Bosh, despite missing practice earlier with a cold, threw down a workman-like 21 points and 16 rebounds.

Outside of the win itself though, the biggest plus for me was the number 48; as in the number of free-throws the Raps attempted on the night. In past years (and even past games this season it could be argued) Toronto has stubbornly continued to hoist up jumpers even when they weren't falling, neglecting one of their biggest strengths; free-throw shooting. Last night however, especially late in the game, players like Hedo Turkoglu and Jack were relentless going to the whole and considering Minnesota as a team only took 23 foul shots, this was the difference maker in the win.

-The Bad:

Outside of Bosh and maybe Jack, it sure is hard to give any other individual kudos on the night. Andrea Bargnani had some key rebounds but again struggled offensively going 6 of 18. And despite getting to the line 12 times, Hedo Turkoglu was a horrific 2 of 11 including 0 for 5 on 3-pointers.

And let's not even get into Toronto's bench, which was a combined 3 of 16 from the field chipping in a measly 10 points in 64 minutes of action.

Finally, while some may put the fact that Toronto extended its NBA record 3-point streak in the "Good" section of this recap, I'm placing it firmly in here. Andrea Bargnani dropped in a long-range bomb with about 5 minutes left to keep the streak alive but this topic became way too prevalent in a game that simply needed to be won, 3-pointers or no 3-pointers. Yes, it's an impressive streak and if the Raps can keep it up, great stuff. However at some points last night it looked like the Dinos were chucking them up just to keep the streak going, not because the 3-pointers were in the flow of the offense or necessary to get the W.

-The Ugly:

This was indeed a case of "winning ugly" as Toronto shot only 9.5 per cent from 3-point range and 32 per cent from the field. Jay Triano described it as a "lid on the basket" post-game and he was absolutely right - the Raps just couldn't buy a basket. If you're into stats, check the box score from this one because there are some hideous metrics indeed.

One stat that really stood out for me was Toronto's 14 assists on the night, a number that has to be close to a season low if not a season low. While I felt that Jarrett Jack did a good job overall (17 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists), the team really missed Jose Calderon's offensive leadership. The ball just didn't move at times and it seemed that there were more desperation heaves with the shot-clock winding down then there have been all season. This would account for some of the poor shooting numbers on the night and if Toronto wants any sort of shot at beating Milwaukee tonight, they need to get that offense running on all cylinders again.

And with the Bucks on the docket tonight, that brings us to our first key:

1) Offense vs. Defense:

Milwaukee is one of the least efficient teams in the league in terms of offense, but is one of the best defensively. They are holding opponents to 98 points a night on average, and force opponents into 17 turnovers a game on average, third best in the league.

Essentially, they are a bit of a mirror image of the Raps.

Therefore if Toronto struggles on O like they did last night, this one could be over quickly.

The Raps need to come out aggressive and attack from inside to out with Bosh leading the charge. If they can get some easy looks on the interior, or get to the free-throw line early, this should open things up on the perimeter.

Back-to-back scenarios have not been kind to the Dinos this season and considering TO's offensive woes last night, it's the latter point that's especially crucial this evening. Hopefully Jay Triano emphasizes it and we see players like DeMar DeRozan, Jarrett Jack and Chris Bosh going to the rim with abandon all night if the jumpers aren't clicking.

2) Point Guard Play:

The Dinos need to do a much better job tonight of running their offence and this falls not only on Jarrett Jack if Jose Calderon sits again, but also on the likes of Hedo Turkoglu and gasp...Marcus Banks. Banks hardly won over many fans with his play last night but hopefully this evening he can provide a bit more boost in terms of running the O. Banks' play had many of our readers last night clamoring for Marco Belinelli and I'd have to agree; while the Mad Bomber hasn't been able to get his offence going consistently of late, he's a terrific playmaker and perhaps some shot-creation duties will in turn help his shot-making abilities.

Outside of the match-up at center pitting a reborn Andrew Bogut (nearly averaging a double-double a game this year) against a struggling Andrea Bargnani, it's this positional match-up that I'll be keeping the closest eye on. Rookie Brandon Jennings hasn't been as unstoppable as he was earlier in the season but make no mistake about it, he and backcourt mate Luke Ridnour form a perfect PG combo and could give Toronto fits. Ridnour injured his left arm last night and did not return so he may not play tonight, but regardless, Jack and co. will need to keep Jennings and his penetration skills at bay as much as possible.

3) Sustained Effort:

A final quick point here; as much as last night's game was tough on the eyes, it was a strangely satisfying win because Toronto pushed through a poor-shooting game and did the little things necessary to eke out a victory. I've spoken at length this season about doing "the little things" and the past three games have been major steps forward in this area.

Tonight Toronto faces a Scott Skiles led club that specializes in "doing the little things" and if the Raps fail to execute or bring a sustained effort level throughout, the Bucks will certainly capitalize. The last three wins have been nice in terms of evening out the team's won-loss record, but tonight's match and the ones that follow this week should really go a long ways in showing fans if indeed this team is back on the right track.

Recap: Pistons 105, Bucks 96

Frank Madden — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:54:05 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

Pretty much.

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Box Score

"Same old Bucks."

If you were a visitor from the year 2007, that's probably the reaction you would have had at seeing the 09/10 Bucks drop back-to-back games in uninspiring fashion in Washington and Detroit. Defense? Not much. Rebounding? Meh, too much effort. Road wins? Nah. Andrew Bogut? Still getting owned by Ben Wallace.

Ironically, the 06/07 Bucks actually started their season off with a 105-97 road win in Detroit (nearly reversed tonight), but as is usually the case, a promising start (15-14 through December 27) gave way to a miserable, injury-plagued final 50 games. It's too early to be condemning the 09/10 Bucks to the same fate, but the Bucks have seemed rather lifeless for long stretches over the past two, most notably in their inability to get big (or for that matter even small) stops on defense. And with neither Andrew Bogut (4/9 fg, eight points) nor Brandon Jennings (6/20 fg, 15 pts) providing any fireworks in the scoring column, the Bucks offense has been similarly toothless.

The Pistons had no such problems, as Rodney Stuckey stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points on 11 shots and nine assists. He helped set the tone early, beating Charlie Bell on a pair of quick cuts to the hoop en route to eight quick points that staked the Pistons to a 34-23 edge after one. Stuckey then beat Brandon Jennings and the halftime buzzer with a layup that restored the Piston lead to eight.

Detroit then used an early 8-0 run to push the lead to 14 in the third, and with the exception of some typical small Bucks runs managed to lead the game by double-digits most of the way. Jonas Jerebko was active and looking very un-rookie-like with 16 and 7, and ended the game by packing Charlie Bell on a three point attempt in the waning seconds. Fitting? Yes, fitting.

Three Bucks

Luke Ridnour. If you were a visitor from two months ago who dropped by just for the last two games, you might be surprised to see Brandon Jennings still starting. After all, the kid's preseason didn't exactly scream rookie-of-the-year favorite, and Luke Ridnour has been outperforming him for a couple weeks now. Normally that would be a knock on the rook, but the reality is that it's mostly just a tribute to Ridnour, who continued his torrid shooting streak of late with a 7/11 shooting night, 21 points, and nine assists. That's now four out of six games with 20+ points.

Carlos Delfino. Delfino came out looking charged up against his former team, making 6/7 fg en route to 15 points by the half. Second half? Well, the charge wore off. The Argentine missed all five of his shots but still had one of the few respectable lines on the team: 15 on 12 shots along with seven boards.

Brandon Jennings. Young Buck still can't make shots to save his life (6/20 fg), but he continues to do other things--dish it out (eight assists), grab long rebounds (five boards), and for the second straight game he took care of the ball as well (one turnover after none two days ago). He made a couple big threes as the Bucks tried to stay in it late, but missed another triple and a layup (when Jerebko wasn't called for hitting him on the arm) in what seemed a fittingly frustrating end to the night.

Three Numbers

57%. Detroit's fg%...'nuff said.

46-30. The Pistons just waxed the Bucks on the glass, and with Bogut back (plus a brief cameo by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute) there's no excuse for it. Big Ben led the way with 11, compared to Bogut's five in 27 minutes.

20-9. The only area where the Bucks did themselves favors was in the turnover department, as they both took care of the ball and forced 20 Detroit turnovers.

Three Good

Luke's still here. Alex and I have been joking about the inevitability of Luke Ridnour's return to earth, but so far he's not giving in. It's not that Ridnour can't shoot the ball, but he's never been close to this good for a full season (51.3% shooting right now vs. 41.7% career). Did he steal Brandon's mojo or something a couple weeks back? Who knows, but hopefully he doesn't go cold now because there's no one else picking up the slack. Somewhat interestingly, he's putting up his excellent shooting splits in spite of the fact that he's once again under 40% on inside shots (which is as terrible as it sounds).

Luc's back. He only played 12 fairly ineffective minutes, but it's still a very good thing to see LRMaM out of his boot and back on the court. Have fun with LeBron on Sunday, big guy.

Skiles will be back. Skiles wasn't pleased after the last game and probably wasn't a fun guy on the flight home, either. Let's hope the Bucks' uninspiring play over the last two can be at least somewhat explained by the absence of their fearless leader.

Three Bad

Jennings' shot. To say Jennings hasn't been able to shoot is a little deceiving; his three point percentage hasn't cratered but his percentage on everything worth two points has. Tonight Jennings finished 3/10 from deep and the same from inside the arc. It's a shame too, because he started the night off so promisingly with a one-handed floater from the elbow. Tough shot.

Instead, Jennings continues to find himself in a prolonged slump. In the last seven games he hasn't been above 33% shooting even once, a streak so bad that Chris Duhon himself might be taking notice. Thankfully he's still getting other guys involved, but he knows he's needed to score and it's just not happening for him. His frustration was evident after the game with this tweet:

I'm done shooting the ball. Straight passing

Bogut's...everything. That 22/15/4 game against Chicago seems so long ago, doesn't it? The Palace once again proved more like a prison for the big man, who again seemed to let Ben Wallace get in his head and stymie all his attempts to get going early on. Normally short guys struggle to keep Bogut from shooting his short hooks over them, but Wallace is stout enough and his hands are quick enough that Bogut never seems comfortable going at him. Worst of all, those offensive issues seemed to carry over to the other facets of Bogut's game as well. Wallace threw down four dunks to finish with 11/11 on the night, while Bogut grabbed a measly five in 27 minutes and was a team-worst -16.

Opportunity knocks. Had they gotten some vaguely respectable shooting nights from their starters, the Bucks could quite possibly have taken both of these games on the road trip. Instead, they came away with two demoralizing losses that put them at 9-9 and losers of six of the past seven games--and with the Cavs next up on the schedule.

Recap: Wizards 104, Bucks 102

Alex Boeder — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:30:00 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Haywood: Last one standing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Box Score

You don't need to jump ~~very high~~ to block Earl Boykins.

I am typing to you, not some giant NBA'er.

And so another rookie lesson learned. Brandon Jennings was caught with his feet off the ground, caught with his defensive judgment just off with a second to go in a tied game.

Whether a preseason-pessimest or offseason-optimist, we all figured it would be an up-and-down adventure on this Jennings ride, and it was just that in the final ten seconds of regulation: After all, the rook' had just nailed a clutch three to tie the game prior to his foul.

Still, on a night when he was outplayed by his backup (about him...), Jennings wanted the ball, the shot on his team's final possession. And he made it count.

But while much of the pregame focus centered on Washington's Big Three, Bogut, and Jennings, everyone looked right past and right over old friend Earl Boykins. So Boykins worked the fourth quarter pick-n-roll with Brendan Haywood into a win.

And just like that, one of the East's most pleasant surprises (9-8 Milwaukee) stand just a couple in front of one of the disappointments (7-10 Washington).

It's a long road, and to maintain that barely-winning record, the Bucks must find a way to win on the road. And stay on their toes or at least their feet on defense.

Three Bucks

Luke Ridnour. Three years ago, Ridnour was a dynamite player in both November and December. Just look at those game logs. A scorching shooter from inside and outside the arc, great passing, the Duck did it all.

But he never played quite like that before or after.

This is the closest thing.

After sitting out the second half of Monday's game with a sore hamstring, Ridnour returned very ready to roll. He had the runners, jumpers, and threes all working, and his passing was just as good. We'll take 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 0 turnovers each time.

Hakim Warrick. Scott Skiles went absolutely nuts after Warrick didn't get a foul call going up in the first quarter. Tossed out of the game in the first quarter. 'Twas a bad no-call, especially in the context of Charlie Bell getting whistled for sort of just hanging out near Caron Butler shortly before it all went down. Skiles wasn't afraid to single out Warrick when he started so poorly, but you never doubted that he would stand up for his men.

About Hak' though. He's playing about as well as anyone wearing green and red the past week and a half. And ~~don't~~ look now, but he's hanging out right around his career averages.

Tonight he combined with Ridnour off the bench as chief scoring options, and he was the only Buck able to get to the line, converting all eight. He finished with 20 points on 6-9 from the field.

Brandon Jennings. Picking Three Bucks has usually been difficult due to a surplus of candidates so far this season, but tonight was fairly rough after the first two. Not a prime performance among any of the starters.

Jennings continued his six-game-long shooting woes, during which time he hasn't eclipsed 33.3 % from the field in any game. And his defensive struggles, detailed in the lead, were again apparent. But he found open players (aside from on the fast break, when he never seems to dish) and finished with seven dimes and no turnovers. That game-tying three was nice, too.

Three Numbers

0. As noted, the point guard duo of Jennings and Ridnour didn't commit a single turnover. The Wizards aren't the best defensively, or really very good at all. But zero turnovers is zero turnovers, and they had 13 assists together.

1. Earl Boykins made more free throws in the final second of the game than all Bucks not named Hakim Warrick did the entire game. Warrick made 8-8 while the rest of his mates shot 1-4 at the free throw line. The Wizards made 25-34 at the stripe.

25. The Bucks (42-95) attempted 25 more shots from the field than the Wizards (38-70). Neither team did much work on the offensive boards (6-3 Milwaukee) so the field goal discrepancy was largely a product of... surprise, surprise: shooting far fewer free throws (34-12).

Three Good

Ridnour and Warrick. Worth reiterating. They were the stars against New Orleans, and they were the stars tonight. And if they hadn't played so very well in both of those games, these games would've something much worse than close, late-game disappointing, road losses.

Close? Three road losses (Philadelphia, San Antonio, Oklahoma City) weren't close, but it almost seems like bad luck to lose all of the other three.

The Bucks dropped to 2-6 on the road, but you can file this one next to games in Chicago and New Orleans as very legitimate opportunities to steal wins away from home. Some terrible late-game decisions and results in all three, but they are learning.

Skiles. Sort of conflicted on the ejection. On one hand, that technical free throw converted by, who else, Earl Boykins, loomed large in the down-to-the-wire loss. But I like the fire from Skiles, especially in light of the questionable officiating and on a night when his team came out looking like they needed motivation.

Three Bad

Defense. The Wizards shot 54.3 % from the field despite none of the big three really feeling it tonight: Arenas (10-24), Jamison (5-8), Butler (4-10). Post-game, Skiles had nothing good to say about the defensive performance, and I must say that I can't recall many big stops on that side of the ball.

Look at that little fella. He's got enough poison in him to kill an elephant. That's right. Of all people. Eleven points in the final ten minutes for the former Buck, who just ate up Milwaukee running the pick and roll. I was concerned about Jennings possibly guarding Arenas, but it turned out that first Nick Young and then Boykins made the most trouble.

Bogut vs Brendan. Neither Gadzuric nor Elson played in this one, and Thomas only saw nine minutes. So this one was all on Bogut down low.

And if he's all that serious about stepping up to an All-Star level then Bogut must find a way. The Aussie was actually quite good in the previous few head-to-head matchups with Haywood, but tonight was a different story. Haywood's wideness bothered Bogut, but that's not really it because even Andray Blatche defended Bogut with some success. We can't possibly expect him to play like he did against Chicago every time, but 4-14 and 8 points, let us do without that.

Recap: Magic 100, Bucks 98

Alex Boeder — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:14:56 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Jennings and Howard: Agony and ecstacy

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Box Score

MILWAUKEE - They aren't the defending conference champs for a reason; they are the defending conference champs for many reasons. Unfortunately, 16,128 saw just enough of those reasons at the Bradley Center tonight, where the Bucks lost for the second time this season, for the second time in a way that hurts all the way home.

The Bucks hosted a road team that entered Milwaukee with wins in Boston, Atlanta, and Toronto (twice) already this season. Those three at home against other teams? 19-2.

Orlando wins the pregame matchups when everyone is ready to roll, but: Howard + Carter - Bogut - Mbah a Moute = Abject Inequality. Still the Bucks raced to a lead, and not just a lead, a double digit advantage that ballooned all the way to 17 in the third quarter before Jason Williams and Vince Carter popped that balloon with threes and dunks like it was 1999, or thereabout. The YouTube wonderbackcourt of years past combined for 16 points in the final six and a half minutes of the third.

A back-and-forth fourth quarter ended after Ersan Ilyasova and Luke Ridnour both missed shots with less than a half minute and the Magic up two. But Ilyasova and Ridnour were more heroic than scapegoats despite the misses, and the shorthanded Bucks were more impressive than anything else despite the loss...

Three Bucks

Ersan Ilyasova. Milwaukee's Man of the Match missed a free throw late and then a potential game-winning three with half a minute to go, but there's no faulting someone who earned a (partial) standing ovation for a single offensive rebound -- especially when it was one of seven reeled in off the offensive glass.

Ilyasova hauled in a rebound of a missed three pointer by Brandon Jennings in the third quarter, earning a roaring approval from the crowd as Milwaukee called for time. The Bucks missed five shots in a row in that series midway through the third quarter, but Ersan kept possessions alive all night.

His day in the late-game sun will come; he's too good of a shooter to keep coming up short in the clutch. But for now I'm fully satisfied with his Howardish 20 points and 16 rebounds and un-Howardish zero turnovers. Would anyone rather have Charlie Villanueva right now?

Luke Ridnour. The vet, backup point again outplayed Jennings tonight, but let's keep him coming off the bench, where he's thriving. I continue telling myself (and you) that he can't shoot like this forever, but Ridnour's aim remained very on for at least another night. He was easily the team's most efficient offensive player with 20 points on 9-15 from the field, and he made his only free throw and three pointer.

But like Ilyasova, he missed at the end. And that decision to shoot a tough, fadeaway jumper with a new shot clock available and 27 seconds remaining in the game was certainly questionable. But he wasn't worrying about degree of difficulty the whole night, and they were mostly falling until then. Both he and Ilyasova gained the confidence throughout to attempt those decisive shots, and that's nice. So is 20 points, 6 assists and a couple steals from the backup point guard.

Hakim Warrick. Four straight 15+ point games for Warrick, who is forming a rather sufficient power forward duo along with Ersan. Hak belongs around the basket. He can start his dunk from just about anywhere inside the perimeter and make it happen. That's high percentage, even if he misses a dunk, like he did once tonight (those two points would've been nice). And he usually has that one-track-dunk-mind. So it was a bit strange to see three falling-away jumpers look so very clean in the first half.

I like that he made those jumpers, but even on a good night like this one he only made 3-7 on shots outside the paint. Warrick is one of the few Bucks who is capable of getting to the line (led the team in making a modest 4-4 free throws tonight) and he gets there when aggressive. Diversifying the offensive portfolio is great, but right now he can drive to the basket with authority like no other Buck, so let's focus on that, cool?

Three Numbers

6. The Bucks committed just six turnovers in the entire game, the same number as Dwight Howard had all by his lonesome. The starting backcourt of Jennings and Bell combined for just a single turnover in 70 minutes.

8-9. Milwaukee made 8-9 three pointers to start the game, helping push them to an early lead. Ultimately they couldn't sustain shooting threes like that, or not-so-coincidentally the lead. But they still outshot the three-point-happy Magic from outside, making a marksmanlike11-19 in the game compared to 8-22 for Orlando.

56.0 %. A game after facing the league's most accurate from the line in OKC, the Bucks faced the NBA's worst free throw shooting team, and the Magic lived down to the billing by hitting just 14-25 (.560) from the line. Combined with Milwaukee's hot outside shooting, this one was ripe for the taking.

Three Good

Happy home. I don't know (or maybe I don't want to know) how close to .500 the Bucks can play on the road, but all indications are that they will post plenty of wins at home. The only two losses so far came against a very good Mavs team on a Dirk overtime buzzer-beater, and now tonight against the (improved) defending Eastern Conference champs by a couple points. Milwaukee had chances to win both games, and opponents haven't looked very happy following pre-game warmups at the BC this year.

Not a bad home performance yet among eight, and attendance reached a season-high 16,128 tonight... feelin' like a legit home court advantage.

Supersubs. Missing three usual starters in Bogut, Redd, and Mbah a Moute, Milwaukee's bench realistically shouldn't be so hot. Especially compared to a very good, deep team in better health. Ryan Anderson, J.J. Redick, and Brandon Bass lead one of the finest seconds units in the league, but the Bucks' bench was better tonight. The aforementioned Ridnour and Warrick were stars and scored a dozen more points (36) than the entire Magic bench.

And with Dan Gadzuric accurately deemed helpless against Howard (4 fouls in 4 minutes), Kurt Thomas assumed the unenviable task of guarding the superstar for almost 30 minutes. He slowed, even frustrated Howard some, and pulled down a few offensive boards in a solid run off the bench.

Care. Skiles has spoken often recently about the Bucks turning the ball over too much. Just six turnovers tonight. And after a couple weeks having trouble while facing tremendous defensive pressure and specific gameplans targeting him, Jennings didn't commit a single turnover against a good defensive team, ranked 5th in the NBA coming in.

Three Bad

Leads to losses. Going into this game, the Bucks had no business winning, but once you accumulate a lead as big as 17, it's yours to lose. And they lost it. The Magic are really good, and if this was something new, it would be more understandable. But after so recently blowing the Hornets game, it's not new at all. And they crashed pretty hard against the Bulls to start this month, too. I don't see the Bucks coming back from big deficits to win, so there is really no evening out here.

The Bucks led by 17 points with under three minutes in the first half after a three by Jennings. Even against a premier opponent like the Magic, that's a healthy lead. But Milwaukee quite quickly gave it up, as Orlando closed to within nine by halftime.

In fact, the Bucks closed quarters poorly all night. After allowing that game-high 17 point second quarter lead dwindle to nine, they finished the third quarter even worse. Up 70-58 with four and change left in the third, the Magic went on a 15-2 run to take a lead into the fourth quarter. And we know how that quarter ended...

The end. Skiles maintained that it was the correct decision to play straight-up defense down by two on the final possession.

"I would foul if it was a bad foul shooter, but we've got to be able to make a stop right there, get the rebound, take a timeout, and have another chance," Skiles said.

But with 27 seconds and thusly a three second difference between the shot and game clock, the Magic could and should have waited until the last second to shoot, which would have left maybe a second if the Bucks secured the defensive rebound... which obviously was never meant to be anyway. Not sure I'm comfortable with that defensive philosophy though. Okay, I am sure. That I'm not.

Hurting. If Redd was perfectly spritely the past few games, that would be a bigger problem than any. So it's reassuring in some ways that Mike is still hurting; at least we can assume he will eventually play better, which shouldn't be too difficult. But the fact the team's two biggest, pre-Jennings names never seem quite right is a real worry hanging over the franchise even while the rest of the club plays so admirably in their absence.

It doesn't help that Mbah a Moute, who was originally considered day-to-day, doesn't physically appear ready to return right away.

Orlando Magic 100, Milwaukee Bucks 98

Ben Q Rock — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:50:38 -0000

by Morry Gash - AP

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Dwight Howard and Vince Carter, who scored 25 points apiece, led the Orlando Magic to a 100-98 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in a game in which Orlando trailed by as many as 17 in the second half. Rashard Lewis scored the winning bucket, a bank shot off the dribble after driving to his right, with 44.7 seconds left to punctuate a quietly effective night for him. The Bucks had plenty of time to respond to Lewis' bucket, and got a wide-open, three-point look for Ersan Ilyasova at the top of the arc, but it fell well short. Luke Ridnour corralled the long rebound and--apparently going for a two-for-one opportunity--put up a wild jumper almost immediately, but was well off the mark. The Magic needed to shoot, and Carter did. Howard tipped the miss off the glass, and Matt Barnes, inserted for defense on the Bucks' final possession, secured the loose ball to preserve the victory. It was, in short, a wild finish to an entertaining game that saw banner performances from several participants.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	88	113.2	55.8%	18.2	31.0	19.2
Bucks	85	115.4	47.2%	14.4	28.8	7.1
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

Some nights, it's not your night. It's a sports cliche that's become cliched because it is, well, true. And when the Magic entered the Bradley Center locker room trailing by a score of 56-47, they might have felt that way. The Bucks shot an absurd 7-of-8 on three-pointers in the first half, and reserve forward Hakim Warrick roasted whomever guarded him inside with a variety of quick moves off the dribble; never before has Magic backup center Marcin Gortat, a stout defender, looked so overmatched. There's only so much a defense can do when it forces the opposition to take contested jumpers, and those jumpers wind up going in. The Bucks, without Andrew Bogut manning the pivot, had no inside game to speak of apart from Warrick's explosive drives. Their jump-shots, some of them wide-open, dropped and dropped and dropped all night, but particularly in the first half. Ridnour made all manner of runners and floaters in the lane, many times after absorbing contact but not earning the benefit of the whistle. The Bucks very much take on the demeanor of their head coach, Scott Skiles: they scrapped, fought hard, never gave up... however you want to put it. The point is they played impressively tonight, missing two of their best players (Bogut and Michael Redd), on the second night of a back-to-back, against the defending Eastern Conference champions. I can't say enough good things about them.

But the Magic were simply better in the second half, and they earned this win. Coach Stan Van Gundy was right when he told the press that the Magic's poor starts in the each of the last two games are causes for concern, but it's hard not to come away impressed with their effort in the second half. Howard avoided foul trouble the entire game and looked to take his D to another gear after intermission, recording all 4 of his blocks in the final 24 minutes, including 2 on 1 possession, and another late in the game when isolated against Bucks rookie point guard Brandon Jennings, who attempted to shoot a jumper over the 6'11" center, to no avail. That the Bucks converted a higher percentage of their three-pointers (57.9%) than their two-pointers (36.6%) is no surprise, given Howard's deterring presence in the lane.

Howard's offense, though, was even more impressive. 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, with only one dunk and three layups. Everything else? Rolling hooks, from either side of the lane, with either hand, and soft touch. Put-backs. He looked like a refined offensive player, teasing impatient Magic fans with glimpses of an elite post game. Alas, tonight's showing is probably the exception to the rule as far as offense is concerned... but the Magic will, quite obviously, take the points any way they can get 'em.

Howard's emergence overshadowed a gutty performance by Carter, who needed 4 stitches to close a gash in his mouth sustained when Charlie Bell inadvertently caught him with an elbow. True to form, Carter proceeded to challenge Bell at every opportunity once he returned, and did so with excellent results. He, like, Howard, finished with 25 points, as I mentioned. He continued to attack the basket, as he's done more often in recent weeks, which can only be a good thing. He missed a few inside looks he should have made, which has been a season-long trend, but the point is he rarely settled for long jumpers. Progress.

The superstars' scoring inside opened the floor up for Lewis, who responded with his best game of the season. He sank 2 of his 3 three-point looks, but also looked to score from mid-range and at the basket; he was not a standstill shooter today. His 9 boards (4 offensive) made him the Magic's second-leading rebounder. A quiet, steady, encouraging game for Lewis, who had struggled with his shot earlier this year as he shakes the cobwebs that gathered during his suspension.

And how about Brandon Bass tonight? Playing for the first time in 10 days, Bass came on and showed why the Magic made him their top free-agency target this summer. In a shade under 9 minutes, Bass scored 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting, grabbed 4 rebounds (2 at either end of the floor), and blocked a shot. His D, which was one of the factors that knocked him out of the rotation lately, still needs work, as he let Warrick blow by him on the left baseline for a monstrous jam... which he missed, luckily enough. But 4 rebounds in 8 minutes, for a power forward who came into the game averaging just over 3 in 21 minutes per game, is tremendous, and the sign of someone who wants his job back. He outplayed Ryan Anderson (2 points and 2 assists in 7 minutes) tonight and showed that he can be useful against certain kinds of teams.

I've made a lot of this recap sound rosy, which is bound to happen when the Magic overcome a big deficit to win late. Still, there are several causes for concern. Defense, sure; Milwaukee shouldn't be able to score 115 points per 100 possessions on anyone, at least not with Redd and Bogut on the sideline. They made tough jumpers a lot of the night, which they had to do given their personnel. But the Magic should be worried that Ilyasova managed to grab 16 rebounds against them, especially 7 on offense. He's a fine player, but against great rebounders like Howard and Gortat, he should not be able to get free. Turnovers were also a problem for Orlando. Point guard Jason Williams played 34 minutes without committing any, against 10 assists, which is great to see. But Howard and Carter committed 9 themselves, of the Magic's 18 total. It's true that Milwaukee tends to force a lot of turnovers, so some of that is to be expected. However, under no reasonable circumstances should the Magic give the ball away once every five times down the court. That sort of offense won't get it done against the NBA's better teams.

The Magic wrap up this four-game, five-night, four-city stretch of their schedule tomorrow evening in New York. If they can hold off the fast-paced Knicks for their 8th win in 9 tries, they'll wind up turning a lot of heads. But they can't look ahead to hypothetical results, lest they get run off the floor in the first half, as they almost were tonight in Milwaukee and Thanksgiving night in Atlanta.

Brain Drain: Milwaukee Bucks beat the Grizzlies 103-98

djturtleface — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:54:41 -0000

More photos » by Nikki Boertman - AP

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I only have two problems with the Memphis Grizzlies right now. Coincidentally, the Grizzlies would be a much better basketball team if they corrected two problems.

Mike Conley is a problem. He is not very good. Marcus Williams plays bad defense, and he looks like vintage Eric Snow when you compare him to Mike Conley. The Grizzlies routinely get shredded by jumpshooters because Conley's poor defense leaves his teammates constantly cheating to compensate. On offense he alternates between brain dead over-penetration and timidly pulling himself out so the others need to play four on five. Four on five is usually the better scenario.

Coach Lionel Hollins is a problem. In a very winnable game he pulled Williams, who was having a better game overall than Conley, with only a few minutes left. Conley promptly missed, turned over, and then turned over, while Brandon Jennings closed the game against him on the other end of the floor. As possessions become more valuable, Hollins' offense degenerates into more and more bad isolations.

This loss is on Coach Hollins. He better not call out anyone else but himself. Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles handled him. The Bucks adapted to the conditions, while the Grizzlies stagnated and then started playing street ball under a complete lack and failure of leadership.

The standard recap coming over the jump, congratulate Brew Hoop on being willing to pay an actual NBA head coach. And be sure to drop a "Fire Hollins" below.

Rockness Monster: Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph all had a very good night. The front court has molded together nicely and is starting to play respectable defense. They work together on offense in sets, as they all seem to trust each other. Rudy, in particular, is beginning to look like a franchise player. He put up another double-double tonight with 10 boards, and hit the clutch plays.

U-Turn: Sam Young brought unexpected fire off the bench tonight, but Hasheem Thabeet has to be the U-Turn. He played around a dozen nice minutes last night; tonight, even against a talent-short Bucks front, Hasheem got the dreaded DNP-CD award. Whats the deal Hollins? Didn't want to put your #2 pick against Jennings?

Bitter Limon: Charlie Bell shot 5-10 from the corner three. All his threes were corner threes. None were covered. O.J. Mayo shot 0-6 from three. I think all were covered. Sounds to me like someone's skills are being used perfectly, and someone else isn't being used quite right. Hollins, care to elaborate?

Sleeping With the Enemy: If Coach Hollins's favored son Mike Conley, as of his tenure as interim coach at the end of last season, didn't get one more season to prove himself, then Brandon Jennings might not be in this section. He is in this section, because he dropped 26, sealing the second half with ice cold free throws and shots. Luke Ridinour also looked good against our abysmal perimeter defense. So did Charlie Bell, and Roko Ukic, and...

Love Hurts

Stop-n-Pop — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:45:09 -0000

OK, it's starting to add up. Losing Kevin Love and his .208 WP48, 4.1 FTA/game, league-leading 15.1 oreb%, top-10 dreb%, and #2 overall reb% hurts. The team is already in the performance hole with the loss of Mike Miller's minutes at the off-guard, but losing Love's 30+ mpg to Oleksiy Pecherov and Ryan Hollins is costing this team the production it should have when the White Hole and Antigravity replace the minutes formerly used up by Craig Smith and Shelden Williams/Jason Collins. Yes, the two 7-footers are putting decent numbers, but they would even better if they were moved down a notch on the depth chart.

Last night the Wolves were a -9 on the offensive glass. It was even uglier when you calculated the percentage of available misses grabbed by the X-mas tree color clad visitors. The Bucks grabbed an astounding 36.2% of available misses on the offensive end of the court compared to the Wolves' 19%. If you can grab 1/3 of your misses, and you have a big beastie like Andrew Bogut in the paint, chances are a decent number of those misses are headed right into the bucket.

In just 6 short games the Wolves are getting destroyed at the 4/5 in the rebounding department, averaging -7.4 reb/game between the two positions. Last year, the team was a net 1.6 positive at the power forward and center. Granted, you can't view these numbers in a vacuum and the loss of Mike Miller is going to cause opposing bigs to get their grubby mitts on a few extra balls per game, but the overall point I'm making here is that losing one of the NBA's top 2-3 rebounders hurts in a bad way and the Wolves are starting to see the effect of this much production lost over even a short period of 6 games. We're already approaching the time where we can start talking about how Love's departure has cost the team 1 win. Of course, what they are losing in rebounding they could be making up in defense and we'll have to wait and see how the balance plays out. There are a lot of factors that play into something like this and I don't want to make a blanket statement, but I'll say it again: losing a top-flight rebounder when trying to rehab a center on the fly next to two new frontcourt players is going to have an impact, possibly a big one...relatively speaking.

Speaking of stats, Knickerblogger and 82Games are now updated for the current season. The early returns are that the White Hole is playing pretty well and that Jefferson is a pretty average (at best) player right now. Corey Brewer isn't rebounding his position nearly as well as Mike Miller did, Ryan Gomes has picked up some of the rebounding slack, and Jonny Flynn is a good scorer but a, thus far, lousy facilitator.

Speaking of Mr. Flynn and the anticipated PGBR (Point Guard Battle Royale), he scored 12 of his 20 points in the final 9:40 of the game, well after the game was decided. This isn't a complaint. Rather, it's a hope that the Wolves quickly figure out that Mr. Flynn can get pretty much wherever he wants to go with the ball in the 1/2 court and that he might be the team's best scoring option when the offense isn't clicking. In other words, when they start a quarter on a -8 run and nothing seems to be working, Flynn might be a more attractive offensive option than what Big Al is currently bringing to the mix. Flynn's PPR is a terrible -4.5 at the moment. Hopefully he'll begin to figure out the facilitation thing but for the time being he's a scorer, and a fairly decent one for having just 6 games under his belt. What I'm getting at here is that if Flynn is going to be a scorer, part of his development will be to figure out when to take it to the rim on 4 or 5 straight possessions when the game is still on the line, not when it's already decided. BTW: Here's hoping and praying that 4th Quarter Flynn never makes its way of the Wolves' PR Department's lexicon.

A few bullet points to wrap things up:

Al Jefferson was absolutely manhandled by Andrew Bogut.
Luke Ridnour won the PGBR.
Andrew Bogut went to the bench with 2 fouls with just under 5 minutes to go in the 1st quarter. The Wolves were up by 7 at the time and they couldn't take advantage of having the big guy on the bench. This is where the game was really lost. The Wolves could have put the Bucks away in the later part of the 1st and the opening part of the 2nd. Instead, we were treated to some of the ugliest ball of the year: bad shooting, turnovers, terrible decisions, and so on and so forth.
Speaking of awfulness, this game probably had worse reffing than the Celtics tilt. My favorite stretch was when Big Al swiped at a ball in Bogut's hands, missed, and hit him in the face. This happened right in front of the Bucks' bench and Scott Skiles went nuts and got a technical. A minute later Big Al made a nice drive to the hoop, was hacked by Bogut (which would have been his 3rd foul in the 1st half), and was not given a whistle...in other words, it was the 3rd or 4th makeup call of the night in a managed game that 100% absolutely did not need to be managed. The refs didn't cost the Wolves the game but they did make a hefty contribution to the unentertaining nature of the contest. I'm putting my vote in for the makeup call being the worst thing in the NBA.
After a 4-16 effort from the floor, Brandon Jennings saw his FG% dip from .429 to .395. As was mentioned in yesterday's preview post, Jennings takes around a quarter of his shots from beyond the arc. Yesterday 4 of his 16 shots were from beyond the arc and he is down to .409 from .440. He is going to be an exciting player but the shot just isn't there and I think it's pretty obvious that he simply had a hot 3 game streak to start his career. That being said, his facilitation game is clearly ahead of Flynn right now. This may have a lot to do with the different systems being run by the Wolves and the Bucks (Jennings looked great running plays that Flynn would run were he on the Bucks).
Comment of the night:

This game is kind of spooky...

Like watching us play ourselves.

by mutleyil on Nov 6, 2009 8:01 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Indeed.

Yesterday I put up a post about Rick Kamla's questionable comment about Yi Jianlian and my disbelief that he could continue to do interviews on outlets like KFAN and not be questioned about his remarks. In the interest of a greater context, I would like to point out that there is a much, much, much bigger black eye in the NBA right now and his name is Donald Sterling.

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Donald Sterling, owner of the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Clippers, agreed to pay $2.73 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit in which he was accused of housing discrimination.

The payment is the largest ever obtained by the government in a discrimination case involving apartment rentals, the Justice Department said today in a statement.

"Housing is a basic human need, and yet decades after passage of the Fair Housing Act far too many still encounter barriers like discrimination," Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez said in the statement. "The magnitude of this settlement should send a message to all landlords that we will vigorously pursue violations of the Fair Housing Act."

The government sued Sterling in August 2006, saying he discriminates against black and Hispanic prospective tenants in buildings he owns in Los Angeles’s Koreatown area. Sterling owns about 119 apartment buildings in Los Angeles County, according to the Justice Department’s statement.

Sterling is a slumlord who likes to pay for sex:

Donald Sterling, the miserly tycoon who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, testified last year that he regularly paid a Beverly Hills woman for sex, describing her as a $500-a-trick "freak" with whom he coupled "all over my building, in my bathroom, upstairs, in the corner, in the elevator." Sterling's graphic testimony--which came during a two-day pretrial deposition in connection with a lawsuit he filed against the woman, Alexandra Castro--will surely nettle basketball commissioner David Stern, who normally has to explain away the behavior of 20-something athletes, not married 70-year-old club owners worth nearly a billion.

It kind of puts the dress code in an entirely new context, doesn't it?

There's more. The ultimate must-read article in the Sterling collection is this ESPN ditty, which contains the following gems:

"For years he has run semianonymous ads (crude design jobs he reportedly locks up himself) seeking 'hostesses' for Clippers events and his private parties. ... According to testimony Jaksy gave under oath, Sterling touched her in ways that made her uncomfortable and asked her to visit friends of his for sex. Sterling also repeatedly ordered her to find massage therapists to service him sexually, telling her, 'I want someone who will, you know, let me put it in or who [will] suck on it.'"

And:

"When Sterling first bought the Ardmore, he remarked on its odor to Davenport. 'That's because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean,' he said, according to Davenport's testimony. 'And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day.' He added: 'So we have to get them out of here.' ...[Kandynce] Jones had repeatedly walked to the apartment manager's office to plead for assistance, according to sworn testimony given by her daughter Ebony Jones in the Housing Rights Center case. Kandynce Jones' refrigerator dripped, her dishwasher was broken, and her apartment was always cold. Now it had flooded. Davenport reported what she saw to Sterling, and according to her testimony, he asked: 'Is she one of those black people that stink?' When Davenport told Sterling that Jones wanted to be reimbursed for the water damage and compensated for her ruined property, he replied: 'I am not going to do that. Just evict the bitch.'"

Deadspin has more. As long as this man owns an NBA team, anything that comes out of David Stern's mouth about player conduct should be taken with an appropriately large grain of salt. BTW: It's kind of amazing that such a big stink was made about Rush Limbaugh owning an NFL team when guys like Sterling are around.

BTW: Here are the Four Factors of last night's game:

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
Milwaukee	91.0	95.6	45.7%	14.6	36.2	20.9
Minnesota		79.1	41.9%	13.5	19.0	23.1