SB Nation - Charlie Bell

Recap: Pistons 105, Bucks 96

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

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

Pretty much.

"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.

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.

Game 16 Preview: Oklahoma City vs. Milwaukee

Zorgon — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:46:20 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Neither of these guys will be playing tonight, which could, in itself, explain why we lost to the Bucks twice last year.

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This also counts as an open thread, so feel free to post your thoughts during the game here.

Time: 8:30 PM Central Standard Time

Place: The Ford Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma, ESPN

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1)

Enemy Blog(s): BrewHoop, Bucks Diary, The Bob Boozer Jinx, Bucksketball

Backstory: Well, it's that time of year again. Everybody has loaded up on Turkey, I'm ready to go buy discounted video games like some sort of crazed mad man, and the Thunder are getting ready to take on the hot hot Bucks on National Television. Wait, what was that third one?

That's right, the Thunder are on National Television. After an impressive 8-7 start, ESPN finally considers them to be hot material, at least, hotter than a blowout matchup between the Suns and Timberwolves. And rightfully so. This matchup, in an national perspective, could be seen as a proving ground for both teams. Both are playoff teams right now, which nobody expected at the start of the season. And both are probably not considered to be long-term success teams. That is, most are expecting them to fall into the lottery by the time the season is over. So, who's expected to win?

To be honest, they should expect us to win. The Bucks do have a better record, but their wins have only come over Detroit, Minnesota, Denver, Golden State, New Jersey, Charlotte, and Memphis. Aside from the win against Denver, they've pretty much won against all of the NBAs current doormats. And their losses don't look that much more impressive, with losses to the sub-.500 76ers, Bulls, and Hornets, with the only other losses coming to the struggling Spurs and the rather good Mavericks. Thus, if you put it all together, the only good teams they've played have been Denver and the Mavericks. They've visited almost every non-playoff team in the East (besides the Wizards) and almost every non-playoff team in the West (besides the Clippers, Kings, and Jazz). Now, I'm not saying that the Bucks continuing their run of success in the weaker East isn't possible, I'm just saying that this team isn't the powerhouse we thought they were. Combine that with the loss of Andrew Bogut and possible loss of Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, and you have one giant over-hyped sandwich.

On our side of things, things feel much more real. We're coming off of a huge wins in Utah and Miami, with a more minor win against the Wizards and losses against the Magic and Lakers. All of that doesn't look bad on paper, but it covers up our past losses to teams like the Clippers and Kings. If we can win this game, it will put us at 2 games above .500, and in a very good position moving forward. Thus, this game will decide, on a national stage, whether we are just another bad team having a good early season run, or whether we really are ready for the playoffs.

Below: Matchups, Prediction

Matchups:

Center: Nenad Krstic vs. Dan Gadzuric

Ah, the Bucks resident backup Center, Dan Gadzuric. He could double-double in this game, if he gets enough minutes in which to do so. However, I'm pretty sure Krstic will have the better scoring night, as no one knows Gadzuric as a defensive stalwart or anything.

Power Forward: Jeff Green vs. Ersan Ilyasova

Ilyasova is a rare example of how going back to the Euroleague can help your game, He was drafted in 05, played only in the D-League, and then played only sparingly in 06-07. Since he wasn't happy with his situation, he went to play for F.C. Barcelona, averaged decent stats for two years, improved his game, and then came back to the Bucks, where he's now a rather successful Power Forward, averaging 10 Points, 7 Rebounds, and 1 Assist per game in only 22 minutes. Still, this is weaker matchup for Jeff Green, so if he can stay out of foul trouble, he should manage to put up good numbers, and can probably beat Ilyasova in every category.

Small Forward: Kevin Durant vs. Carlos Delfino

You read correctly, Carlos Delfino is indeed playing Small Forward. He went to play in Russia last year and averaged decent statistics, but Delfino is already a known quantity, so that only served to raise his stock and get him decent pay. Nevertheless, even though Delfino is a jack of all trades who will produce in every category, he will almost certainly be overpowered by Kevin Durant and scored upon many times.

Shooting Guard: Thabo Sefolosha vs. Charlie Bell

Charlie Bell, at one point, was the worst shooter in the NBA. He's improved since, but he's not going to be a scoring threat any time soon. He'll fill up the intangibles, just as Thabo will, making this matchup a draw.

Point Guard: Russell Westbrook vs. Brandon Jennings

And here is the matchup of the hour. Brandon Jennings is the super rookie who decided to play in Europe for a year, and, boy, has it paid off. He has averaged 23 Points, 5 Rebounds, and 6 Assists in his rookie campaign, all while sporting very stylish haircuts (I've seen him with the flat top, the faux-hawk, and whatever you call the badass hair-style he has now). If Scott Brooks is smart, he'll have Thabo defending this guy, because Russell Westbrook doesn't have a chance in hell of stopping him. Jennings wins this matchup easily, and I shudder to think what will happen if Mike Wilks is forced to step on the floor.

Battle of the Benches:

This is a complete waste of time. Even without Mbah A Moute and Bogut, the Bucks still have a much more powerful bench, containing former SuperSonic Luke Ridnour, former Raptors star Roko Ukic, former Grizzlies star Hakim Warrick, and Kurt Thomas. We have Harden, Etan Thomas, Collison.....and Mike Wilks. Oh yeah, they still have Michael Redd off the bench, too. I'd say they get the win.

Coaching and Intangibles:

The one intangible on the Thunders side to pay attention to is Mike Wilks. It's not know if we'll have to play him, but if we do, the situation could get drastic, especially against the amazing Brandon Jennings. On the Bucks side, it's not know if Michael Redd can return to his former scoring form yet. If he can, it would certainly create a dynamic duo of a back court, making our situation even more desperate. Where's Kyle Weaver when you need him?

Bottom Line:

The Bucks are like the Raptors of a couple of years ago. They signed foreign talent, combined it with what they had, and became a threat to win on any given night. But, the team is flawed. If Michael Redd can't find his stride, then Brandon Jennings is the only serious scorer on the roster. If Thabo shuts him down to an extent, we can get an easy win. But, if they can get both of their scorers going and have another X-Factor step up, then we're screwed. Also, watch Mike Wilks. If he plays, he could be a huge liability when defending Brandon Jennings. Hopefully, it won't come to that.

Prediction: Oklahoma City 110, Milwaukee 105

Sorry, Bucks fans. I think we've got this one in the bag. Too bad the game is on the worst sports broadcaster of all time.

How do you think the game will go? Vote in the Poll!

And, again, feel free to drop any comments you might have during, before, or after the game below. I'll be in the Ford Center cheering the team on, but I'll be back to write a recap later tonight. Go Thunder!

Poll

Who's going to win tonight?

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...

Mavericks Vs Bucks: Game 11 Preview

Phillip Baggett — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:01:25 -0000

Mavericks vs Bucks coverage

The Match-ups:

Point Guard

Jason Kidd: Kidd continues to be one of the most consistent players on the team, while this is not surprising it is definitely a plus. Kidd's consistency on the defensive end will be needed tonight, as Kidd's counterpart in Milwaukee went off for a rookie club record 55 point showing Saturday night.

vs.

Brandon Jennings: Jennings is not your average rookie, it appears there is no limit to this kids talent. He comes in averaging nearly 26 points per contest, and one must assume that with Michael Redd sidelined that his point totals would only increase. Keeping Jennings in check will be job one for the Mavs tonight.

Edge: Bucks

Shooting Guard

Rodrigue Beaubois: Roddy B continues to impress, yesterday in Detroit the Mavs rookie dropped in 14 points and 4 assists and best of all ZERO turnovers. As long as he continues to put in performances like this one, the Mavs coaching staff is going to have a difficult time keeping him out of the line up.

vs.

Charlie Bell: As a starter there is not much good to say about Charlie Bell, and lets be honest if not for the injury to Michael Redd, Charlie Bell and his 9.9 per game Efficiency rating would not be getting extensive minutes.

Edge: Mavericks

Forward

Shawn Marion: Marion has yet to have a big scoring game for the Mavs, but his defense has been everything we could have hoped for. As soon as he stops missing those close to the basket shots things will turn around quickly. I would like to see him attack the basket a little more, if for no other reason than to get himself to the line more than once a game.

vs.

Luc Mbah a Moute: With a +/- of +6 and an efficiency of 7.6 per game, this guy by no means should be a starter in the NBA. The Bucks however continue to play well with 3 of their 5 starters being sub par backups.

Edge: Mavericks

Power Forward

Dirk Nowitzki: Dirk is well on his way towards another run at MVP, and he has done this while struggling from the field. I feel sorry for whomever he puts it all together against.

vs.

Hakim Warrick: The third of three Bucks starters who should not be starters, will have his hands full tonight, and nothing to suggest that the Mavericks cannot win this battle.

Edge: Mavericks

Center

Drew Gooden: Where have you been all year? Finally against the Pistons, The guy the Mavericks thought they were getting in free agency this year made his first appearance. Gooden dropped in 11 points and 11 rebounds in his first start of the year, is this a sign of things to come? We can only hope so.

vs.

Andrew Bogut: As far as efficiency goes there are only two centers in the East better than Bogut (Dwight Howard, and David Lee). Bogut comes in averaging 16 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest, He and Brandon Jennings are the Bucks primary people, Gooden and the Mavs must keep Bogut quiet and force the Rookie to try to do it all by himself.

Edge: Bucks

Injuries/Suspensions

Milwaukee Bucks

OUT - Michael Redd

Dallas Mavericks

OUT - Josh Howard

OUT - Erick Dampier

Prediction: This has all the makings of a let down game for the Mavs. The deciding factor to this game will be the play of each teams bench. The Mavs have the clear advantage as far as bench play, but there 2nd game of a back to back play has been very suspect.

Mavericks - 92

Bucks - 95

Recap: Bulls 83, Bucks 81

Alex Boeder — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:57:57 -0000

Box Score

The Bucks ever-so-narrowly missed the chance to win in Chicago for the first time in eight tries. And they did so by missing by a lot. Twice.

With 14 second to go in the fourth and the Bulls up 83-81, Brandon Jennings pulled up for a jumper just past the free throw line, but Derrick Rose blocked the attempt with ease. For Rose, the play provided a bit of sweet redemption because Jennings had forced him into a turnover and then floated a jumper over him just two possessions earlier.

Still, the block gave the ball back to Chicago with little time and less hope. But Joakim Noah (he of the absurd free throw form) spun consecutive free throws off the rim to give Milwaukee hope with 12 seconds to spare.

Unfortunately, the final try proved just as futile as the previous one. Jennings found an all-too-hesitant Ersan Ilyasova beyond the arc who fired a shot that hardly got closer to the rim than when Rose stuffed Jennings. Airball, out of bounds, game over.

The under-one-minute sequences underscored Milwaukee's thin late-game offensive options. Jennings was again very good, but after taking the previous three shots the Bucks had to figure the defense would cave around him. So they tried to spring free Ilysasova, who with the game on the line came up just as his final line (0-3 for 0 points and 3 fouls.) indicates: empty.

Three Bucks

Brandon Jennings. There is style (personified by God Shammgod here) and there is substance (think Tim Duncan since the first time you saw him play until further notice). Jennings shows both plenty of style and plenty of substance. And not just "for a 20 year-old" either. Case in anecdotal point: late second-quarter, Young Buck knifes down the middle of the lane and every-so-slightly darts left, helping draw attention away from Dan Gadzuric, who is cutting to his right. A simple around-the-back pass results in a~~n easy~~ dunk for Gadzuric. Style and substance, at once.

Jennings certainly more than held his own in an initial matchup with Derrick Rose, an accomplishment in itself. Unafraid to assume the desperately-needed role of scoring point guard on a team with limited firepower and without its best scorer, the rook' netted a cool 25 points. As such, he's led the Bucks in scoring in all three games. And he's fast showing a defensive character. Jennings led the club with a pair of steals, and he defended Rose into a turnover on a decisive play with less than half a minute in the game. In fact, he stayed in front of Rose pretty nicely for much of the game, and contributed to Chicago's point guard pretty pedestrian 5 assist, 5 turnover line. For Jennings, 25 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, some learning, and even more growing. Well-done.

Andrew Bogut. The defense was mostly steady, and though we could use a few more offensive bursts with Redd sidelined, Bogut stepped up on both ends of the floor tonight. 'Drew threw in eight straight in the second quarter, with all but one shot coming from one or the other baseline on running half-hook types. The Bucks again found Bogut for a few scores in the fourth, and he finished with 16 points, a delightful sum after the first two games.

Maybe you watched the second Bucks/Bulls preseason game, probably not. Bogut didn't play, which worked out nicely for Joakim Noah, who pitched in 23 points and 20 boards. With the Bucks' big man back in the middle tonight, Noahwas nearly nothing until an emphatic slam late in the fourth quarter. Not coincidental.

Charlie Bell. Far from a poor showing in a fill-in role for Redd starting at the two, Bell began the night by frustrating John Salmons, which led to a 3-12, 4-turnover night for Chicago's starting shooting guard. And while he couldn't replicate a Redd-like scoring punch, he did notch 11 points on 5-11 from the field and hit a big three in the fourth quarter to close the gap to 78-75. In sum, Bell played a great game off the bench, only he was forced into the starting lineup before that could happen.

Three Numbers

2. Players not named Brandon Jennings (who made 3-4) on the Bucks combined to make two free throws tonight in Chicago. Not a terribly efficient two free throws either, considering it required six attempts. The Bulls absolutely hammered the Bucks at the line, making 20-31 compared to 5-10. That major descrepancy tipped the final score scale in Chicago's favor.

5. The Bulls connected on their final five attempts from long-distance. And that came after an 0-6 start on threes in the first half. Jannero Pargo (2-3) and Brad Miller (1-1) delivered off the bench for big threes and combined for 23 points -- a whole lot more than the combined eight points Milwaukee got from six different reserves. And the Bucks' bench shot 0-6 on three-pointers, including Ersan's Air.

12. Rose's block on Jennings was the most memorable (and reminiscent of this one against Rondo in the playoffs), but it was just one of 12 for the Bulls. Noah led the way with five while Deng and Salmons followed with a pair each. Each Bucks starter was blocked at least once, and Jennings and Delfino were each stuffed thrice. This group isn't going to make that many shots in the first place; can't afford that many with no hope whatsoever of making it to the basket. Meanwhile, Bogut registered three of Milwaukee's five blocks.

Three Good

Super Tuesday. Like every election day, statisticians tonight projected that candidates won political elections far before all of the votes were counted. Mattero'fact, even before everyone voted, they drew conclusions by considering populations and samples. And they always are able to do this with (varying degrees of) confidence. This type of scientific, qualitative predictive analysis would typically caution against reading too much into even a purely random sample size of 3 out of 82. Even if the results are overwhelming. And it's fine (if not wise) to keep that general line of logic in mind when considering the early Brandon Jennings Rookie of the Year campaign. Then again, Jennings has every look of a top contender thus far. He surely has the attention of voters here and now. After a More-Than-Good Friday in Philly and Stirring Saturday in Milwaukee, this was a rather Super Tuesday in Chicago for Jennings. Looking forward to this ____ Friday in Minneapolis.

Bogut/Jennings. As noted above. With Redd out, this inside-outside duo will need to produce games like this for Milwaukee to have a shot to win. And like tonight, that might not even be good enough. But these two can give the Bucks a chance.

Up... The Bucks carried their momentum from the triumph at the BC on Saturday to the Windy City in a most excellent first quarter, stealing a 25-13 lead after the first twelve. And they fought through the second on the back of Bogut to carry a healthy 14-point lead into the locker room. Really inspiring stuff. They looked like a club coached by Scott Skiles, and I mean that in only the best way: on the ground fighting for loose balls, hounding defensively both inside and out, everyone passing the ball, and generally making the most of a very limited unit.

Three Bad

...and Down. But in stark contrast to the game before, the Bucks deflated in the third quarter, and they couldn't keep pace with a free-flowing Bulls attack that moved the ball quickly offensively. After holding the Bulls to an awfully silly 29 points in the first half, the Bucks allowed 54 after halftime. A two-point loss in Chicago on the heels of losing Redd isn't so bad, but when you have an 18 point cushion on the road, don't lose it -- because this team won't have that very often in the first place.

Eight too much. The divisional and geographic rivals continue to fatten up against their northern neighbors: The Bulls have run off eight straight wins on their home floor against the Bucks.

Defending Deng. Luol Deng, Man of the Match. 24 points, 20 rebounds, and if that doesn't explain his aggressiveness enough then the fact he made 9-11 free throws compared to Milwaukee's entire team making 5-10 free throw should give you a feel. The Bucks threw some different people at Deng, but that didn't much matter; not tonight.

It's official: Andrew Bogut doesn't own a Ferrari

Frank Madden — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:54:27 -0000

In the grand scheme of the universe, Andrew Bogut's spending habits really shouldn't be that interesting. Sure, he's an NBA player slated to make $10 million in the first year of a $60 million contract extension, so of course he's going to buy a lot more stuff than the rest of us. Fine, I would too.

Still, Bogut's controversial comments from a few years ago about NBA players' lifestyles--even if the Antoine Walkers of the world continue to legitimize them--earned him some bad press and haven't been forgotten by everyone. So when Karen Crouse mentioned in a New York Times article from earlier this week that Bogut drives a Ferrari, there were some who gleefully broke out their jump-to-conclusions mats. Shoals (tongue perpetually in vicinity of cheek) reported Bogut being "outed" as a "hypocrite." Some other site called Bogut a hypocrite, and then a liar when Bogut denied owning a Ferrari via Twitter. Because obviously if something is in the paper, it can't be wrong.

To be sure, I followed up with Crouse--whose story, by the way, is a very good read--and she got back to me quickly with confirmation that the Ferrari mention was based on an article by Michael Hunt from two weeks ago. Crouse wasn't able to follow up with Bogut while in Milwaukee to confirm it, and only after the story was published did she determine that the fine piece of Italian engineering belonged to Michael Redd. She noted a correction would be run, so that will hopefully put the matter to rest.

As for the original article by Hunt, he wasn't really calling Bogut out for it, though it's not clear where Hunt got the information (perhaps Charlie Bell playing a joke on him?) or whether a correction was issued (the original article is still up without one). It didn't really seem to generate much discussion among Bucks fans, since most of us assumed it was an error. Afterall, Bogut has never hidden his affection for collecting muscle cars, a natural hobby for the son of a mechanic and car enthusiast. A Ferrari just didn't seem to be his style. And sure enough, soon after the Hunt article ran, Bogut joked about the attribution on twitter to Charlie Bell.

The non-issue then got a second wind earlier this week with Crouse's article, which compared Jennings' shockingly reasonable Ford Edge to Bogut's Ferrari. The irony is that Crouse wasn't trying to single out Bogut per se; the idea was simply to contrast Jennings with your typical NBA player. But the NYT has a bit more reach than the JS, so the non-story suddenly became a story again. Bogut again denied via Twitter that he owned a Ferrari, sarcastically thanking Hunt for starting the rumor. Needless to say, Shoals continues to find humor in it all.

Meanwhile, I have one major question: did I really just spend an hour working on a post about this? Damn.

We really need the season to start.

Bucks Open Practice Review

Alex Boeder — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:10:54 -0000

Bucks season at the Bradley Center commences.

We're talkin' about practice, man.

So keep that in mind. Though this time we're talking about a game (or at least a scrimmage) too.

The Bradley Center hosted an open practice to unveil the 2009-10 Milwaukee Bucks this afternoon. A nice public service, because it's nigh time to reacquaint yourself with the team: There's quite a bit of turnover from the last time we saw the them.

Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut have returned. Even Ersan Ilyasova came back. And we caught first glimpses of new-Bucks, including Brandon Jennings, Hakim Warrick, Carlos Delfino, Jodie Meeks, Kurt Thomas, and Roko Ukic.

Twenty-eight minutes of purely Bucks basketball today. Plenty of time to learn. Though it's also plenty early, and remember that. It's plenty early in two months. We're just dealing with perhapses today: It's only October 3.

But it is October. And today felt like it.

"Our bench is going to be very strong," Scott Skiles told Jim Paschke and the crowd prior to tip-off.

Who, exactly, will comprise the bench (and the starting lineup) is a very worthwhile question then. If the open practice is any indication, we might have an idea. The game pitted White v. Black on the scoreboard, and White looked suspiciously like what Scott Skiles might be considering as his starting five: Luke Ridnour/Michael Redd/Luc Mbah a Moute/Ersan Ilyasova/Andrew Bogut. A lot can and will change during the next three weeks, but that lineup was not put together coincidentally.

To start, they faced Brandon Jennings/Charlie Bell/Carlos Delfino/Kurt Thomas. And if this was a matchup of starters versus bench, then the bench was not exactly "very strong" in the opening period.

White built a 26-9 lead after the first eight-minute quarter thanks to sloppy play by Black, but (and this is the part you're more interested in) also thanks to the sharpness of Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut, and co. Redd played decisively, looked strong, and generally didn't show any lasting signs of injury. He netted a cool 11 points in the first eight minutes, including a swished three to close the period. He also looked good going to the hoop, drew a couple fouls, and led everyone with 18 points overall. The pace of the game (practice, remember) was naturally slower and sloppier than regular season ball, but Redd earned favorable reviews with this performance. Encouraging.

Meanwhile, Bogut remains stiff at the free throw line, but was active on both sides of the ball. He didn't overwhelm, but was solid. He barely played in the second half, and was situated on the baseline sort of Steve Nash-style in the third quarter, but rejoined teammates on the bench shortly after. Nothing to read into there; Bogut appears ready to go.

Charlie Bell, ummm, did his job today like he has all summer. Some players looked a bit weary late in the game, but Bell appeared in good condition throughout. He was energized defensively and gained confidence after hitting a couple jumpers in a row in the second quarter. It should be noted that some players switched teams during the game, including Bell and Brandon Jennings, so the 54-47 final score in favor of White is even more meaningless than you would think. Which is to say, extraordinarily meaningless.

Speaking of Jennings, the rookie played like a... rookie. A gifted rookie, but most certainly a rookie. He opened the game by hitting a three, but then didn't score again until making a few fourth quarter free throws. In between, he committed more than a couple turnovers, including two of the flashy-pass-gone-bad variety. Still, it's plain to see Jennings already offers great quickness and ballhandling skills. Ukic orchestrated the offense under more control and picked off a few passes defensively in a pretty nice showing. Ridnour was Ridnour-like, and whether or not any of the team's point guards can shoot is a legitimate question heading into the season.

Newcomers Hakim Warrick and Carlos Delfino were only noticeable in how quiet they were offensively. Neither had scored a few minutes into the third quarter when Delfino drove and dished to Warrick for a one-handed slam... Unfortunately that came after Delfino was whistled for an offensive foul. Probably just one of those days for these two; this is after all an absurdly small sample size and not a terribly competitive match.

Ilysasova meanwhile seemed to stay close to the action in general. He started better than he finished, but the forward isn't afraid to shoot the ball or try to create things offensively, which is nice to see.

Gadzuric waited 1:37 to commit his first foul, as Black racked up five fouls in the first period, which equaled five more than White. And Gadzuric also tossed an airball in the second half, but one way or another finished with 15 points. Which is more than he scored in all but one game during the last two years.

So I hope you were there today.

Saturday Notes: Open practice today, Minnesota opener tomorrow, all about Ersan

Frank Madden — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:43:09 -0000

Paschketbell: Charlie Bell and Scott Skiles

Bradley Center open practice at 1 pm
Tailgating starts at 11:30 am ($1 food items), the practice starts at 1 pm (free). Get over there.

Sunday opener in Minnesota
The Bucks' open their preseason tomorrow night at 5 pm against the T'Wolves in Mankato, Minnesota. From Charles Gardner comes news that Scott Skiles is planning to start Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut, though it's unlikely that either sees extended minutes. I'd guess for this game we see a veteran-heavy starting lineup of Ridnour, Redd, Mbah a Moute, Warrick and Bogut, but I'll probably be wrong (and as noted previously, I prefer Ilyasova at PF). A year ago these teams opened against each other and the Bucks rolled out Ramon Sessions, Redd, Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva, and Francisco Elson. Bogut and Ridnour didn't play as the Bucks were thrashed 117-79.

Ironically, the Bucks get to face Sessions in his first NBA action since leaving Milwaukee--three days before they face Charlie Villanueva in Detroit. Just as I'm curious to see how quickly Brandon Jennings snags the starting spot in Milwaukee, our buds at Wolves blog Canis Hoopus are seeing if Jonny Flynn can do the same. The big difference is that Flynn has to beat out Sessions, not Luke Ridnour. SnP at Canis Hoopus is pretty unequivocal about the situation: "Sessions is the best guard and point on this team." Considering Flynn was supposedly higher on the Bucks' board than Jennings, the whole situation underscores the teams' differing approaches to developing young guards. Acquire as many good youngsters as possible (Minny) or pick one and groom him to be the guy (Milwaukee). I still prefer David Kahn's approach.

No word yet if there will be any streams of the game, but I wouldn't bank on it. I assume NBA.com will have at least one audio stream.

All About Ersan
Here's my rule of thumb when reading season previews: if it's more than one paragraph in length and doesn't mention Ersan Ilyasova at all, then I know the writer hasn't really done his homework. There's no guarantee Ilyasova starts at PF, but I'd be shocked if his shooting and rebounding ability didn't earn him consistent minutes in the forward rotation. It's no surprise then that both Gery Woelfel and Charles Gardner had features on Ilyasova this week. Gardner spoke to Skiles about the challenges of managing his PF rotation:

"Within our team defense, can he guard some of the bigger power forwards?" Skiles said. "On the offensive end, he can make threes and spread them out a little bit.

"Or if he's matched up with some of those quicker power forwards, can he move his feet well enough to guard them off the dribble?

"That position now, one night it's a 7-foot guy, the next night it's a 6-7 guy, and (it changes) in the course of the same game."

The majority of teams don't have bruising power forwards anymore, which definitely helps a team hoping to feature both Ilyasova and Warrick at the 4. But as confident as he looked offensively, I didn't think Ilyasova's lateral movement looked as good at the Eurobasket as it had previously for Barcelona. Nothing worth a panic, just saying.

As you may remember, Ilyasova had another big reason to leave Barcelona for colder pastures: his wife is from Wisconsin. Woelfel writes:

"She is very excited to be here again,'' Ilyasova said. "It's more easy for her here.

"(But) it wasn't why I came here. ... I see myself as an NBA player.''

Roster shrinking
The Bucks have too many guys on the roster as is, so it's no surprise to see the non-roster invites going home now that the first week of practices is over. Via Gery Woelfel, Dominic James has left camp after signing a one-year deal with Turkish team Mercin. Charles Gaines, Marcus Hubbard, and Mark Tyndale have also been officially cut.

Sunday Notes: Bogut's slow rehab, Redd back on the court, Charlie's drive-thru

Frank Madden — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:30:14 -0000

Charlie's healthy...and working at Wendy's.

Gardner: Bogut taking it slow
Any chance of the Bucks doing anything this season begins and ends with Andrew Bogut remaining relatively healthy, so I'm positively thrilled about the last two sentences of this quote from the main himself: </irony>:

"That's probably the most tricky part for people who have these injuries . . . rehab the hell out of it and get back and then a week or two weeks or three or four, you feel 100% and you feel you can (conquer) the world and can kind of forget about the things you were rehabbing.

"Probably the biggest focus that I have is just making sure that I stay on top of things. There's still discomfort. It's something that's probably going to bug me this whole season and probably the rest of my life."

Ugh. For what it's worth, Bogut's been generally sounding positive about his progress and there's no reason (yet) to think he won't be in the lineup on opening night, but that doesn't mean it's fun hearing this stuff.

FanPosts: Ranking the roster
Troy has a cool topic over in the fanposts--head on over and let us know what you think.

Flintstone: Redd cuts Bell
Well, not literally, but Michael Redd was back on the court this week (yay!) and it was Charlie Bell who got the worst of a pre-camp collision. Flintstone tweets:

Ppl keep asking wht happened. Well, mike played a little today. He cut 1 way and I was chasing him then he decided 2 change directions. U can guess the rest. Lol.

Redd is still targeting to be in the lineup on opening night, though how close he'll be to 100% is anyone's guess. As you might expect, he's saying all the right things:

"It's been a really great summer for me. Body-wise, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in. And I'm hungry to play again, too. That motivated me all summer long."

It's September, so that kind of talk doesn't mean much--Redd seems a little better schooled in the art of telling us what we want to hear than Bogut--especially considering Redd only just got back on the court. As for Charlie, he was chatting it up at Bucks.com this week as well.

RealGM: Hammond & Skiles Conference Call
Big thanks to PP25 at RealGM for providing a running summary of Scott Skiles and John Hammond's teleconference with season ticketholders.

Basketball-Reference: 09/10 win predictions
The good news from Neil Paine's first attempt to project the standings? He has the Bucks winning 34 games, the same as a year ago and I would hazard more than most "experts" are predicting. The bad news? B-R's regression systems naturally leads to tighter distributions than you'd expect to see, and so those 34 wins are actually worse in the East and fifth worst in the entire league.

My main beef with the methodology is relying on HoopsHype for the depth charts--hence Brandon Jennings is listed as averaging only 6 mpg, Ilyasova less than 15 mpg, and Delfino 11 minutes...total. Anyway, I'm not arguing any of those guys individually make the Bucks contenders, but it'd be nice to have a more realistic representation of who's actually going to be playing.

ESPN: NBA to unveil official social media policy
Not that it really matters that much at the end of the day, but it sounds like the NBA's social media policy is going to be pretty realistic.

One source described the forthcoming policy as "very minimal" and "less stringent" than the guidelines announced earlier this month by the NFL, which now regards players, coaches and football operations personnel -- or any third party representing them -- to be in violation of league rules if they use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook from 90 minutes before kickoff through the end of the standard post-game access period for media interviews.
Individual NBA teams, though, will have the right to impose their own standards that might be more strict, as seen with the NBA dress code where some teams in the past have mandated more formal apparel -- such as suits on team flights -- than league rules dictate.

This isn't as relevant to the Bucks now that Charlie V is in Motown, but the Bucks still have tweeters Bogut, Bell, and Jodie Meeks on the roster. Am I missing anybody? Brandon Jennings used to Tweet but has gone stealth, which is just as well probably (he does have a ton of stuff on Facebook). While Bogut and Bell are fairly active in using Twitter to interact with fans and other players, you'd be forgiven for not knowing about Meeks' page--it's pretty much the tamest, most mundane Twitter feed you'll ever see. And no Jodie, I'm not complaining.

ESPN Rankings: Bucks 29th
Don't count Marc Stein among the Bucks believers this season.