Box Score / AP Recap

After taking a look at the Bucks remaining schedule it shows one more meeting left with the Orlando Magic at home on April 13.

We can forgive them if they aren't looking forward to seeing these guys again soon.

In a game where it kind of felt like both teams were waiting for Orlando to take over, the Bucks kept it close through two and a half quarters -- they even tied it up at 52 with 10:00 to play in the third.  From there on out the Magic proceeded to out score the Bucks by 16 with a workmanlike display of threes, lay ups and suffocating defense.

Whether is was Rashard Lewis (19 pts), Hedo Turkoglu (18 pts), Courtney Lee (16 pts) or a foul plagued Dwight Howard (18 pts), it seemed like the Magic always had someone hot on the offensive end.  All game they were on work the ball around and get everyone their points cruise control.  They came into the game knowing they would flex their shooting and defensive muscles against the lowly Bucks and in time they did.  One hopes the Bucks will be able to harmonize with such simplicity in the coming years.

Coach Skiles attempted to change up the Bucks recent bad mojo by inserting Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell into the starting lineup, but no lineup changes would be able to make up for the struggles of top two scorers Richard Jefferson (5-24, 13 pts) and Charlie Villanueva (3-9, 11 pts).  If the Bucks' playoff hopes were on life support before, then the priest just entered the room and he's reading them their last rights right about now.

Three Bucks

• Ramon Sessions.  Sessions was aggressive in looking for his shot early.  And when I say looking for his shot, I really mean looking for his shot.  Sessions was not afraid to pull the trigger on the mid range jumper all game and had pretty good success with it.  Looks like he's been spending his free time trying to expand his range outside of the free throw lane.  Given the struggles he's had getting to the line in the last few weeks, this is a very positive development.
  
• Charlie Bell/Dan Gadzuric.  I'll lump them together since they re-entered the starting lineup together.  Their start was inauspicious: a botched pick and roll that led to a Courtney Lee lay up.  Overall they both played a fairly decent game and helped keep the Bucks in it after the first quarter.  Neither of them will be starting on any all-star teams any time soon, but as change of pace guys for a team that is struggling, I thought they played admirably tonight.
• Joe Alexander.  For the second game in a row Hey Joe showed a lot of garbage time spunk.  He caught a nice pass from Bell and finished with a thundering dunk; the likes of which we hadn't seen from him in months.  Alexander continues to show flashes of why he is here.  Perhaps the time has come for a more thorough game related evaluation.

Three Numbers

• 51.3.  Letting teams shoot over 50 percent in the NBA is like a death wish.  The inside outside game the Magic have can be topped by few and it overwhelmed the Bucks last game, this game and will likely do the same next game.  They have way too many shooters to keep track of around a force like Dwight Howard.  The Bucks have been notoriously slow footed in getting back to help off penetration or double teams inside and that was exploited tonight.
• 15-8.  The Magic starters had almost twice as many assists as their counterparts from Milwaukee.  That is a tribute to how crisp their offense can run and how stagnate things were for the Bucks tonight.  Even Sessions, who played a strong game, wasn't able to get many easy buckets for anyone with four assists.  When the other team has a Dwight Howard in the lane though, it makes guys think twice on those shots inside.
• +12.  Thanks to a tough effort on the offensive glass the Bucks were able to put up 12 more shots than Orlando.  It's too bad not many of those extras were converted.

Three Good

• Luke Ridnour.  This isn't so much for what he did on the court today, but more so for him showing up.  Ridnour missed last game with back spasms and met the team in Orlando.  On Bucks teams of recent years a lot of guys have shut it down for less when the writing has been on the wall that the season will soon be coming to a close, so it's nice to see Luke gutting it out and doing what he can to get back on the floor.  It's the little things that over time make a team worthy of playoff status.
• Redemption Song.  The Bucks have a chance free themselves of the mental piracy of a losing mentality tomorrow against the Heat  They've been successful against the Heat this year and on a personal level I'm just glad we can get the taste of this game out of our mouths quickly.
• Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.  He's active, he's around the ball, he never quits, every game he seems more athletic, he defends almost any position and he glows like he feels lucky to be on the court.  It's hard not to feel good about him even after games like these.

Three Bad

• Richard Jefferson.  The thing about RJ is that even when he has bad games from the field he usually offsets it by getting to the line 10 times or so.  Tonight: two free throws on 24 shots.  Not what the Bucks had in mind I'm sure.  Orlando seemed to focus most of their defensive attack on him and he appeared willing to give in and shoot jump shots.  If he's hitting net that's fine, problem was tonight all he was hitting was rim and glass.  I'd count on a bounce back from him tomorrow.
• Charlie Villanueva.  And the Charlie V. season long road trip from hell continues.  I know a lot of people struggle on the road, but this is pretty extreme.  He was never able to find his groove tonight and as has become his standard operating procedure on the road he picked up some silly fouls and watched his minutes shrink. 
  
• The Bulls.  At this point we need not worry about what happened with the Bulls and/or Pistons anymore...and what can be worse than that?

[A bright Brew Hoop debut for Jeremy of Bucksketball. Friday the 13th proved perhaps not the luckiest day for the Bucks however. -Alex]

And this is why the Knicks game hurt so much. Facts are facts and it is a fact that the Bucks do not have as much talent as the Hornets. The Bucks played hard and pretty well actually given their situation, but ultimately did not have the horses to stay with the Hornets for four quarters. The defense looked better but the rebounding remained an issue. And Chris Paul did a whole lot of Chris Paul.

It looked like a Big Ten game had broken out after the first quarter ended knotted at 14 but the Bucks held the lead for the majority of the first half thanks to Charlie Bell and Keith Bogans who combined for 16 of the Bucks 22 second quarter points. Unfortunately Chris Paul knifed through the Bucks defense - as he would continue to do for the rest of the night - before the horn sounded on the first half leaving the Bucks down 39-38 heading into the third. The Bucks found themselves down eight with about ten and a half minutes to go in the fourth quarter after a runner by Paul. The Bucks fought back and tied things up at 73 on a Luke Ridnour three. Paul put the hammer down though, keying a 7-0 run comprised of his own runner and two of his usual brilliant assists.

As frustrating as it was tonight, watching Paul is one of the most enjoyable things a basketball fan can do. How his name isn't even coming up in the MVP conversation always amazes me. Who are the Hornets without him? The Bucks did not have an answer for Paul in the second half and now must continue to search for their own answers.

Three Bucks

• Charlie Bell.  I've been as hard as anyone on this Flintstone, but he came to play tonight.  Both teams looked like they were sleepwalking early but Bell was a shot in the arm off of the offense.  Bell's primary job is to shoot the ball and he did that very well tonight finishing 3-5 on threes.  He had a couple of bad TO's in the early going of the fourth quarter, but the Bucks may have never led after the first quarter were it not for him.
• Keith Bogans.  This is the guy I expected.  Bogans showed his sweet shooting touch in the second quarter, hitting two threes.  He even took it to the basket without looking tremendously awkward.  Later Bogans spent time guarding David West -- the results were not awful -- showing his versatility on the defensive end.
• Richard Jefferson.  While he was not getting to the line like he had been lately, Jefferson still found a way to put up 27 points.  He was taking very good shots tonight and finishing strong.  How he ended up only taking six free throws I don't know.

Three Numbers

• 46-30.  Rebounding has been a problem ever since Andrew Bogut went out and tonight it was as much of a problem as it's ever been.  Tyson Chandler and David West looked like the older kids playing with the younger ones grabbing almost as many boards between the two of them (27) as the Bucks did as a team.  More often than not a -16 on the boards will lead to a long night.
• 26. The difference in points between the starting point guards was not pretty.  The not-so-much-hyped (but a little-bit-hyped) matchup of point guards went decisively in the favor of New Orleans tonight.  Sometimes it was hard to tell Ramon Sessions was even on the floor.  He ended with a very un-Sessionslike line of four points, one rebound and seven assists.  Compare that to CP3's 30 point, six rebound, nine assist and four steal effort and that about sums things up for those two tonight.
• 16.  The Hornets ended the night with a plus 16 on free throw makes.  The Bucks looked awfully comfortable with shooting jumpers tonight.  None of the Bucks guards even shot a single free throw on the evening.  When playing a team as physical as the Hornets can be you'd think that would be a focus.  Given his penchant for flagrant fouls, is the word out not to come in David West's lane?

Three Good

• B&B.  I have been harping on Bell and Bogans as of late but they really looked good tonight.  I'll refrain from getting my hopes up for nightly 50% shooting performances, but if they can continue to give a similar effort to the one they each did tonight I'd be pretty pumped.
• Staying Alive.  After losses by everyone (except for the Knicks) fighting for the final spot in the Eastern Conference the Bucks somehow STILL remain in the eighth and final spot.  The fans of these six teams are going to have to get together and have a support group meeting sometime in the next month.  Does anyone want to make the playoffs this year?
• Mbah a Moute.  This was his kind of game.  Or what I'm imagining will be his kind of game in two years.  He was able to capitalize on the early ugliness to end up with double digit rebounds (10).  When his mid range jumper gets a little more consistent this will be the kind of game he can have an even bigger impact on.

Three Bad

• Home Court Collapse.  The Bucks began the year looking very tough at home, but losses to the likes of the Nets and Knicks may have put a dent in their psyche.  They've now dropped three of four at home.  This could be a very tough stretch if they can't recapture their early season home court toughness.
• Charlie V.  Hopefully we can write this one off as a bad day after a late night.  Charlie V. surely watched his beloved UConn Huskies fall in six overtimes last night.  Tonight he looked like the Charlie V. of old, right down to the spotty minutes and poor block outs.  Tyson Chandler can thank Villanueva for the seven offensive rebounds.
• No Easy Road.  Things do not get any easier on Sunday for the Bucks when the Celtics come to town.  Word is that Rajon Rondo will be back and he could give them a lot of the same problems that Chris Paul did tonight.