Tuesday Bucks Notes

Playing the scrubs in a blowout is one thing, but piling it on? That's just wrong. (Allen Einstein/NBAE/Getty Images)

• In case you missed it, the Bucks got roughed up in Detroit (Frank's recap). Then again, that was so last year. Right? We can only hope the Bucks don't rely on momentum, because it's in short supply as we enter 2008.
• With the imminent road trip to Miami, were visions of sandy beaches dancing in the Bucks' heads? Tom Enlund wonders, and Andrew Bogut basically confirms. In any event, the 45-point margin meant the Pistons delivered their most lopsided beatdown of the Bucks ever.

  Were the Milwaukee Bucks distracted by inviting thoughts of palm trees and balmy breezes before they even took the court Monday afternoon at the Palace of Auburn Hills?

  It sure looked that way as the Bucks turned in their most apathetic performance of the season in suffering their third-worst loss in franchise history, 114-69, to the high-flying Detroit Pistons.  

• There are lots of depressing numbers floating around. For instance, four. As in, the number of Bucks' losses in a row, or wins in December. How about 12? Yes, that's the number of points the Bucks scored the entire 4th quarter against the Pistons yesterday. You could say it's difficult to make up a 29-point deficit by scoring 12 points in the final quarter. I don't have any math degrees, but I think that would have required really good defense from the Bucks. But instead of allowing the necessary -17 points, they gave up 28. From the preview:

  The Bucks have won only one fourth quarter in their last ten games. In the Pistons' seven losses this year, they have not won the fourth quarter once.

• Some perspective on the 45-point clobbering: in the Bucks' past six wins, they have combined to outscore their opponents by 43 points. In other words, yesterday afternoon the Pistons accomplished a greater positive scoring margin than the Bucks accomplished in the last 41 days.
• So, what is the cure for the Bucks' ails? Enlund writes that Bogut has ideas. And if you think he's on to something good, check out the story to read what Bogut plans to write in Google's subject field.

  "I’m going to Google when I get back home and figure something out because it’s getting ridiculous," he said.

• Charlie Bell's had better seasons. Apparently, so has everyone else in NBA history. Brett from The Bratwurst also offers recommendations to help save a dying season.

  Bell is now shooting .267 this year, and has managed to play 594 minutes. He is on pace to play over 1600 minutes for the season, and should his shooting not improve dramatically it will be the worst performance in the near-60 year history of the league.

• Prior to yesterday's game, Marc Stein ranked the Bucks 24th in ESPN.com's Power Rankings.
• The latest from John Hollinger is even worse for the Bucks, as they rank 28th in his formula, behind the Sonics, and only ahead of the Knicks and Timberwolves.
• Episode 3 of the Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings is up at 3 Shades of Blue. There are some interesting results, including a Trail Blazer in the MVP top 10, and a power forward ahead of Yi in the Rookie top 5. This time, Redd didn't make my ballot. Here's how I voted:

  MVP: 1. LeBron James 2. Chris Paul 3. Kobe Bryant 4. Dwight Howard 5. Kevin Garnett 6. Allen Iverson 7. Steve Nash 8. Carlos Boozer 9. Caron Butler 10. Tim Duncan

  ROY: 1. Kevin Durant 2. Yi Jianlian 3. Al Horford 4. Sean Williams 5. Juan Carlos Navarro