Bucks/Wizards: Milwaukee happy to have Bogut back in return to Washington

by Dan Sinclair on Mar 8, 2011 2:30 PM CST in Previews

Milwaukee Bucks at Washington Wizards, Mar 8, 2011 6:00 PM CST

2010/2011 NBA Season
	vs.
23-38 (8-22 road)		16-46 (15-17 home)
March 8, 2011
Verizon Center
6:00 PM CST
Radio: 620 WTMJ TV: FSN Wisconsin
Probable starters:
Brandon Jennings	PG	John Wall
John Salmons	SG	Nick Young
Carlos Delfino	SF	Maurice Evans
Luc Mbah a Moute	PF	Andray Blatche
Andrew Bogut	C	JaVale McGee

(30th) 100.9 - OFFENSE - 102.3 (28th)
(4th) 102.8 - DEFENSE - 109.7 (23rd)
(25th) 89.9 - PACE - 93.8 (9th)

On the Wizards: Bullets Forever / Truth About It / Washington Post

The Bucks head back out on the road for the first time in over a week as they wrap up the season series against the Washington Wizards. These teams split the first two games, each winning on their home floor, with the victor scoring 100 points in both games. The Bucks hope to break one trend tonight and pick up a critically-needed win.

Injury Updates. First the good news, courtesy of the big guy himself:

Great news today! All clear to play... Lets get a W

And, because it just wouldn't be fair to get only good news for a change, from Charles F. Gardner:

Corey Maggette not with team after banging his right knee in second quarter vs. Celtics on Sunday night.

The revolving door of able-bodied basketball players continues.

JS: Redd's return still raises questions
Between all the other injured players on the roster, not to mention the multitude of additional problems plaguing the team, it's easy to read updates on Michael Redd's progress toward returning to professional basketball and forget about him ten minutes later. But he's not going away -- in fact, he's getting closer, with his targeted return date still hovering around March 21, according to Charles F. Gardner. The Bucks play eight games between now and then (counting tonight), five of which come against Eastern Conference Playoff teams (wasn't the schedule supposed to be easy at this point?). Redd's return likely means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but the question of, "how will he be able to help?" is quickly being replaced by, "will his return matter at all?"

Bizarro Basketball. It's almost comical how similar the two previous games in this series were, except in result. In their home victory, the Bucks ORtg was 105.8 and their DRtg was 92.1. In the road loss, those numbers were 93.2/109.7. In both games, the victor had a clear advantage at the free-throw line and on the defensive glass. Having Andrew Bogut back for this game should help tremendously for the latter, but the Wizards have plenty of athleticism to get to the line if the Bucks get too foul-happy. Milwaukee's own players, especially Brandon Jennings, would be wise to make a concerted effort to draw fouls as well. Case in point: Corey Maggette was 7-7 at the stripe in Milwaukee's victory; he was 0-1 in their defeat. It's also worth noting that Milwaukee's victory came while Jennings was out -- Keyon Dooling had an excellent game in his place, scoring 23 points on only 11 shots.

Injuries on both sides. The Bucks bow to nobody when it comes to players missing time, but the Wizards are fairly beat-up themselves. Washington hopes to have Rashard Lewis and Josh Howard available as soon as possible, but tonight may not be the night. Both are currently listed as day-to-day, while Maurice Evans is listed among the official Wizards website's probable starters in place of Lewis. Nick Young returned to action for Washington on Sunday after missing time due to the flu. As they say, no rest for the weary. Young has averaged 50% shooting in his two previous games against Milwaukee this season, scoring over 20 points each time.

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Sadly things won't be much different with Redd

He will ring up a few 3s but he’ll also have some 0-for-6 games like Jennings and Delfino have.

I gots to put the team on my back, doo.

by BlackPack-fan on Mar 8, 2011 2:45 PM CST reply actions

last season I was hoping never to see Redd in a Bucks Jersey again no disrespect but the team had seemed to move on

but the train wreck that is our offense Im kinda interested to see what Redd has left, and this season has been full of negativity and apathy it would be nice to have something positive to talk about

That," says LeBron, "is for everyone that watches me play. They witness something special. You're all a witness.

by ILIKEBJ'S on Mar 8, 2011 2:51 PM CST up reply actions

also re: Boguts tweet I think small steps first for the Big aussie

lets aim for making a couple free throws in a row before worrying about actually winning a game of basketball

That," says LeBron, "is for everyone that watches me play. They witness something special. You're all a witness.

by ILIKEBJ'S on Mar 8, 2011 3:06 PM CST reply actions

I would love to know what Bogut's FT% would be left-handed

Greg Oden shot something like 60% in his freshman year at OSU using his left hand while his broken wrist recovered, and he certainly doesn’t have Bogut’s touch around the basket with his left. So given Bogut can’t even straighten his right arm, what could he possibly have to lose?

Honestly I think he could be a fair bit better. I sprained my right wrist in both middle school and high school, so I taught myself to shoot jumpers left-handed in my driveway—I couldn’t shoot them consistently from more than 18-20 feet, but for free throws you don’t need much of any real strength to get the ball to the hoop (and Bogut’s slightly stronger than I was as a 5-foot middle-schooler. All you need is decent form, which can sometimes be easier to develop when you’re starting from scratch with your off hand.

I think Bogut (and every other poor-shooting pro) is too proud to shoot underhand, but going left because you have an injury would seem to be a no-lose situation given the circumstances.

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Bucks/Wizards: Milwaukee happy to have Bogut back in return to Washington

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