The Bucks wrap up their Vegas adventure against the Cavs at 5:30 central time.  I'm once again courtside so I'll be liveblogging the action. You can follow the game live over at NBA.com.

Pre-Game

• Ramon Sessions was in street clothes during the shootaround so expect Darius Washington to get another start at the point.
• Joe Wolf will be taking his turn as the head coach of today's game for the Bucks.
• Starting lineup: Washington, Matt Lojeski, Luc, Alexander, and John Thomas. Alexander will once again be taking the opening tip.

1st Quarter

• Alexander drives right baseline on J.J. Hickson for the layin. 3-2 Cavs.
• Alexander elevates in the post and gets the friendly roll from the right side. 4-3 Bucks.
• Hickson bangs on Alexander but misses, but Romel Beck gets the putback. Next time down Hickson puts it in from the post over Luc.9-6 Cavs.
  
•  Mbah a Moute knifes between defenders for the layin.  9-8 Cavs.
• For once Alexander is off to a hot start, as he feathers in an 18-footer from the left baseline.  Alexander's now being guarded by the much larger Darnell Jackson, who seems resigned to let Alexander shoot jumpers over him.
• Washington makes a bad entry pass and then watches as the Cavs go the other way.  Hustle, please. 14-14.
• Alexander now has a couple assists, the first a backdoor feed to Washington, the second a dump off to Thomas down low.  16-14 Bucks.
• Another PNR leads to an Alexander drive and short glasser.  Alexander missed on pull-up last time down, but he's now 4/5 for 8 pts, matching his output from yesterday. 20-20.
• Roderick Riley's size is causing some problems down low for the Cavs.  He fends off two defenders for the and-one as the Bucks' bench erupts.  Riley now has 7 pts in 5 minutes. 25-23 Bucks.
• Joe Wolf and Kelvin Sampson are giving a lot of instructions from the Bucks' bench. 
  
• J.J. Hickson's been tough inside for the Cavs and leads all scorers with 11 points on 4/5 fg.  The score is 25-25 after one.

2nd Quarter

• Johnson, Wilmont, Freije, Riley, and Storey start the second.
• Great ball movement leads to a corner triple for the Cavs' Jawad Williams.  On the other end, Trey Johnson comes off a screen to hit the medium-range jumper.  They've run that play a lot for Johnson this week.  28-27 Cavs.
• Johnson drives and kicks for a wing three from Freije, who's had that shot all week. Johnson then gets a steal and transition two coming back the other way.  He's pretty solid as a combo guard, and he's played mostly point this weekend with Sessions out.  Don't expect to see any of them in November, but the Bucks' lesser-known free agent  guys have done a very nice job this week. 32-28 Bucks.
• Wilmont draws a double and finds Freije for the open triple.  "Yes sir!  Yes sir!" Gotta love the enthusiasm these guys bring.  On the other end, Riley is cleaning up on the glass and now has seven boards, aided by the Cavs' cold shooting.  35-28 Bucks.
• Hickson powers through Freije on one end, but the Vandy big man makes up for it with a beautiful backdoor pass to Storey followed by another three.  You gotta give the coaching staff credit for the way the free agent guys are playing together as a team.  41-30 Bucks.
• With the Bucks battling down low for an offensive rebound, Alexander goes tearing back to play defense.  I'm guessing Scott Skiles (seated courtside with John Hammond, Billy McKinney, Dave Babcock, and Jeff Weltman) appreciated that.
• Washington scores in transition, then steals the ball in the backcourt.  He misses the acrobatic layup but Mbah a Moute is there to acrobatically clean it up.  Typical Luc play.  45-32 Bucks.
• The Bucks are having a good time at the moment.  Alexander's made two lookaway passes for open teammates, and they're actually playing some defense too.  51-36 at halftime.

3rd Quarter

• The Bucks begin the third with their starters.  Washington leads the way with 10, while Alexander has 8 points (4/6 fg) and three assists.
• The crowd gets agitated when Washington throws a bad alley-oop after Alexander had come loose on a backscreen.
• Hickson's gotten little help, but Romel Beck tries to give him a hand with a tough leaner and one over Luc.  Beck has 10.  55-43 Bucks.
• Washington-Alexander-Luc-Lojeski equals an open corner 3.  60-45 Bucks.
• Alexander and Hickson has been an interesting matchup.  Hickson's clearly bigger but Alexander has hung in pretty well in the post, and drew a foul posting up the bigger Hickson earlier in the quarter (he made both throws).  Still, Joe's doing nothing on the boards, which might be his biggest defensive weakness as a 4. 
• Alexander just missed a straight-away three, the interesting part being that he barely got off the ground shooting it.  There's been talk about him trying to be more of a stand-still shooter given his hops sometimes throw him off balance.
• The Cavs are moving the ball a bit better but they may have dug themselves too big of a hole.  The Bucks are still shooting 58% from the field, compared to 36% for the Cavs.  63-48 Bucks.
• Hickson scoops it around Freije and now has 17--he looks really solid.  But Freije gets free for a dunk on the other end as the shot clock expires.  70-54 Bucks.

Fourth Quarter

• Hickson plows through Freije and Riley for a tough two and a foul.  He's now got 20.  70-57 Bucks.
• David Noel just walked through the tunnel and hugged Sessions, who's chilling on the end of the bench.  As for the game, Hickson keeps taking it to Freije and Riley, getting blocked but keeping after it for another layin.  Next time down the bucks double him and force an airball from eight feet.  75-62 Bucks.
• Trey Johnson goes around a screen and calmly strokes a three.  He's now got 11 on 4/7 shooting.  79-65 Bucks.
• Alexander misses a three with the shot clock running down, but the Bucks recover and Alexander finds Luc cutting.  He misses the dunk but heads to the line for two.  "Nice pass Joe Alexander!"  Sampson likes it.  82-67 Bucks.
• Washington threads a nice pass to Lojeski underneath, who finishes with one of those not-really-dunks.  He grabbed the rim and the ball went in, but not really at the same time.  Final score: 88-72, Bucks.

• The Bucks improved to 3-1 in Vegas with their 81-67 win over Minnesota yesterday.  Check out our liveblog here, and the JS also has a brief recap.  Darius Washington filled in nicely for Ramon Sessions, scoring 19 points along with seven assists, while Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was all over the place, adding 13 points and 10 boards in just 22 minutes.  Joe Alexander struggled from the field (2/11 fg) and finished with just 8 points and four boards. He created plenty of decent looks for himself, but like in the Vegas opener just couldn't get his shot working.  Former Vandy PF Matt Freije had another nice shooting night with 16 points on 6/10 fg, while Racine native Matt Lojeski stepped up with 14 points on a tidy 5/7 shooting. 
  
• Sessions sat out the game with a minor hip injury but might play this afternoon when the Bucks finish their week with a game against the Cavs at 5:30 central.
• When asked what the Bucks have been preaching to their youngsters, assistant coach Kelvin Sampson told me after Saturday's game that it's largely about developing good habits. "Just play smart.  Many rookies try to do too much, but we've gotten some very nice work from our young guys in that respect."
  
• Alexander has clearly struggled for consistency on his shot this week (14/43 fg), starting with his 2/13 debut and further compounding his shooting woes with a 2/11 effort yesterday. That will understandably make some fans a bit anxious, especially given the type of monster scoring games we've seen from the likes of Jerryd Bayless and Anthony Randolph, both of whom the Bucks passed on. Bayless looked nearly unstoppable again yesterday in scoring 36 points in the Blazers' win over the Suns.
  
  But Bucks GM John Hammond has made it known from the start that Alexander's game is still raw, and he doesn't seem too concerned with his lottery pick's deference thus far.  "If the biggest problem we have with Joe Alexander is that he is a little too unselfish, then that's something we can certainly live with."
  
• One thing that's been interesting to watch is how the Bucks have come together nicely as a team in spite of the generally chaotic nature of summer league.  Sampson notes that much of the credit goes to the guys who have been here before.  "Our veterans have been great.  Sessions, Storey, and John Thomas are guys who have been extremely selfless in terms of helping our young guys and being vocal leaders.  Thomas especially has been doing a great job for us even though he hasn't gotten that many minutes."
• While the additions of Tyronn Lue and Malik Allen mean that there's little chance of any non-roster players from Vegas making it onto the Bucks' opening night roster, Sampson reserved praise for a number of the free agents.  "Rod Wilmont and Aaron McGhee have stood out. They've not always gotten major minutes but they've both come in and played their roles nicely.  Matt Lojeski has certainly surprised some people and opened eyes with his play, and 'Ole' [Olumide Oyedeji] has done that as well.  In general our guys have just had a great attitude and really played as a team."
• If you're keeping score at home, Lue's deal is for one year, $2.2 million while Allen will make $1.3 million next season, slightly above the league minimum for a player of his tenure. Allen also has a player option for 08/09.

In game one of their Vegas adventure, Ramon Sessions was pretty good and Joe Alexander was pretty bad.  Fortunately for the Bucks, both were better on Tuesday afternoon as Milwaukee bounced back to down the Stuckey-less Pistons 73-59 (JS recap / complete game video).  Sessions was the story with 21 pts (6/11 fg, 9/12 ft), six boards, four helpers, and just two turnovers in 28 minutes, getting into the lane at will and generally controlling the pace of the game. Meanwhile, Alexander looked much more collected than on Saturday, scoring 11 points on 5/9 shooting and flashing some of the skills that made him a lottery pick.

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The Milwaukee Bucks' summer league team took part in their final tune-up Friday before shipping off to play five games in Las Vegas. The Bucks open their schedule Saturday night against the Grizzlies at 9 pm, and though none of the games will be televised, you can watch them all live at NBA.com.

Talking to players and coaches at the Cousins Center on Friday, It quickly became evident that Scott Skiles and his staff have taken this week's preparations very seriously. If you've ever watched a summer league game, you know things can tend to get sloppy. With just a week to prepare as a team and a host of NBA hopefuls aiming to prove their worth, it's not uncommon to see sub-par ball movement or non-existent defensive rotations. But members of the coaching staff seem determined not to let those things happen.

"One of the things we try to do in our practice sessions is talk with the players about the way we want to play, and that's with a lot of ball movement and player movement," said assistant coach Jim Boylan. "We did a lot of drills with that in mind. When things start to break down a little bit, we're able to give our players a reference point, pull them back and say 'we want to do things the way we did them back in the Cousins Center.'"

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• Charles Gardner has all the highlights from the Richard Jefferson press conference. Bucks.com has the full transcript and video highlights, while the JS has audio. Jefferson's a pretty candid guy, so it was fairly interesting as far as these kinds of things go.  Let's start with his reaction to playing for Skiles, who has been a fan of Jefferson's for some time:
  

  It’s awesome. I’ve heard multiple times from different people over the years how Scott Skiles tried to get me in Chicago. That gives me a little bit of a comfort knowing that the coach wanted me here, he’s going to work with me. I’m far from a perfect player. I made some solid gains in my game last season and it’s only from hard work and I’ve got to work just as hard to try and make the same gains this year. Sometimes to get out of that comfort zone or bubble that you’ve been in. To go to a new place and get a new outlook or get somebody that’s pushing you again.

  In the video you can see Skiles smile as he talks about Jefferson's game, so it's definitely a positive that he seems to be a fan of the Bucks' big offseason acquisition. And it also suggests that Skiles and John Hammond are on the same page, which shouldn't be a surprise. Perhaps more importantly, Jefferson acknowledged that defense will be a renewed focus for him in 08/09.
  

  I think right now it’s an area in which I need to improve. I think the last few years people have criticized my defense a little bit. I’m still a person that believes in it. I understand that every good team I’ve ever been on we’ve had good defense. It’s an area, because of my role expanding the amounts of minutes I’ve been playing and the amount of scoring I’ve been asked to do, it has gone down.
  
  It takes a little bit of a hit to your ego when people are talking about ‘you’re not as good defensively’ because that’s something I take pride in. It’s something I look forward to improving on and also having an impact. That’s probably going to be my focus now with a guy like Michael Redd and the balance across the board I don’t think there’s as much a need for me to ‘hey, we need you to score 25 points tonight.’ If you can go and stop their best player and give us 18, 19, 20, that’s where I’d like to be.

• Garry Howard sees good things for the Bucks and Brewers.
• Last week Charlie provided us a sneak peek at the Bucks' summer league roster, and today the Bucks released the full roster. In addition to Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is expected to play for the Bucks rather than join the Cameroonian national team at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens. Awvee Storey will also be on the roster in spite of the Bucks' (reasonable) decision not to pick up his 08/09 option. Storey will look to duplicate his performance last summer when he parlayed a spot on the Bucks' summer league team into a full-time gig with the team.

The Pistons/Celtics draft lottery is almost here, so if you haven't already, do check out our Viewer's Guide to the Draft Lottery.

What follows is a Bucks-based breakdown to help lend perspective on the probability the Bucks will nab the Rosey, first overall draft spot.

In short, the odds of winning this lottery are kind of like Bogut converting on an attempted three-pointer (sorry, no video), except worse. Which is to say, we'll gladly approve if it works out in the Bucks' favor.

• Games the Bucks won on the road in 2007/08: 17.1 % (7 of 41)
• Games in which Charlie Bell shot above .500 from the field in 2007/08: 14.7 % (10 of 68)
• Games in which Mo Williams had double-digit assists in 2007/08: 9.1 % (6 of 66)
• Three-pointers Andrew Bogut has made in his career: 6.7 % (1 of 15)
• Minutes Awvee Storey spent on the court for the Bucks in 2007/08: 6.6 % (258 of 3900)
• Odds the Bucks had of winning the first overall pick when they did in 2005: 6.3 % (63 of 1000)
• The probability of the Bucks winning the first overall pick: 4.3 % (43 of 1000)
• Games in which Desmond Mason led the Bucks in scoring in 2007/08: 3.4 % (2 of 59)
• Seasons the Bucks have won the NBA title in franchise history: 2.5 % (1 of 40)
• Games in which the Bucks outscored their opponents in each of the four quarters in 2007/08: 1.2 % (1 of 82)