Recaps
Recap: Bucks 86, Celtics 84
by Alex Boeder on Mar 10, 2010 12:43 AM CST
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MILWAUKEE - Last March, right around this time, the Celtics came to town, the fans made Ray Allen feel right at home, and the Bucks scored 86 points, enough for a win.
Those are the similarities. But this is about differences. The mighty big changes in pro basketball in this city.
Because while the name still reads the same on the front of the jersey, they are just about all different on the back. The starting lineup from the March 15, 2009 win over Boston? Try Ramon Sessions, Luc Mbah a Moute, Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva, and Francisco Elson. The only remaining starter, The Principal, went from shooting guard to power forward. Yeah.
So maybe we shouldn't be so surprised that it's March and the Bucks are still good.
After all, they are still the Bucks, but with Brandon Jennings, John Salmons, Carlos Delfino, Ersan Ilyasova, Luc Mbah a Moute, and this Andrew Bogut, they aren't quite like anything we remember. And try as we might to forget, we do remember.
We remember five straight last place finishes, and the players remember how it was supposed to be six straight. Even a teenager half a world away last year was apparently briefed about the past and the expectations, or lack thereof. After the game, Brandon Jennings:
I know a lot of people doubted us in the beginning of the season, had us almost last. But we are here too, we are fighting for a spot in the playoffs too. So don't forget about us.
So now we have something we actually want to remember. And the latest is a Bucks win over the Celtics, chiefly the result of magnificent play by Bogut, and magnificent plays by Bogut. The center started the game as strongly as ever, picking up right where he left off in Boston about three months ago. But as the Bucks moved away from him, the Celtics moved into the lead. Not coincidentally, Boston won its only period in the second quarter when Bogut was scoreless.
The Bucks trailed entering the fourth quarter and didn't score during the final 2:41 of regulation, but they did enough in between to make it work. Namely, Bogut carried the team on both ends while the sickly Delfino hit his fifth three of the game, Salmons popped in five quick ones, Ilyasova was eternally right-place/right-time, Jennings scooped in a floater for the final points, and the defense, oh, the defense.
Up two in the final moments, Milwaukee took a foul with 3.9 seconds to go. A good idea, but also just enough time for Ray Allen to sink his first shot of the game, a three pointer of course. But the ball went to Pierce, and, well, the Bucks defended just like they had all game, all month, all season. Still could have gone in, we know that and that. But not this time.
This was a chippy affair, a game that looked more like late-April than early-March by the time Glen Davis barreled into Jennings on a fast break, earning technicals for each.
And if this keeps up, we will soon get to watch games that are late-April instead of ones that just look the part.
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Recap: Bucks 92, Cavs 85
by Frank Madden on Mar 7, 2010 3:35 AM CST
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Box Score
Let's start with an important disclaimer about the Bucks' win over the NBA's best team: LeBron James, the NBA's best player, didn't play thanks to a sore ankle. So to all those little munchkins who showed up on Saturday night in #23 jerseys hoping to watch LeBron beat up on their home team: sorry (ask your mom what sarcasm means).
But as much as the Bucks may have been hoping to legitimize their recent hot streak with a win over the current title favorites, let's think about the big picture. Last time I checked, the Bucks' biggest concern is still winning games--not proving that they're better than any individual team or showing that they can contain any individual player. That stuff is great and makes for nice copy, but the Bucks can do all the respect-gaining they want against the Celtics and Jazz next week.
And despite some hot three point shooting by Brandon Jennings (sporting a red stripe on his dome) and Carlos Delfino, the Bucks didn't exactly bring their A game, which means they should probably just be happy to have pounded out another win against the NBA's best team. The Bucks shouldn't be thrilled with their overall performance, but they can still be satisfied to see a win chalked up against a team that had beaten 78% of its opponents coming into the game.
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Recap: Bucks 102, Wizards 74
by Frank Madden on Mar 6, 2010 12:41 AM CST
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How hot have the Bucks been of late? Consider that two nights ago Scott Skiles characterized his club's 100-87 home win over the Wizards as "a step back." Realistically, he was right.
And while Skiles has never been one to get too excited about wins, there's a big difference between saying something like that because you want your players to expect better and saying it because you know they do. There's a word for that kind of thing: progress.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that on Skiles' 46th birthday his players not only beat the Wizards in Washington, but did so in dominating fashion. The Wiz are most definitely a rag-tag bunch right now, a group that has looked more interested in getting theirs than playing team basketball. But 28-point road wins aren't gift-wrapped for you in the NBA either.
Happy now, coach?
"It was just that one game. We have been sharp for a long time and I thought we weren't as focused as we've been in recent games. We were still able to come out with a win.
"The guys took it to heart. They did an awful lot of things right tonight."
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Recap: Bucks 100, Wizards 87
by Alex Boeder on Mar 4, 2010 12:16 AM CST
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MILWAUKEE - You follow pretty bad teams, and you pick out good things in losses. You follow pretty good teams, and you pick out bad things in wins.
Andrew Bogut started and played 28 reboundless minutes before finishing with two boards, Brandon Jennings scored five points (raising his two-game output to eight), and defensive genius Luc Mbah a Moute got pulled early because he couldn't stop his man.
(And the Bucks cruised to a win over a team that had beaten them twice in as many tries this season.)
See? It's all relative. Know that the race to the playoffs won't be as exciting next season. Once you know you follow a pretty good team, you expect more.
And you have to know first. Timeline is important here.
Put this game -- a rather one-sided 13-point victory -- at the front of the schedule. Halloween, maybe the first of November? It becomes a shimmering achievement, a real reason for hope. Now? It's a win, a relief to have beaten those pesky Wizards, though it sort of just happened, and we are on to the next one.
This is how it works. It's all perfectionism for those of us watching, writing, reading about the team early in the morning, late in the evening, and really early in the morning.
And for those of us even closer, even more invested in the team, like Scott Skiles:
We got a win tonight, we are happy, we'll take it. We took an overall step back. Our overall intensity wasn't what it needs to be.
This game wasn't drab, but it certainly wasn't spectacular. The Bucks won the first quarter, won the second quarter, and won the game in the third quarter. Yet another crushing defensive display clinched it, as Milwaukee held Washington scoreless for more than five minutes and forty seconds during the third.
John Salmons and Jerry Stackhouse, and John Hammond for that matter, starred again. With them, the Bucks were able to overcome mediocre games by three of the most important starters (Bogut, Jennings, Mbah a Moute) to not only win, but win easily. Without them, I shudder to picture the possibilities.
So enjoy this, that you follow a pretty good team.
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Recap: Hawks 106, Bucks 102
by Alex Boeder on Feb 28, 2010 10:21 PM CST
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You didn't really expect the Bucks to win this one. Not on the road against a class home team, on the second night of a back-to-back.
But you didn't really expect the Bucks to lose it either. Not after six straight road wins and six overall, and with all the parts, new and old, meshing so well.
So it was fitting that after four quarters the Bucks had neither won nor lost.
Unfortunately, overtime remained a cruel place for Milwaukee. Despite scoring the first five points, they ultimately dropped to 2-5 in overtime games after Joe Johnson dropped nine points in the final three minutes.
It felt like a playoff game, which always feels good during the regular season, even better when there is real hope of having that feeling after the regular season.
And that is certainly the case for these Bucks, who remain in seventh place in the East despite not passing another real road test. While they didn't pass the test, they certainly didn't fail it in Atlanta, where they played about as close of a game as they have all year, in a season full of close games.
J's reigned supreme as Jerry Stackhouse was chapter one and John Salmons was the story of the game, but Joe Johnson was the conclusion. Meanwhile, Brandon Jennings played a diminishing role and Josh Smith was the most complex supporting character.
The Hawks flew to a 12-2 start and the Bucks looked like the team that started 6-19 on the road. Then, spurred on by Jerry Stackhouse, the Bucks looked a lot more like the team that had gone 6-0 away since. Stackhouse poured in 10 first-quarter points as Scott Skiles quickly had subbed in second-stringers Stackhouse, Ridnour, and Ilyasova with great results.
The teams went back and forth the rest of the way, much like you might expect the Bucks to play a team like the Hawks at home but not on the road. Every quarter was close -- the Hawks won the third quarter by three points and that was the biggest difference in a quarter. That gave Atlanta a one-point lead going into the fourth, but just like the first quarter, Stackhouse and Salmons stepped up for Milwaukee. The Bucks had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but Al Horford defended Andrew Bogut into a rather disagreeable hook attempt that didn't come close.
Overtime was nearly the opposite of the first quarter. Milwaukee jumped on Atlanta by scoring the first five points to go up 97-92 after two minutes of overtime. But Joe Johnson, who made just 7-22 from the field in regulation, appreciated the extra five minutes and scored nine straight points for Atlanta over regulation-hero John Salmons.
Nearly the opposite and nearly the same, because whereas the Bucks came back to tie it at the end of one, Salmons missed a three with the Bucks down by three and just a second left in overtime.
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Recap: Bucks 94, Heat 71
by Frank Madden on Feb 27, 2010 8:11 PM CST
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If you watch a lot of NBA games then you've probably seen that NBA commercial featuring a bunch of Kevin Garnett interviews during the lead up to the Celtics title in 2008. Last year it was all they played for a while during League Pass game breaks, and to be honest I got kind of sick it, in no small part because I'm really not a fan of the C's. But the part I always remember is when KG has a line about "very small things" and how they add up.
The Bucks are admittedly nowhere near the 2008 Celtics, and there's no guarantee that their current hot streak--now six games and counting--will even translate into a playoff spot. But the idea for the Bucks isn't too dissimilar, especially given the lack of "big" things the Bucks have going for them. It really is all little things which makes Skiles' bunch work, and of late all those small things are snowballing into something bigger.
The Bucks' degree of difficulty in Miami was necessarily rather low, as the Heat without D-Wade really aren't much of a squad. But it was still another example of how doing the little things, the right things, over and over, can wear down a lesser team over 48 minutes.
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Recap: Bucks 112, Pacers 110
by Frank Madden on Feb 26, 2010 1:39 PM CST
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Apologies for the lateness of the recap, my power went out last night after the game and I couldn't publish until today. Forgive me, BrewHoop nation!
The theme for the Bucks' trips to Indianapolis this year? How about...good enough.
Back on December 21, the Bucks winning any game on the road was a big deal, yet there was still something wholly unsatisfying about their 84-81 slug-it-out win at Conseco. Sure, the career-high 31 points from Andrew Bogut were great, but a parade of bricks from the foul line nearly spoiled it all.
Scoring wasn't a problem this time around--both teams were well above their season averages with around 120 pts/100 possessions--but once again the Bucks were forced to escape with a narrower-than-necessary win. After finishing 2009 on a four game losing streak, the Bucks are now 17-10 in 2010, 9-3 in February, and winners of five in a row overall and on the road.
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Recap: Bucks 115, Hornets 95
by Alex Boeder on Feb 25, 2010 12:29 AM CST
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Box Score
MILWAUKEE -- Back to where we started? Couldn't be further off.
Just as many wins as losses, just like it all started at 0-0. And the parallel to the start of the season is valid, but not because the Bucks are back where they started. Rather, because this is an entirely fresh, new team, by the looks.
The Bucks reached an even point at 28-28 for the first time in two and a half months -- they were 11-11 after an overtime win against Portland on Dec. 12, and then 11-12 after that most heartbreaking overtime loss to Los Angeles. Never got back to .500 again, until now.
Andrew Bogut won the opening tip, and won the night within three minutes and eight points. Unlike the victory over the Knicks, this game flowed -- the team's combined for 116 points in the first half -- but the constant was a thoroughly dominant Bogut. And this time his 'mates joined in on the offensive fury as a brilliantly balanced and consistent effort for the entire 48 minutes resulted in points upon points that poured easily against a team known for not giving them up.
Even without Chris Paul, the Hornets had a few other jetting young guards who kept it close, as Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton did so until the third quarter. That is when Bogut, Mbah a Moute and co. kicked it into another gear, turning a six point lead into seventeen.
This was a stress-free fourth quarter, one to enjoy: For the fans who braved the shaken snowglobe called downtown Milwaukee, for the television audience happy to have local viewing after the blacked out Knicks game, even for Bogut and Brandon Jennings, who sat contentedly on the bench.
And so we watched the Bucks win that fourth quarter, as Ersan Ilyasova, Charlie Bell, and Luke Ridnour propelled Milwaukee past New Orleans just as their teammates had in the first, second, and third quarters. This was an authoratitive win by a team that is sharp, sprightly, and proud on its home floor, nothing like the team that lost at home to Houston and Detroit so recently.
With the new starting five -- two easy wins in two games -- we certainly aren't back to where we started, but we do have a new start.
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