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Bucks/Spurs: Second Look

Check out Alex's in-depth recap here. My knee-jerk reactions:

  • The Bucks were within ten when Manu Ginobili stepped on the court, then saw the game put away by about the nine minute mark of the second. Redd was trying to crowd Ginobili on the perimeter for some reason, so Ginobili simply went around him a number of times. He also made a couple fantastic shots, but that's the way it goes against the Spurs.
  • In general the Bucks seemed intent on staying close to the Spurs guards on the perimeter and switched on every pick/roll, but too many times the Spurs made the Bucks pay by either using quickness to get past bigs or by picking on the guards who ended up guarding one of the Spurs' bigs in the post on the switch.
  • No point in trying to sugar-coat Bogut's performance. He's typically played well against Duncan but he looks completely out of sorts offensively right now and didn't assert himself defensively either. Don't let the 10 points fool you, they were practically all in garbage time. What's interesting is that Yi Jianlian's involvement in pick/rolls also seems to be taking touches away from Bogut, whose confidence appears totally shot.
  • Yes, Yi continues to look very, very promising. Tonight he did it entirely from the perimeter, where he continues to look more like a guard than a 7-footer.
  • Mo Williams wasn't bad, but again, most of his numbers came after the game was put away. He even got to the line for the first time this season, but was apparently so shell-shocked to be there that he missed his first two en route to a 1/3 performance.
  • Desmond Mason also came back down to earth, shooting 2/8 from the field. The past couple games he's been able to muscle over defenders who were willing to just stand and watch him shoot that post hook shot. Tonight the Spurs wisely got up into him a bit and forced him to shoot going away from the hoop which, shockingly, makes that circus shot even more difficult.
  • Bowen has had his struggles against Redd defensively, but credit him and his teammates for making life difficult for Redd tonight. Just 5 fga says a lot.
  • Royal Ivey came into play defense but mostly left his mark by playing offense especially poorly (0/6 fg).
  • Jake Voskuhl came in and worked hard against Duncan. Four points and seven rebounds in nine minutes for big Jake as Gadzuric did not play (no reason mentioned on the Spurs' telecast).