Warriors (24-17, 12-10 road, 8th West) @ Bucks (16-23, 11-5 home, 10th East)
Gametime: 7:30 pm CT
TV: FSN Wisconsin/League Pass/Free NBA Broadband
Radio: 620 WTMJ/Stream Free @NBA.com
Bucks Stats: Offense 19th (100.8 pts/100 poss), Defense 27th (106.6), Rebounding 13th (.505 rr), Pace 19th (93.3)
Warriors Stats: Offense 6th (107.1 pts/100 poss), Defense 24th (105.2), Rebounding 29th (.470 rr), Pace 3rd (101.1)
Bucks Lineup: Mo Williams / Michael Redd / Bobby Simmons / Yi Jianlian / Andrew Bogut
Warriors Lineup: Baron Davis / Monta Ellis / Stephan Jackson / Al Harrington / Andris Biedrins
Bucks Injuries: Desmond Mason is out another month or so with a torn ligament in his left thumb. David Noel still hasn't played since injuring his wrist in November.
Warriors Injuries: Troy Hudson underwent successful surgery on his left hip on Jan. 10 and is out.
07/08 Series: Warriors 1-0. The Warriors trounced the Bucks 120-90 in Oakland on Dec. 5 (my recap / Frank's recap).
Key Points:
- The Warriors are coming off a 119-111 win over the Bulls last night. Baron Davis went for 40 points.
- The Bucks have scored 87 points in each of their last two games. Both games were hotly contested throughout the first three quarters. The difference is that Jazz held the Bucks to 15 fourth quarter points while the Bucks held the Hawks to 15 fourth quarter points. The Bucks don't have a prayer of holding the Warriors to 15 points in any quarter, so they might have to pour in points themselves; the Pacers scored 46 in the final period to beat the Warriors 125-117 on Wednesday.
- Last year the Bucks started 17-23. The Bucks come into tonight's game at 16-23. Let's not go backwards, guys.
- The 120 points the Bucks allowed the Warriors in the first matchup is the third worst defensive night of the Bucks' season. They might not put up that many again, but at least one team is getting into triple figures. The Warriors or their opponents have scored 100 points 40 out of 41 games this season. In those 41 games, 22 times both teams have eclipsed the century mark. To put those numbers in perspective, neither team scored 100 points in the last two Bucks games, and six of 39 Bucks games have featured two 100 point scorers.
- The injury plays a role, but it's still weird that Michael Redd has scored 20 points just once in the last 18 days. That spans six games he actually played in. Also, Redd is also not one of four different players to lead the Bucks in scoring this month. Who are the four? Mo Williams, Charlie Villanueva, Charlie Bell, and Andrew Bogut. I wouldn't bet against Redd scoring 20 or leading the Bucks in points tonight. The Bucks are playing on two days rest, which should be good news. He's averaging 25.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on two days rest this year. He also is shooting 49.0 % from the field and 42.2 % from outside in this particular split.
- Charlie Bell went 1-5 against the Hawks, dropping his January field goal percentage to 48.4 %. He's still shooting better this month than Joe Johnson, Ray Allen, Josh Howard, Richard Jefferson, and Caron Butler, to name five. Sure, we're dealing with a small sample size, but two he's well on his way to recovering from the November/December nightmare.
- The season is far too young to fairly judge rookies. Many are barely out of their teens, and many more haven't played significant minutes. Three years later, the jury is still out on Andrew Bogut and Marvin Williams, as Wednesday's game showed. Certainly though, no one in Milwaukee is complaining about the Bucks' sixth overall pick, Yi Jianlian. Brandan Wright, chosen two spots later by the Warriors, was a big-time prospect on draft night and an attractive option to many in Bucks Nation. Wright could still be a special player, but Yi Jianlian is already a solid pro. Wright is averaging 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds in 7.4 minutes in 14 games this year.
- Warriors guard C.J. Watson's got a story to tell, via TrueHoop. Watson, a guard from Tennessee who has worked his way up through the NBDL, is blogging for Draft Express.
In my first NBA debut against the red hot Portland Trailblazers, I was excited. I finally made it to this big stage, and when the coach called me to go in, I was shocked and overzealous at the same time. I didn't know any plays, but in Coach Nelson's system you don't have to. They don't run any plays. They just get the ball and go. My first shot I missed-- I wasn't used to coming off the bench, so I didn't have my legs under me, but hey, no excuses.
- Head on over to Golden State of Mind for more on the Warriors.