| 2010/2011 NBA Season | ||
|---|---|---|
| vs. |  |
| 34-47 (12-28 road) | 55-26 (30-10 home) | |
| April 13, 2010 | ||
| Oklahoma City Arena | ||
| 7:00 PM CT | ||
| Radio: 620 WTMJ TV: FSN Wisconsin | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Brandon Jennings | PG | Russell Westbrook |
| John Salmons | SG | Thabo Sefolosha |
| Carlos Delfino | SF | Kevin Durant |
| Luc Mbah a Moute | PF | Serge Ibaka |
| Drew Gooden | C | Kendrick Perkins |
| (30th) 101.5 - OFFENSE - 111.3 (4th) | ||
| (4th) 102.5 - DEFENSE - 107.2 (16th) | ||
| (26th) 89.7 - PACE - 92.7 (13th) | ||
It's been a long, long year.
A disappointing one, no doubt. Sometimes head-scratching, sometimes infuriating. There has been a lot to complain about this season in Milwaukee, and complain we have. It's our right, maybe even our duty as fans to be vocal about the product we so voraciously consume for five-plus months out of the year. After tonight, we'll spend the next six months reflecting on the few things that went right and the many more that went wrong. We'll look ahead to the off-season landmarks: the draft; the magical transformation of Michael Redd from an $18 million man into a budget surplus; the prospect of Andrew Bogut playing basketball without shrapnel in his elbow.
It's been a long, long year. But after it all, I can't help feeling that we're all going to miss it, if only just a little.
Bucksketball - Bigger Problems than Brandon: Jeremy Schmidt is as intent as the rest of us in diagnosing what ails the Milwaukee Bucks, but in his column today he takes a step back and tries to get a handle on the Brandon Jennings hatewagon that has formed this year. I don't mean to accuse those who are upset with Jennings of being unfair--there are plenty of reasons to feel that way. But I do urge you to read Jeremy's article and consider whether Jennings's position as a vocal leader of the team does earn him some undeserved flak.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - Season "feels like a failure": More of the same when it comes to comments from the players: nobody's happy, everyone's got excuses. Actually, "excuses" probably isn't the best word. There were a boatload of "excuses" for Milwaukee's failure to return to the playoffs, and all of them mattered. Let's call them "reasons" instead.
Basketball-Reference - The Redd-Randolph All-Stars: A cool read looking at the effect of big changes in a players' MPG. Michael Redd is put forth as an example of such a jump. Redd's role as a bench player was generally accepted as doctrine, but his per-minute stats looked just as good as many starters. There have been some cool studies conducted to look at the correlation between performance and minutes, and most have tended to show that rate statistics stay fairly consistent when player roles change (unless the player also changes teams, that is).
Making History the bad way: This Milwaukee Bucks team, despite what you may think, isn't going to set any league records for offensive futility. But it is going to finish with the fifth-lowest recorded offensive rating in franchise history. Plus, in the four years with lower ORtgs, three were still above the league-average--relics of the late 70's NBA. Milwaukee actually made the Finals in 1974 with a 101.2 ORtg (tops in the league that year). There's no getting around it: this is one of the worst offensive squads Milwaukee has ever put together.
Spoiling for spoiling's sake?: Oklahoma City currently sits in fourth place in the Western Conference, but they can still grab the three seed if they defeat Milwaukee tonight and Dallas loses to New Orleans. Milwaukee has no real beef with Oklahoma City, and losing this game is certainly the best plan in terms of bettering their chances in the lottery, but if they do take down the Thunder, at least they're screwing somebody over. And really, isn't that what these games are all about?