The Week Ahead March 29th-April 4th

Forgive me if I’m getting repetitive, but the Bucks had another rough March week. Fortunately the road trip ends Monday, but things get no easier with four tough games this week.

No one can be too surprised that things have gotten away from the Bucks lately, but we can all be a little dismayed. The past two years I’d be getting ready for Tankapalooza the rest of the way but no need to worry about that this year. Professionalism and pride have been restored in Milwaukee and (semi)competitive basketball will continue the rest of the year. I have only one message for Coach Skiles...

Free Joe Alexander!

He looked frisky in his early stint against the Heat. If he’s feeling comfortable with the first and second teams he’ll do even better. He looks hesitant to shoot unless he’s playing garbage time, so maybe this is a chance for him to put aside his hesitancy.

March 30 @ New Jersey (30-43)
In a battle of playoff pretenders Milwaukee and New Jersey reunite. The key for the Bucks will be defending the three tonight. The Nets have killed them from beyond the arc all year hitting 10 and nine threes in their last two battles. Ryan Anderson specifically lit up the Bucks at the BC not missing a shot all night and giving Marquette fans flashbacks to another 6'10 shooter who used to call the Bradley Center home. The Devin Harris Is Amazing bandwagon hasn’t been as loud lately, but he’s averaging almost 10 assists a game in March. Not bad. He’s making my earlier Ramon Sessions comparisons seem silly.

April 1 vs. LA Lakers (58-15)
At least we get to see Kobe. The Bucks will not soon think fondly back on their time in LA earlier this year when they were throttled and embarrassed in a 105-92 loss. The Lakers are an NBA blue blood. I just wanted to say that because I am so tired of hearing analysts call these Final Four teams blue bloods. Anyway, Kobe will likely give Mbah a Moute and Keith Bogans fits in a rough one in Milwaukee. The Bucks have surprised the Celtics once (almost twice!) so maybe they’ll put on a show against the Lakers. I won’t hold my breath. It’ll be nice to see Lamar Odom too, he’s always been one of my favorites and makes for a great passage in FreeDarko’s Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac.

April 2 @ Philadelphia (37-35)
Of all the teams that fired their coach immediately upon starting this season Philly has come out looking best. It makes sense, they had the most talent and most continuity from last season with regard to their roster. Philly got back to running and ran away from the bottom feeders in the East. I just hope we aren’t subjected to more three-point-shooting from Royal Ivey and Andre Miller. I still haven’t gotten over the shots they hit back in January to beat the Bucks.

April 4 vs. Memphis (18-54)
Hey this one could be a win. I saw Memphis on NBATV at a bar the other night and I remarked to my friends that I hadn’t seen Memphis on TV all year. As a matter of fact I don’t remember seeing them on TV since they last made the playoffs in 2003 or whenever it was. I’m looking forward to this though. Memphis has a lot of young talent and should be fun to watch. If they get Blake Griffin next year watch out. Matter of fact, watch out for whatever team gets Blake Griffin, he’s a phenom and will average a double double next year in the league.