The Week Ahead (January 18th-24th)

The only consistent thing about these Milwaukee Bucks is that they are inconsistent. After an offensive explosion in Sacramento the Bucks shot under 40% against the Clippers. The defense was roughly the same, awful. The Clippers shot over 50% for the first time all year and the Brian Skinners and Mardy Collins’ of the world were hurting the Bucks dearly. The flight miles will add up this week for the Bucks with alternating home and road games all week. The Bucks finish off their mini tour of the west coast on Monday in another 4 game week during their busiest month of the season. Things do not get much easier when the Bucks come home to meet Dallas and get on the road again against Atlanta. Hopefully a home date Saturday against Sacramento will provide solace.

January 19th @ Portland (24-16)
Portland will be a tall task to say the least. Portland has one of the most imposing front courts in the NBA with 3 very productive players 6'11 or taller. LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden, and former Buck Joel Przybilla give teams fits clogging up the lane and gobbling up any rebound that comes their way. Match them with a backcourt featuring burgeoning All-Star Brandon Roy, the clutch Travis Outlaw, and rookie phenom Rudy Fernandez, and Portland is one of the up and coming teams in the NBA. They will be without the services of former Buck Steve Blake, but that is likely a blessing in disguise. Once Blake went down they got a chance to take a closer look at summer league star Jerryd Bayless. Blake may be the sturdy veteran but Bayless is their future at the position. He has a lot of upside and looks like he could be the explosive scorer they need next to Roy.

January 21st vs. Dallas (23-17)
72% of Dallas’ shots are jump shots. What is crazy is that they don’t have particularly good jump shooters. Obviously Dirk has a world class shot, but after him who is hitting shots for them? Jason Kidd? Josh Howard? Erick Dampier? I know Jason Terry can fill it up when he gets hot, but if he is your #2 option you’re screwed. Word is the Mavs are working on a Josh Howard-Shawn Marion trade that may succeed in making them even worse than they already are...stay tuned. I was watching a Mavs game earlier this year and jotting down notes on the team and looking back through them my favorite was, "Antoine Wright has no one within 15 feet of him and still can’t get anything going. He started tonight." That sounds promising.

January 23rd @ Atlanta (23-16)
The Hawks should be well rested by the time the Bucks come to town on Friday, having two days off before hand. Center Al Horford may gain the most with their up coming lighter workload after missing the last 4 games. He could be ready to go by the time the Bucks come to town. A return by Horford should provide a boost as the Hawks have lost 3 of 4 without him. Depth is not their strong suit. I have a friend who uses the Hawks pretty much every time we play NBA 2K9 and I’ve never seen him go to the bench. Why? When you’re relying on noted jackers like Flip Murray and Maurice Evans to provide your second unit boost, you know you’ll be playing your starters quite a bit. The Hawks do have some stingy D though, so be prepared for a low scoring affair here.

January 24th vs. Sacramento (10-31)
The Bucks meet their friends from Sac-town a week after a shootout back west. Redd was able to slice through the Sacramento defense for 3 quarter last week putting up a robust season high of 44. I wouldn’t expect this game to be the same high scoring affair with Bogut back in the line up, the Bucks are likely to slow it down some. John Salmons and Kevin Martin were pretty lethal from deep last game and everyone from Sacramento was eating from the line. Sacramento played some of the worst defense I’ve ever seen in the NBA last game so the Bucks will need to continue to exploit that if they hope to pull this one out...not that I think that’ll be a problem.


This could be a tough week for the Bucks. If they drop 3 here they’ll be looking at 5 games under .500 with another long week coming up next. Getting to .500 before February starts would be ideal, considering they only have 4 road games in the month. Bogut's return should help, but iff they could come out of this week 2-2 it would have to be considered a success. Though I’ll say the Sacramento game is a must have no matter what.

A Bogutless Breakthrough

Thoughts While Watching Michael Redd Explode

-Michael Redd is completely locked in. What’s nice about it is that he is getting a lot of his points in transition and off good looks. He hasn’t forced much.
-If the Bucks are going to win games without Bogut this is how they’ll have to do it, the pace will need to be furious.
-Everyone on the Bucks team had to yell to Fransisco Elson to shoot the ball at the end of the first half before he realized he had to put it up...so naturally he canned it.
-Johnny Mac is in rare form tonight, from the lack of calls for the Bucks, to his admonishing of the Bucks for the FT’s they are allowing, he is full of fire tonight. Actual quote after easy dunk by Charlie V., "Now that’s just stupid...you can’t find your man, DON’T LOOK AT SOMEONE ELSE GO FIND HIM! They have NO DEFENSE!"
-Luke Ridnour does have quite a knack for sticking threes when the Bucks look like they are going to flounder. He must have Sam Cassell’s old locker.
-Kevin Martin is deadly if he gets an inch.
-I feel a lot better about Charlie V.’s three point shooting when it comes from the top of the key or right near there.
-Damon Jones had three terrific bench moments. First was on a layup by Alexander when Jones did the "grab the guy next to me like I’m going to collapse because I’m so shocked/excited" move. Then when Ridnour came to the bench later he and Jones bumped fists and "blew it up" which was great. How long have they been working on that? In the fourth when no one on the Bucks realized that Jason Thompson was completely unguarded under the hoop Jones jumped out of his chair and started screaming at everyone that he was there. He almost took the initiative to get on the court and guard him himself.
-Brad Miller took a hard spill near the end trying to block Charlie V.’s shot, he’ll need to find a way to get his mind off of that one.
-Almost a huge blown game, turns into a huge relief. Hopefully the Bucks can unlock a formula for success without Bogut from this game. Yes the Kings suck, I've noted that before, but when the Bucks were forcing turnovers and getting into the offense quick they looked really good. When they are missing their inside presence they need to run on everything; misses, steals, turnovers, and makes. Getting into the offense quick allows for better looks. They don’t necessarily need to shoot right away, but getting into things quickly will be a key to success without Bogut.

The Week Ahead (January 11th-17th)

Well things did not go exactly as planned for the Bucks this week. The injury bug reared its creepy little head again claiming Bogut for all but one game. This led to extended stretches of Gadz and Fransisco Elson manning the middle. Giving those two playing time in the middle is like giving a 5 year old a can of gas and some matches, and telling him to watch your house while your gone. When you get back, the house is going to be up in flames. Fortunately Bogut returned before the whole house had gone up, but the kids were still pouring gas everywhere. Redd rounded back into form this week going on a scoring tear, averaging almost 28 points per game this week. Alas the Bucks rounded back into the defensive form that has kept them at the cellar of the Central Division the last few years, as they allowed an average of 103.25 points per game this week. Were it not for late game heroics twice by Luke Ridnour they could have finished the week without a win. On the other hand were it not for a MIRACULOUS three by Andre Miller on Wednesday they could have went 3-1, so whatever. (I can’t stress enough how lucky that shot was by Miller. I recognize that he took it just like any other shot, but anytime a guy like that hits a three at any point, its an act of god. And while I’m thinking of it, how were him and Royal Ivey canning everything they shot on Wednesday? I almost wanted to walk out of the BC and into traffic after that madness.) Add it all up and the Bucks remain at 18-21 three games under .500.

January 12th @ Washington (7-29)
Looks can be deceiving. It’s easy to look at a Washington team at 22 games under .500 and think the Bucks should win in a laugher, but upon analyzing who the Wizards have beat, things get confusing. With wins over Utah, Houston, Detroit, and Cleveland, the Wizards have shown they can at time be frisky. There really is no reason that this team should be as bad as their record. Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler are two physical, tough players that should alone be worth 20 wins. The rest of the cast is playing horrible basketball, led by the reliable underachiever Andray Blatche. When your trading FOR Mike James you know things are bad. Mike James and Damon Jones should have plenty to talk about after the game though, between them they have been on 19 teams (I’m considering each season a different team for each franchise) in 19 seasons. Speaking of James...he was on Supernanny! Watch at the 45 second mark, you will not regret it. He knows his math. If the Bucks can contain Butler and Jamison, they should be able to come away with one here, having already beat Washington once at home using that plan. Much like Homer Simpson, the Bucks will be trying to leave those two saying "Can’t someone else do it!?"

January 14th vs. Miami (19-16)
Sure to be one of the Bucks chief competitors for a back end playoff spot, the Dwyane Wades come to town on Wednesday. The Marquette alum is sure to draw a larger crowd than usual for the home team, which will hopefully work out in Milwaukee’s favor. Hell, even I have broken my 5 dollar rule for this game and bought lower level seats. (The 5 dollar Rule is basically my plan on getting cheap tickets. Every game arrive minutes before the game starts and negotiate with scalpers from a position of power. The most I’ve paid is 5 dollars. The best I’ve done this year is 3 tickets for 10 dollars, I implore all of you to do the same). Wade has been incredible this year, but is doing everything practically by himself. Shawn Marion was a product of SSOL in Phoenix and former college double double machine Mike Beasley has been underwhelming, averaging just 13 points and 5 rebounds per game. There isn’t a center on the roster, unless you count Joel Anthony or Jamal Magloire, and personally I don’t count either. Obviously stopping Wade will be the priority, but the Bucks need to do a better job of defending the three when a guy like him drives. Why do Charlie Bell, Michael Redd, and Richard Jefferson insist on helping out off their man? Your not really helping guys. Your not stopping the drive, your not defending the post, and your giving up an open three. Pretty soon I think Skiles will pop off the bench and show them what he wants, like one of those high school scrimmages between teams where coaches could manipulate the action.

January16th @ Sacramento (8-29)
The stretch of winnable games continues with a trip toward the left coast to face the worst they have to offer. Sacramento has Beno Udrih starting at point guard. Another classic case of a team over valuing a player because he is there player and they’ve had good times together. Udrih got 8 million a year this off season after not getting 8 minutes when he was in San Antonio. If a guy is given up on by San Antonio, doesn’t that mean he probably isn’t very good? Isn’t it clear that they have a pretty good idea what they are doing there? Regardless, Sacramento has perpetually underrated Kevin Martin and his disgusting jump shot. Speaking of Martin, is he the worst player to play with in a video game? He’s so good and it’s so tempting to shoot with him, but you know it’s going to get blocked because it looks like he shoots from his knees. His shot is the exact opposite of Redd’s slingshot. Anyway, the Kings suck.

January 17th @ Los Angeles Clippers (8-29)
The Clip show is a show no one wants to watch. They made moves this off season that many people thought would make them competitive. Why they thought that I’ll never know. I might be the biggest Baron Davis fan on the planet, but he was surrounded with guys who simply aren’t a good fit. Not to mention he has played like garbage, to be kind. Zach Randolph brought a spark for a couple weeks, but the Clips continue to lose games like its their job. They did that job very well when Milwaukee laughed them off the court near the end of December. The noose around Mike Dunleavy’s neck continues to tighten.

It’s always tough to go out west, but these are the kinds of games that playoff teams win. This is the second week of a two week stretch where the Bucks had a good chance to make up some ground on the .500 mark and put themselves in good position for the playoffs. Week one did not go great, week two awaits.