The Bucks lost on the road in Orlando 113-102 on Friday night as they started their two-game road trip. Below are the five plays that stood out to me in the loss:
1. First quarter, 3:07 mark. Gary Neal checked into the game early. He played around 24 minutes on the night, the most he’s played since December 4th against the Pistons. 2. First quarter, 35.3 seconds mark. Miroslav Raduljica committed the 10th foul for the Bucks in just the first quarter alone. 3. Second quarter, 9:05 mark. The Magic went on a 12-5 run in the second quarter that forced a Bucks timeout. Orlando was shooting 62% from the field at that point. Efficient. 4. Second quarter, as time expired. Arron Afflalo drained a 3-pointer from the corner to put the Magic up 67-46 at halftime. That three helped Orlando finish with their most points in any half this season, and also was the most points given up by the Bucks this season in a half. 5. Fourth quarter, 7:21 mark. Giannis Antetokounmpo delivered his typical “WOW” moment of the night with this reverse slam.
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After a 126-117 loss to the Suns on Wednesday night, below are the five plays that I took note of in the game:
1. Second quarter, 9:04 mark. After an Ersan Ilyasova jump shot, the Bucks scored eight unanswered to cut Phoenix’s lead to 13. 2. Second quarter, 8:43 mark. Leandro Barbosa made a jump shot to help the Suns go on an 8-0 run of their own. 3. Second quarter, 3:25 mark. Marcus Morris connected on a shot to put the Bucks down 22 with 3:18 left in the first half. Milwaukee would soon respond and narrow the gap. 4. Second quarter, 0.4 seconds mark. After being fouled, Brandon Knight makes all three of his free-throws to cap a 16-5 Bucks run and cut the Suns’ lead to 12 right before halftime. 5. Fourth quarter, 1:22 mark. Goran Dragic scored 13 straight points for Phoenix to put the nail in the coffin. He finished the game with 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting and added eight points from the charity strike. Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers rolled through Milwaukee to conclude their long road trip. In a dominating performance against the Bucks, here are the five plays that stood out:
1. First quarter, 45.7 seconds mark. After hitting a 3-pointer, Jamal Crawford passed Kobe Bryant on the all-time list for 3-pointers made. 2. Second quarter, 4:55 mark. DeAndre Jordan pulled down his 10th of 18 rebounds here. This marked the 24th straight game Jordan has pulled down more than 10 boards in a game. 3. Second quarter, 2:16 mark. After getting into it with Blake Griffin, Khris Middleton and Griffin himself were both issued technical fouls. This actually brought out Angry Blake Griffin going forward in the game. 4. Second quarter, 5.9 seconds mark. Jared Dudley hit a jumper before halftime as the Clippers went on a 30-9 run to end the first half. 5. Third quarter, 3:31 mark. Nate Wolters split shots at the foul line to give the Bucks their first fast break points of the game. Milwaukee only scored 3 when it was all said and done (all by Wolters). In what might've been the ugliest game of their season, below are the five plays that stood out in Milwaukee's 112-87 loss to the Atlanta Hawks:
1. First quarter, 6:47 mark. Kyle Korver made a three pointer in a game for the 112th straight time. 2. Second quarter, 28.9 seconds mark. Mike Scott hit a three to help Atlanta go on a 11-3 run to end the first half. They hit eight shots from downtown in the first half alone. 3. Third quarter, 24.9 seconds mark. Elton Brand connected on a jump shot that completed a 36-point third quarter for the Hawks. 4. Fourth quarter, 4:13 mark. Giannis Antetokounmpo slammed a dunk with two hands in what was probably the only exciting play for the Bucks in the entire game. 5. Fourth quarter, 4:48 mark. James Nunnally (who?) connected on Atlanta’s 13th three pointer in the game. Milwaukee only managed to make five. Below are the five plays that I took note of in the Bucks' 93-78 loss in Cleveland to the Cavaliers on Friday night:
1. First quarter, 4:23 mark. Kyrie Irving nailed a three pointer that lead to a Milwaukee timeout. Cleveland scored 13 straight and went on a 15-2 run. 2. First quarter, 2:56 mark. Khris Middleton hit a three to end a streak of 17 straight points from the Cavaliers. 3. First quarter, 2.6 seconds mark. Luke Ridnour made a free-throw to cap a 12-1 Milwaukee run and helped close the gap to just one. 4. Second quarter, 23.2 seconds mark. Ekpe Udoh suffered a left ankle sprain and did not return for the remainder of the game. He’s the latest Bucks player to be added to the injury report. What’s new? 5. Fourth quarter, 13.6 seconds mark. Khris Middleton hit a jump shot and finished the game with a team-leading 13 points for Milwaukee. The Bucks are the only team in the NBA without consecutive wins this season. Here are the five plays that stood out to me in Milwaukee's 104-101 win against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday:
1. Second quarter, 0.6 seconds mark. Brandon Jennings nailed a three pointer here to give him 20 points. Detroit went on a 10-2 run to end the first half. 2. Fourth quarter, 8:14 mark. Will Bynum made a layup to make the score 91-89 after the Bucks went on an 8-2 run. Milwaukee missed back-to-back three pointers before Bynum made the layup. 3. Fourth quarter, 5:40 mark. Luke Ridnour drained a three to give the Bucks their first lead since the second quarter. 4. Fourth quarter, 5:16 mark. Caron Butler committed fouls on two straight possessions to give him five in the game. He still managed to play the reminder of it and finished with 30 points. 5. Fourth quarter 1.4 seconds mark. Rodney Stuckey missed a three pointer here for Detroit and sealed the victory for Milwaukee. It’s the Bucks’ first win of 2014 and snapped their losing streak of nine games. With only seven wins near the midway point of the 2013-2014 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks are on pace to finish with their worst record in franchise history. They are also on track to finish as one of the 20 worst teams in NBA history.
Still winless in 2014 as of the date of this article (January 21st), Milwaukee is the worst team in the NBA. General Manager John Hammond has publicly said the team is now rebuilding. “It’s all about the future right now. I think we’re in a good spot,” Hammond said. “The young players on the floor are going to get better, and I think the future is going to be very bright for us.” With all of that said, here is my assessment of the Bucks after the first 40 games of the NBA regular season: The good: The youth. Considering all of these guys haven’t stop growing or haven’t hit puberty yet, you have to be encouraged by the young talent on this team. That young talent includes John Henson, Brandon Knight, Nate Wolters (when he plays), Miroslav Raduljica and Giannis Antetokounmpo of course. Giannis has taken the league by storm. His length and development is tremendous to watch and he’s exceeding my expectations for this year by a long shot. He blogs, wears Gucci and has already grown more than an inch since draft day. There’s a solid chance Antetokounmpo will be facing his teammate John Henson during the All-Star break in New Orleans for the Rising Stars Challenge next month. Another good that I’ve able to take away from this disastrous season is the play of Khris Middleton. Middleton came over to Milwaukee this past summer from Detroit in the Brandon Jennings deal alongside Brandon Knight. After coming out of Texas A&M and going through a brief D-League stint, Middleton has been able to show that his shooting abilities are transferable to the NBA. Before being benched by Larry Drew, Middleton over eight games averaged 17 points and six rebounds in December. He also scored a career-high 29 points just four games before that stretch. Middleton is now struggling to find his grove but says he will get it back soon enough. “It's just something I've got to work through," Middleton said. "I'm in a little slump. But I'll figure it out and get my way out of it.” The bad: Well, this might sound cliché, but the Bucks are just bad. The Bucks have lost 33 games this season but the notion that they are “tanking” is nonsense. If you’ve watched this team play, you know that they’ve been in tight games, but this just isn’t a good basketball team right now. Milwaukee from a numbers standpoint is statistically bad as well. The Bucks currently are ranked last in the league in field goal percentage and points, while also being 25th in rebounding. The team was also plagued by injuries in the first two months of the season. This forced Larry Drew to give bigger minutes to players he might’ve felt weren’t necessarily ready to play. Nate Wolters played 30 minutes in the first game of the season in New York against the Knicks for crying out loud. The Bucks have also had four players in walking boots (Zaza Pachulia, Gary Neal, John Henson, and Carlos Delfino). If Milwaukee loses Wednesday against the Pistons, it will be their second time this season with a double-digit losing streak. Milwaukee as a franchise had only five double-digit losing streaks coming into this season. The ugly: The veteran players that signed with Milwaukee this offseason aren’t in the best mood. Caron Butler has seen his minutes decline over the last few games and he’s not happy about it. Broadcasters around the world are saying that O.J. Mayo needs to hold the mayo. Plus Gary Neal got into an argument with Larry Sanders in Phoenix and then oddly didn’t play in the next six games. Some of the ugliness within this team can be directed towards Larry Drew -- who has used 18 different starting lineups this season for Milwaukee. In his defense, the veteran players that are displeased with their roles haven’t played like they deserve a starting spot either. Regardless, this team is historically bad, and the only healthy veterans besides Ersan Ilyasova on the team are not happy and probably want out. Here are the five plays that stood out in the Bucks’ 114-104 loss to the Houston Rockets:
1. Second quarter, 1.3 seconds mark. Terrence Jones hit a layup right before the end of the first half that tied his career-high of 25 points. 2. Third quarter, 10:31 seconds mark. Terrence Jones hit a layup to establish a new career-high in points. He finished the game with 36. 3.Third quarter, 10:29 mark. Larry Sanders received a tech. if you’ve watch Bucks basketball lately, this is nothing new. And it’s starting to become a serious problem for Larry. 4. Third quarter, 2:20 mark. Dwight Howard nailed a corner three. You don’t need an explanation for that. 5. Fourth quarter, 8:55 mark. Terrence Jones hit nothing but air on a three pointer which ended his streak of 12 straight made field goals. 1. First quarter, 3:54 mark. Courtney Lee hit a three pointer to cap a 10-0 run for Memphis after being down 8-1 early in the game. The Grizzles then went up 11-8 and forced a Milwaukee timeout.
2. Second quarter, 9:21 mark. Brandon Knight hit a jumper to end Milwaukee’s drought from the field. The Bucks went 10 minutes without a field goal and missed 15 straight shots. 3. Third quarter, 7:16 mark. Brandon Knight hit a three to give the Bucks their first lead since 4:31 in the first quarter. 4. Fourth quarter, 6:10 mark. Brandon Knight hit a three pointer and gave Milwaukee their first points of the quarter. 5. Fourth quarter, 2.9 seconds mark. Larry Sanders missed a three pointer to tie the game in one of the most head scratching plays of the Bucks’ season. 1. First quarter, 4:00 mark. Luke Ridnour drains a three pointer and the Raptors followed that shot up by going on a 19-5 run shortly after.
2. Third quarter, 7:55 mark. After a technical foul was issued on Giannis Antetokounmpo, former Bucks forward John Salmons hit a jumper that sparked an 8-0 run for Toronto. 3. Third quarter, 5:11 mark. Ersan Ilyasova made two free-throws to help surpass his season-high of 22 points. Ilyasova finished the game with 29 and also managed to grab nine rebounds. 4. Third quarter, 1:33 mark. John Henson received a technical foul due to trash talking after blocking Jonas Valanciunas twice at the rim. Antetokounmpo also received a tech in the quarter as well. 5. Fourth quarter, 1:14 mark. Austin Daye finished an alley-oop at the rim to help the Raptors finish the game with 116 points. A new season-high for the team. |
Above the AntlersThis blog displays my coverage as a reporter covering the Milwaukee Bucks for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
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