It’s been a harrowing season for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013-14. With only eight more games left to play, the Bucks are on track to finish with their worst regular season record in franchise history. As of today, their worst season campaign came during the 1993-94 season when the team finished with a 20-62 record. Many fans of the Bucks in the city of Milwaukee (and elsewhere) are cheering for the team to lose in order to obtain a higher draft pick in the NBA Draft. For head coach Larry Drew, he isn’t paying attention to any of it.
“I don’t [react]. Honestly, with all sincerity I don’t. I go out and coach each game to try to win. I don’t look at where we are or what our season is about right now. My job is to get these young men ready to play every single night and to play hard. Given what our situation is, it’s easy to play our season out, but we’re not going to do that. Wherever we end up, that’s where we end up, but we’re not under any circumstance going to go out there and fold the tent.” Drew said on Saturday night before Milwaukee’s 88-67 loss to the defending champion Miami Heat. The last worst team in an NBA season to actually win the top pick came back in 2003 when the Orlando Magic selected Dwight Howard. Still, Milwaukee will be guaranteed a top-four pick come lottery time. “People are looking at the future as far as the draft is concerned and they already got their eyes kind of pinpointed on players of the future, and that’s normal. I don’t fault them at all for that, but I let it be known that I don’t pay much attention to that, all I do it go out and try to coach this team. Where we end up, that’s where we end up.” The loaded upcoming NBA Draft is nearly three months away (June 26), and on Monday, one of the top prospects – Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins – announced that he will not return to school next year and will enter the pool of players. The other top prospect -- Duke freshman Jabari Parker -- is expected to make his decision soon. Wiggins’ teammate Joel Embiid and others will announce their decisions in the coming weeks as well. With Milwaukee losing Monday night in Detroit to the Pistons, they’ve set themselves up for a rough stretch to end their season. If the Bucks lose on Wednesday evening to the Miami Heat, they will need to win out the remaining seven games in order to not finish with their franchise-worst 20-67 record or below.
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The Miami Heat continued their three-game road trip with a pit stop in Milwaukee Saturday night against the Bucks. The defending champs would be without former Marquette star Dwyane Wade (hamstring) and former Buck Ray Allen (stomach flu). Despite spraining his ankle against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, Giannis Antetokounmpo came off the bench for the Bucks while O.J. Mayo sat out against because of an ankle injury he sustained earlier in the week.
Both of these teams started off the game shooting poorly from the field. At the end of the first, Miami shot a putrid 26% from the field, while Milwaukee shot 33%. “We struggled offensively, that was our biggest problem in particularly the first half. We were just not sharp from an offensive standpoint.” Coach Larry Drew said. The Heat started the game 0-for-5 from the field, 0-for-3 from three, and 0-for-2 from the line (Lebron James missed a pair). Their first basket as a team came with 8:59 left in the first quarter when Chris Bosh made two free-throws. D.J. Stephens made his NBA debut in the second quarter. Stephens, currently on a 10-day contract with Milwaukee, finished with five points and four rebounds in 12 minutes of play. “It definitely felt good being able to get my feet wet a little bit. It’s my first NBA game, so I was out there nervous the whole time, but I just tried to go out there and compete, play hard, play defense, do what I do on offense and just see what would happen.” Stephens said after the game. At halftime, the Heat led Milwaukee 46-29 even though LeBron only managed to score four points. Despite his low point total, James still managed to facilitate the floor effectively and play aggressive. “He has that ability to get more aggressive or turn it up,” Drew said. “It makes their offense that much more effective because you can’t just zero in on him because he will pick you apart." Chris Bosh came through for the Heat by adding 12 points and pulling down five rebounds. The sluggish play of both teams carried on into the second half with Milwaukee shooting 33% at the end of three, and Miami shooting 43%. The third was a nice quarter for LeBron James, as he scored nine points for the Heat. “When he’s in that type mode, he’s that much tougher to defend. He has the ability to get more aggressive, which he did in the third quarter.” Larry Drew said. James finished the night tied with a season-low 13 points while grabbing seven rebounds, but also committed four turnovers. Miami shifted to cruise control in the fourth as they sat him for most of the quarter. The Heat completed their three-game road trip with tonight’s 88-67 win and will head back to Miami as they prepare to play the Toronto Raptors on Monday. For the Bucks, they will head back on the road to face the Detroit Pistons – who the Philadelphia 76ers defeated Saturday to snap their 26-game losing streak – on Monday. Milwaukee scored a season-low 67 points tonight and luckily were one point above the NBA league-low for points in a game this season. This week, I went and got perspective on one of the more interesting topics in the hip-hop industry as of this date (March 30, 2014) from players of the Milwaukee Bucks. Reporters usually don’t give readers that much insight on things like music outside the game of basketball very often, so that’s why I decided to do this (and will now continue to do so).
For this post, I asked three Milwaukee Bucks players whether or not they think hip-hop artist Drake should respond to Jay-Z after Hov took shots at the Canadian rapper in a track titled, “We Made It”. The Brooklyn-born rapper labeled him as “Mrs. Drizzy” in the song. In an interview with Rolling Stone, this is what Drake had to say about Jay-Z that originally sparked the fiery response: “It’s like Hov can’t drop bars these days without at least four art references,” Drake said. “I would love to collect [art] at some point, but I think the whole rap/art world thing is getting kind of corny.” And boom goes the dynamite: “Sorry Mrs. Drizzy for so much art talk. Silly me, rappin’ ’bout s**t that I really bought — while these rappers rap about guns that they ain’t shot — and a bunch of other silly s**t that they ain’t got.” Drake is arguably the best hip-hop artist in the game right now and has the work to show for it. But will Drake actually take time out of his day to respond? Or will he leave Jay-Z sitting in his waiting room alongside Kendrick Lamar. That’s what we’ll find out soon. “Why not? He’s obviously the best to ever do it, why not challenge him.” Ekpe Udoh told me pregame before the Bucks took on the defending champion Miami Heat on Saturday. “I don’t think he has to go at Jay-Z in a diss, but just show that ‘I am going to challenge you’. If he [Drake] is going to go at the throne, he has to drop straight bars. What can you say about Jay-Z? Jay can say whatever he wants, he’s at the top.” “I’m thinking he should not respond to Jay-Z.” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. In my brief conversation with him before the game, Giannis mentioned how he actually saw Drake during NBA All-Star weekend when it took place in New Orleans during the month of February. Antetokounmpo participated in the Rising Stars and Skills Challenge that weekend. Now maybe the funniest response I received on this topic from the Bucks locker room came from O.J. Mayo. “Man, the last time there was beef that I heard it was Tupac and Biggie and they both died.” O.J. let me know that he hasn’t been able to really keep up with much lately, even though I sorta assumed that after what he said. For the second time this season the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks will face off against one another. For the first time since last season’s first-round sweep, they will meet in Milwaukee. In general, the last time these two teams met came in the month of November with Miami winning by the final score of 118-95.
In that game, Milwaukee’s young Bucks all featured some game-time action. Nate Wolters started in place of Brandon Knight at the time (hamstring), Giannis Antetokounmpo made his first NBA 3-pt shot, while Miroslav Raduljica made his debut. This time, Wolters (fractured hand) and Antetokounmpo (sprained ankle) will not be playing. Raduljica last played on March 23, sparingly (four minutes) against the Sacramento Kings. Below are pre-game nuggets and quotes as you prepare for tonight’s matchup: Injuries - O.J. Mayo is out for tonight’s game. Mayo sprained his ankle in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Tuesday. - Giannis Antetokounmpo will play in tonight’s game after spraining his right ankle against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. (Los Angeles might have a grudge against ankles.) - Former Buck Ray Allen will not play tonight for Miami due to the stomach flu. He didn’t play in Miami when these two teams met either. - Dwyane Wade will rest his hamstring tonight and will not play. Greg Oden and Mario Chalmers are out also. Other - John Henson recorded his first NBA double-double at Miami on November 21, 2012 with 17 points and 18 rebounds. - The Bucks will only play Eastern Conference teams the rest of the way this season. Their last Western Conference matchup was on Thursday when they swept their two-game series against the Los Angeles Lakers (first since 2006-07). Quotes - Coach Larry Drew on Brandon Knight: “He’s still a really young developing player. Brandon wants to get better, he wants to learn. We challenge him at the point guard position because that’s such a vital position in the league. He still makes mistakes, but I think all that’s been said about him at the beginning, I think he really came into this thing really positive.” - Coach Larry Drew on people wanting the Bucks to lose: “I go out and coach each game to try to win. I don’t look at where we are and what our season is about right now. My job is to get these young men ready to play every single night, and to play hard.” Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CDT. Nate Wolters’ surprising rookie campaign could be just about over. On Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors, Wolters fractured his left hand in the third quarter of Milwaukee’s 115-110 loss. After heading briefly to the locker room for treatment, he returned to the Bucks’ bench without any medical taping and such on his hand. The Bucks officially confirmed the injury and ruled him out for the remained of the game via Twitter. Wolters played just 10 minutes and finished with two points in the game.
After being drafted out of South Dakota State in the second-round of last year’s draft, Wolters played solid this season even though he only averaged 7.3 points and 3.3 assists. In his given opportunities, he showed that he can do a solid job of running the floor for the Bucks and proved to be a reliable player for Milwaukee during the season. He wasn’t brought along slowly, either. In Milwaukee’s first game against the New York Knicks, Brandon Knight suffered an ankle injury that forced Wolters to play roughly 30 minutes in his first NBA game. When Knight returned, he was buried on the bench until January when Larry Drew decided to insert him into the starting lineup. He started in 30 of Milwaukee’s 57 games. “He had been playing really well for us. The kid has a lot of heart.” Drew said after the game. “He’s been competing his tail off, it’s a big blow. Hopefully he’ll have a full recovery.” Milwaukee will play in Sacramento on Sunday against the Kings before ending their four-game road trip on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Early Saturday afternoon, O.J. Mayo was handed down a one-game suspension from the league after his shove to Greg Stiemsma of the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night. On the subject of suspensions, Ersan Ilyasova returned from his and was inserted back into the starting lineup for Milwaukee.
On a warmer-than-usual March Saturday night, the Washington Wizards withheld blowing a 28-point lead and still managed to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks by the final score of 114-107. In the first half, the Wizards recorded a new season-high for points by pouring on 75 against Milwaukee. Of that 75, 30 were from the three point line, making it the second time this season that Washington has made 10 or more threes in a half. Twenty of Washington’s 75 in the first half came from Trevor Ariza, as he embarrassed the Bucks from the outside and even inside. Ariza nailed four triples in the half, and the fourth one helped him pass Antwan Jamison to rank fourth on the Wizards’ single-season total for three pointers made. “They made some shots, but we put up no resistance. There we no real adjustments. We just focused on defending our guy. They’re one of the best teams in our league as far as throwing the cross-court passes.” Larry Drew said afterwards. Alongside Ariza’s outstanding half, Washington received nine points from former Bucks forward Drew Gooden. Gooden scored nine points in the third quarter, including seven points in his first seven minutes of play. Amazingly enough, the Wizards didn’t even need their All-Star point guard John Wall for most of the night. Wall only managed to score four points for Washington in the half and yet they still sat pretty cozy heading to the locker room at the midway point. For Milwaukee, Brandon Knight led the team with 16 points followed by 10 from Khris Middleton. Washington built a ridiculous 28-point lead at one point and time in the first half. “I thought the first half we played like a team that wanted to feel sorry for ourselves, given what our situation is. Having to travel last night, I thought we felt sorry for ourselves, and played like we felt sorry for ourselves in the first half.” Drew said. Washington started the second half as if they thought the game was over. The Bucks had other plans, starting the second half on a 12-0 run to cut Washington’s lead to only 10 (75-65). “We kind of knew if we play the same way [in] the second half good things would happen for us.” Ersan Ilyasova said The Wizards went on a seven minute scoring drought until Trevor Ariza banked a shot off the glass inside with just under four minutes remaining in the third. Before Ariza’s made basket, the Wizards went 0-for-9 from the field. They actually scored a season-low 10 points in the quarter. “We’ve got to keep moving. Our team is based on movement. Even though we were up by 30, we let them get into a rhythm. They were making shots and feeling comfortable. We’ve got to do a better job of that.” John Wall said. Milwaukee turned things on in the fourth quarter and climbed within four points with 6:43 left to play. Milwaukee closed the gap to three after being down 28 with just under three minutes to play, but Bradley Beal knocked down a trey to give the Wizards an eight point lead with 1:23 left that ultimately sealed the deal. Beal finished with 23 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. After two free throws from Trevor Ariza, the Wizards went on to defeat the Bucks by a final score of 114-107. “We were lucky enough to hang on and pull it out.” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said afterwards. “Give Milwaukee credit, they didn’t give in. We came out in the third quarter and played like we were going to run the clock out and go home. We took shortcuts defensively and we just stopped playing.” Wittman said. For Washington, Ariza led the team with 28 points and Bradley Beal scored 23, along with 15 from Martell Webster off the bench. The Wizards have won eight of their last nine games and are now one game behind the Chicago Bulls for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards improved to 2-1 this season against the Bucks and will finish the season series against them on April 12 in Washington For Milwaukee, Brandon Knight finished with 25 points while Khris Middleton added 15. The Bucks lost their third straight game and will look to get off the skid on Monday against the Orlando Magic. |
Above the AntlersThis blog displays my coverage as a reporter covering the Milwaukee Bucks for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
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