Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Bucks Weekend

Bucks Weekend: Bogut out 2-4 weeks; Redd to return "soon" ... Monday? No. ... Maybe Wednesday ...

J.D. Mo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:04:00 GMT

Bucks 95, Charlotte Bobcats 88 Bucks (7-3) @ Memphis Grizzlies (4-8), 7:00pm Sat., FSW The question going into this weekend wasn't "how" or "whether" Michael Redd would fit in once he came back from his latest dunking attempt injury...(read more)

Bucks Weekend: VIDEO Jennings rains 55 on Nellie's Warriors; Bon Voyage to Carmelo and the Skipper

J.D. Mo — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:07:00 GMT

Bucks (4-2) vs. Golden State Warriors (2-5). Saturday, 7:30 pm @ the Bradley Center This must be ex-coaches old home week for the Bucks. First Skipper George Karl and the Nuggets of Carmelo's Island shipwrecked at the BC to end their Eastern conference...(read more)

Bucks Weekend: Life without Michael Redd; Bucks are #1 in NBA defense

J.D. Mo — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:21:00 GMT

Bucks (1-2) @ Timberwolves (1-4), 7:00pm Fox-Wis. New York Knicks (1-5) @ Bucks, 7:30pm, no local TV Welcome to the inaugural 2009-10 Bob Boozer Jinx Bucks Weekend (say that three times fast). For the uninitiated, Bucks Weekends are two or three day blogs...(read more)

Bucks Weekend: Skiles, Jefferson of single mind about defense

J.D. Mo — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:01:00 GMT

Does it matter if the Bucks make the playoffs? If their defense doesn't improve to the point where they can consistently gain control of games with it, then maybe there was never a point to making the playoffs.

The Bucks are in Florida to try to figure out a way to beat Dwight Howard and the Magic after an uninspiring performance against the Raptors -- and the coach and his veteran leader are not even concerned about whether their shots go through the hoop or not. They want to talk about defense.

"Congratulations," I said to Z-man the Bulls fan, the only other guy in Axel's (on Oakland) Wednesday night watching "the NBA TV" - everybody else was into the Kentucky-Notre Dame NIT game on the other TVs. "Looks like you guys are gonna make it to the playoffs."

Z-man: "It doesn't matter."

JDMo: "Why not?"

Z-man: "Derrick Rose."

JDMo: "Hinrich playing the point was pretty effective against Detroit ... and the Bucks."

Z-man: "Doesn't matter."

JDMo: "Why not?"

Z-man: "Derrick Rose."

Point being: What's good for Derrick Rose is good for the Bulls right now. If making the playoffs and losing to Boston, Cleveland or Orlando in the first round is good for Derrick Rose, good. If the Bulls make the playoffs relying on Kirk Hinrich to win an extra game or two, no good for Rose. It's better to lose with Derrick Rose playing heavy minutes than to win with Hinrich, no offense to Kirk Hinrich. In fact, Bulls GM John Paxson issued that decree to coach Vinnie Del Negro after some great 4th quarters by Hinrich not too long ago (one against the Bucks Feb. 18).

What does this have to do with the Bucks? Well, if culture change is what it's all about in Milwaukee (and that's what GM John Hammond and Scott Skiles have said it is) then that's the mission Skiles and Richard Jefferson have to be concerned about. Making the playoffs was only important if it grew out of the culture change, which is why GM Hammond spurned offers for RJ at the trading deadline. The message was, continue the work of establishing a winning culture built on defense, whether Joe Alexander or Andrew Bogut or Michael Redd or Damon Jones is on the court, whether the 2009-10 budget can include free agent Charlie Villanueva or not.

Although the Bucks have a core of defensive-minded players in RJ, Luc Mbah a Moute, Charlie Bell and Keith Bogans, the job isn't finished. Where the Bucks are playing, who you're playing, whether they are playing in the regular season or the playoffs, doesn't matter -- as Jefferson pointed out to Tom Enlund after the Toronto game:

“I’m not about starting off trips or ending trips. You’ve got to try and play good basketball. You know, (talking about) ending a home stand, or starting off a home stand,…those type of things, you can’t do that because then you get a mindset of carryover. I try to just take each game individually... We just didn’t do the stuff we were supposed to.”

Jefferson was in a similar mood to point out "where it's really at" when the subject of the Bucks not-so-good shooting came up:

"Your shooting percentage is something that you don't worry about too much. You worry about the quality of shots you're taking . . . if you're taking good shots. You don't want to pass up good shots. And then your defense, what you're doing defensively. We've shown that we don't have to shoot in the high 40s or mid-40s to win games. We can shoot in the mid-to low 40s, and even 30s, and win."

And here's a refreshing change for Milwaukee Bucks fans: the veteran leader and his coach are on the same page. This is part of the culture change:

"We're a fairly high-possession team," coach Scott Skiles said. "One of the reasons is we lead the league in forcing turnovers. We're getting possessions there. When we play better defense on certain nights, we get more possessions that way. We've been a good rebounding team, which means we're getting possessions there. Generally we have more possessions than our opponent in games. I don't focus too much on the scoring, it's how efficient are we being?

"We're first in the league in forcing turnovers but of the top 10 teams, only Charlotte and Miami have less fast-break points than us. So we haven't been efficient enough in turning those opportunities into extra baskets."

And there you have it. The Bucks are in Florida to try to figure out how to beat Dwight Howard and the Magic after an uninspired performance against the Raptors -- and the coach and his veteran leader are not even concerned about whether their shots go through the hoop or not. They want to talk about defense and the type of shots they're getting.

That's culture change.

NCAA tournament note: Duke is no longer Duke. No kidding. Can we now talk about those sweet seeds the ACC teams received?

Bucks Weekend: Do or die vs. Portland? ... No Energee!... Eastern C-notes

J.D. Mo — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:14:00 GMT

Bucks (31-39) vs. Portland Trailblazers (43-26) @ Bradley Center, 7:30pm Saturday, FSN

The Bucks close out their longest homestand of the season Saturday, needing a win over All-Star Brandon Roy and the Blazers to even the stand at 3-3. Do the Bucks need a victory to stay in the race for the 8th seed in the East? No, but if they don't put a streak together soon, the Bucks playoff hopes will die before Andrew Bogut has a chance to return.

Let's call the Blazers game a must-win, an opportunity to bounceback from Wednesday's drubbing at the hands of Dwight Howard and the Magic. The Bulls play the Lakers Saturday in Chicago.

Milwaukee's the last stop on the Blazers 5-game road trip and their 3rd game in four nights. The Blazers split the first four, being blown out in Atlanta, winning in Memphis and Indiana, then losing Thursday night to the Cavs in OT. Portland's playing well but Saturday's a decent chance to jump a traveling West team at the BC (a la the victory over Denver last month.) A winnable game, like any other.

The team that wins the final playoff spot in the East will be the team with the toughest, most consistent mindset. Coach Scott Skiles is looking for these intangibles out of his Bucks. He also called on the veterans to lead, and though he didn't mention Richard Jefferson by name, that means RJ (12th in the NBA in minutes played) the player Skiles has played more than any other:

"We totally need leadership right now. We need our veteran players to set the tone as far as being mentally ready and carrying us professionally. ... I'm just talking being mentally ready. Knowing their job, knowing what they're supposed to do, knowing the game plan, executing the game plan, competing all the time."

The Blazers start two former Bucks -- point guard Steve Blake and center Joel Przybilla, which is interesting enough. It'll be the 2nd straight game in which the opponent's starting point guard is a former Buck (Rafer Alston for Orlando Wednesday). Prz has become a mentor of sorts for rookie Greg Oden, who missed 15 games Feb-March getting his knee full strength for the playoff push.

The question of who should start at center for the Blazers seems to be settled, and one truth remains: The Oden-zilla frontcourt eats up a lot of space in the paint... Rebounding will be a key. And Luc Mbah a Moute, Charlie Bell and Keith Bogans will have their hands full slowing down Roy and gunner Rudy Fernandez off the Portland bench.

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Energee! is losing big to the Pacemates in the NBA dance bracket. So far the only matchup that has been as one-sided is the Thunder Girls 76-24% landslide over the Suns Dancers yesterday.

The fan support for the Thunder makes sense: there's a lot of excitement in OK City over the old Sonics, and their marketing staff has fun working the buzz of being a new team in a new city. And I'm sure those cowgirls (at right) don't mind kissing a cowboy or two to help the cause.

But the Pacemates? Nothing new about the Pacers. Plus, they've lost 4 straight and the playoff train just left Indy. Not much for fans to get excited about there.

The voting started Thursday at 1pm. I received an email reminding me to vote and offering up a link to the swimsuit pics of Energee! at 1:14PM. By then the rout was on.

I'm not sure what this means in terms of Bucks marketing (or lack thereof) ~~but there's still an hour or two left to vote~~. Polls closed at 1pm (Friday). 80-20%, Pacemates.

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Devin Harris out for the season: Thanks go to JTF on our Bucks message board for posting this. I kinda stopped tracking the Nets after they lost in LA to the Steve Novak Clippers. That's right, the Steve Novak Clippers. The man can shoot. But then the Nets went out and beat the Knicks without Harris Wednesday. Bucks (1-2 vs. Nets) play their 4th Nets game this season March 30 in New Jersey.

Charlie V reverting to his old ways? Bucks Diary thinks so, and Ty makes some great points. Ty's take on Charlie was plugged by Ball Don't Lie today (Friday).

Gerald Wallace is one bad mudder-fu..: The mental toughness Skiles wants out of his Bucks can be found in Charlotte, which should give Larry Brown's team an edge in the race for 8th. Against the Kings Wednesday, forward Gerald Wallace refused medical attention for a bashed knee, refused to go the hospital for an MRI and then played on it in the 'Cats 104-88 win. That's bad-a**. The 'Cats seem to be channeling Brown's 2001 Sixers.

9th place, one game behind the Bulls and 1/2 ahead of the 10th place Bucks? "We can do this," 'Cats fans are saying. That's right, the Bucks find themselves in 10th Saturday after the 'Cats (31-38) won in Toronto Friday.

Then on Saturday in Charlotte, the Bobcats were blown out by Jarrett Jack and the Pacers, who played without starting point guard TJ Ford. Gotta love this Eastern Conference race. So if the Pacers aren't going to lay down, this could get interesting. They play the Bulls twice in the next seven days.

On the other hand the Bulls don't seem to be in a mood to cooperate.