Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Jason Kidd

A Bucks nightmare: Sessions becomes a New York Knick

J.D. Mo — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:57:00 GMT

Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary ... my last post, words on screen blurring bleary ... Has it really been 12 days, nothing new on the Ramon Sessions front? There's nothing to even rehash. Nothing new at all -- while the poker...(read more)

NBA Playoffs: How the West will be won...

J.D. Mo — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:49:00 GMT

Was the West better than the East this season? The records say so, but don't believe all the hype about how tough the West is.

There are six patsies at the bottom of the Western conference who padded those 50-win records nicely all season long -- and let's not forget that the Bucks had more trouble with the T-Wolves than they did with the Mavs, Rockets, Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz. ...

It's the matchups, you say? Chicago and Philly both had losing records against the East but won vs. the West -- that's how they got to .500. The Cavs, Magic, Bobcats, Wizards and our very own Bucks fared better against the West than they did in their own conference. The Celtics beat everybody but the Lakers this season, but did win at a higher percentage in the East. The Hawks won against both conferences, too.

How to cut through the schedule disparity? The road test. There are five teams in the NBA with great road records. The Lakers (29-12); the Cavs, Celtics and Magic (27-14); and the Spurs (26-15). The only other team in the NBA with a winning road record is Chris Paul's Hornets (21-20), who can beat almost anybody, anytime, anywhere as long as CP3 is on the court.

In the West, this means that only one team has a decent shot at beating the Lakers and their home court advantage: Tim Duncan's Spurs, who will be playing without Manu Ginobili in this year's playoffs. The rest? I'd take the Hawks in a 7-game series against them, more often than not. Don't let ESPN make me out to be a liar. How many Pistons games did that network foist upon us this season? 'Nuff said.

Important note: In case you missed it in Dan's morning coffee, COED Magazine yesterday posted its "Dancers of the 2009 NBA Playoffs Showdown". Did you realize that some teams allow women with *** implants on their dance squads? I just assumed there was a rule against that. Apparently not in Atlanta.

Round 1 Previews - The West

Rockets vs. Trailblazers: I feel bad for Yao Ming. He's never been out of Round 1 of the playoffs, losing four times. In fact, the Rockets haven't been out of Round 1 since Stockton and Malone beat them in 1997 for the right to play Jordan's Bulls in the "one for the thumb" NBA Finals. Tracy McGrady is done for the season, but in these 2009 playoffs, Yao's got Ron Artest to help Shane Battier in the dirty tricks defense department -- and this Rockets team is rock solid in the frontcourt. The backcourt is shaky by NBA standards, but this series won't be won on the perimeter by the young, inexperienced Blazers, as good as shooting guard Brandon Roy & Co. can be.

An experience-building series for rookie center Greg Oden and the Blazers. Rockets in 6.

Mavericks vs. Spurs: As I mentioned in the pre-mumble, the Spurs are a 26-15 road team. They also played the first quarter of the season without Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and still managed to start 12-9. The Bucks beat the Spurs in that stretch without Michael Redd, a feat a dozen NBA teams couldn't match, healthy or not. Tim Duncan really does make that much of a difference against most of the league. The Spurs will miss Ginobili, but without him they're still better than the rest of the sub-Laker west. Tony Parker is playing as well as ever, shouldering some of Ginobili's scoring, and he has good help in Roger Mason and Michael Finley. On the Dallas side, Jason Kidd still hasn't proven why it was a good idea to trade Devin Harris for him last season.

Dirk Nowitzki should be able to twist and turn this series back to Dallas for a game 6. The Spurs will end it there. Spurs in 6. Unless, or course, I'm completely wrong here, and Kidd finally shows why trading Devin was a good idea. If that's the case, Mark Cuban, Spurs in 7.

Hornets vs. Nuggets: Here's the upset of Round 1 in the making. Even Lakers fans have realized that Chris Paul finds ways to win NBA games. The referees are so in awe of him, that they're often too dazzled in transition to whistle while he walks. Can you blame them? CP3 is the nightmare Round 1 matchup for George Karl's savior, Chauncey Billups. But then, CP3 is a nightmare for every team.

Did you know that Peja Stojakovic is only 31? It's true, though he plays like he's 35 or 36. Denver's Carmelo Anthony has gotta like this matchup at small forward. James Posey should get a lot of minutes off the bench in relief of Stojakovic in this series. All-Star David West should continue to score at will for the Hornets. And George Karl will find a way to screw this up, right skipper? (Thanks again need4sheed).

Is Chris Paul over George and Carmelo really an upset? It could be a sweep.(Bias warning). Hornets in 6.

Jazz vs. Lakers: Somebody had to be 8th. I thought it was the Mavs' destiny, but the Jazz lost 7 of their last 10 to fall to the Lakers in Round 1. I don't like the Lakers any more than most non-Laker fans. ("LAKERS RULE!!!") But the team has earned its share of respect. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are the best 1-2 punch in the NBA. After the Celtics bullied them in the 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers got tougher. Backup guard Trevor Ariza is killing teams off the bench. Andrew Bynum is back in the paint -- but the Lakers never needed Bynum to win the West. They need Bynum to beat the Cavs, Celtics or Magic in the Finals.

The Jazz are the same Jazz that dragged the Lakers back to Salt Lake City for a game 6 in the 2008 West semifinals - and lost handily. Deron Williams is still an All-Pro; Carlos Boozer is back from his quadriceps injury; AK47, Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver make for a strong bench; Mehmet Okur is still at center ... On paper the Jazz appear to be a good mix of power, great shooting and savvy point guard play, coached by one of the best there is, Jerry Sloan.

But they're not the same Jazz. Things have gone stale in Utah. Lakers won't sweep this, only because Derrick Fisher can't guard Deron. Lakers in 5.

No Bogut vs. Dirk and the Jasons... Skiles says defense "totally gone south"... and the Bucks win

J.D. Mo — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:47:00 GMT

No word yet on whether or not Andrew Bogut will lace 'em up tonight against Dirk and the Jasons at the BC (7pm gametime), and no new updates on the injury from Bogut on his website. Bogut had an MRI last week before the Bucks headed west for their 3-game trip, and no structural damage was revealed -- "just back spasms," Bucks training staff says.

Obviously, the 20-24 Bucks need their center back. They were killed on the boards during the west coast trip, capped by a 58-30 trashing by Greg Oden and the Portland Trailblazers Monday.

UPDATE: Bogut won't play tonight and it's "unlikely he could return until next week," JSOnline is reporting. This is good policy by the Bucks, letting Bogut fully heal before committing him to play with a team that isn't playing Scott Skiles basketball anyway.

Bucks blow out Mavs, 133-99: Just when it looks like some quit gets into the Bucks, they bounce back. In prior seasons, quitting time might have come by now, but then Ramon Sessions, Richard Jefferson, Luke Ridnour, Francisco Elson, Malik Allen, Luc Mbah a Moute and Scott Skiles weren't around. Skiles decision to give Sessions extended minutes against Jason Kidd proved to be key for the Bucks in the 1st half. Michael Redd (27 pts), recovered from a bad start and was on fire in the 3rd quarter. The up and down Charlie Villanueva was up after a tough time in the West over the weekend - Charlie led all scorers with 32 points and hauled down 10 boards.

Sessions added 21 pts and 7 assists in one of his most productive games since Redd came back from injury. Skiles stuck with Sessions despite the mistakes (5 turnovers) and that's the highlight to make on this game, along with the overall solid play by the Bucks frontcourt. R.J. flirted with a triple double (15 pts, 7 rebs, 8 assists) and harassed Josh Howard into a lousy night. After the 1st quarter, the Dallas small forward contributed little but poor shooting (7-18, no assists and just 3 boards), which allowed the Bucks to concentrate on slowing Dirk down.

With the Bucks win at the BC and New Jersey's loss in New Orleans, the Bucks are back to 8th in the East standings.

Detroit goes big: Amir Johnson started alongside 'Sheed and Rip Hamilton came off the bench for the Pistons. This allowed Tayshaun Prince to return to his natural position, small forward, and, lo and behold, Prince scored 25 and the Pistons won. Coach Michael Curry would look a lot smarter about the situation if anybody who cared to notice hadn't been telling him to make the change games ago. It was Detroit's most lopsided win of the season.

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A couple of weeks ago, I sent Bogut a question via his web site "q&a" about the medical treatment he received over the summer playing for Basketball Australia. What I wanted to get to the bottom of is how and why Bogut played in an exhibition game vs. Argentina on an ankle later described by Aussie coach Bob Goorjian as "rolled pretty good". After playing one half vs. Argentina (exhibition remember - the game didn't count) the ankle reportedly swelled up and Bogut was relegated to the bench, which is where he stayed until the first Olympic match vs. Croatia.

Against Croatia, he appeared tenderfooted, and wasn't much better in game 2 vs. Argentina. The thinking is ... if basketball Australia had let the ankle heal rather than rushing Bogut out there, maybe the Bucks center's back wouldn't be screwed up. I'm no doctor but a bum wheel can certainly knock a person's rack out of whack. Things are connected one way or another, and Bogut can't pinpoint why his back started hurting, only when -- Dec. 17 in Philly.

So how and why did Bogut play so soon after rolling his ankle, and what sort of medical treatment did he receive? Here's what Bogut told me:

"As far as the injury I played through it. Got it taped extra tight, had around the clock treatment: Ultrasound/Bio Stem, Ice and plenty of massage and stretching. Playing through injuries is never fun, but sitting and watching is worse."

The upshot seems to be that pointing the finger at Basketball Australia, questioning how their team trainers handled injuries (which is what I've done) kinda misses the point in Bogut's case. Bogut was going to do whatever it took to play for his country ... "sitting and watching is worse." A sprained ankle is just a sprained ankle, an all-too-common injury, even if sprains incurred at the Olympics could have contributed to his back problems down the line.

Defense "totally gone south": The Bucks now rank 18th in defensive field goal percentage after ranking 10th a week-and-a-half ago, JSOnline's Tom Enlund notes. Coach Scott Skiles doesn't like what he's seeing:

"Our defense has totally gone south on us. We're not good enough to go out and outscore people every night. Nobody in the league is. That's been proven. We've had a lot of slippage and we have to get our defensive intensity back."

The Bucks are still a Michael Redd team, coach, and his running mate in the backcourt, Luke Ridnour, is no defensive stalwart, either. When on the court together, Redd and Lucky Luke are not containing anybody or challenging on the perimeter.

The NBA junkies of the world are noticing. Shouldn't this Bucks team be Skilesier? wonders Kelly Dwyer in this week's Ball don't Lie power rankings. "The defense has fallen," KD notes in ranking the Bucks 17th.

Dwyer, remember, had gotten all misty-eyed over the weekend watching the Bulls beat the Cavs in Chicago, and wrote,

[The Bulls] got back to playing defense, running, and generally making life one big aberration for their opponents. A throwback to the Scott Skiles days, the early days, of forcing teams into giving up when things aren't going their way.

It seemed like the Bucks were almost there before X-mas and before Bogut was injured, but they have not really been consistent since Redd returned from injury in early December, and it starts with the perimeter defense. Only a trade can fix this, and it looks like the Bucks will be unable to man a 15-player roster next season unless they do something with Redd and his contract (or Dan Gadzuric or R.J.'s), but GM John Hammond seems unable, or unwilling to pull the trigger.

The trading deadline is four weeks away.

Forgotten Man: Richard Jefferson has played more minutes than any NBA player -- yet he's the Buck few talk about

J.D. Mo — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:59:00 GMT

Richard Jefferson is the man Bucks coach Scott Skiles plays more than any other. In fact, Jefferson's played more minutes than any player in the NBA to this point, thanks to the Bucks grueling schedule. (They are one of only six teams to play 26 games so far, Charlotte in the East and Utah, Portland, Sacramento and OK City out West being the others). Yet Jefferson is not a player who gets much scrutiny or praise from fans whether it's on our forum here at Sportsbubbler or others. Discussion about Michael Redd or Andrew Bogut? Those never seem to end.

Jefferson, despite the big trade of Yi Jianlian that brought him here and the court time he gets, is somehow flying under the radar, at times a forgotten man. It's an odd phenomenon but it's also part of who R.J. is as a player. To get to the bottom of this, let's go back to last year when R.J. was a New Jersey Net.

[No, I don't know who the brunette on R.J.'s arm is (the tag just says she's a model - no kidding) ... EDIT: Turns out that's R.J.'s wife, Trinidadian supermodel Teresa Lourenco.]

I was at a Nets-Bucks game last December and you wouldn't have known Jefferson was on the court much of the time. The Bucks played well that night, if not consistently. It was Mo Williams bobblehead night, and he and Michael Redd decided to have a shootout in the first half. Mo had 21 at half; Redd made sure to outscore him with 24 (or maybe it was the other way around). In any case, it was kind of sickening when you realize they were on the same dam team and at one point when Mo was on fire, Redd nearly threw a temper tantrum over it as the team came to the bench during a time out(our Bucks, what a team!). In spite of (and because of) the Bucks fireworks, New Jersey hung around, won the 4th quarter and won the game.

Afterward, the feeling was, how'd the Nets do it? They weren't shooting well for much of the game or so it seemed, and they looked out of sync despite Jason Kidd running the show. Kidd hit a clutch three in the 4th, that much I remember. But R.J.? Couldn't have even told you that night how he did. I just checked the boxscore from the game and can report that R.J. had a quiet 19 points in 39.5 minutes to go with 1 reb and 1 asst in all that time. Kidd and Vince Carter were on the court even morethan R.J. -- 40+ mins for both of them. Redd played just as much and had 35 pts, most of it in the 1st half, and his Bucks lost at home.

I came away with the conclusion that Jefferson (and Carter and Kidd, too) had done a lot of little things on the court that escaped notice, none more important than playing consistent, though unspectacular, defense. Also, the Nets knew how to win the game -- the Bucks were 0-4 vs. the Nets last season and it wasn't because the Nets were necessarily outplaying the Bucks. All four of those games were close -- the Bucks just couldn't figure out how to win any of them. The Nets had numerous heroes, from Josh Boone to Bostian Nachbar (who's now playing in Europe or Russia or somewhere). It didn't seem to matter who the culprit was -- New Jersey found a way to win. It was the little things - things the Bucks were not doing and hadn't been doing for years.

R.J.'s not the best of shooters, never has been, though some fans may recall how clutch he was against the Bucks early in his career. Is R.J. a slasher? Well, the book on him coming to Milwaukee was that he was, but that was part of the case made that R.J. and Redd would be "complementary players." R.J.'s slashing was limited at best in New Jersey. What sticks out in my mind about R.J. in his career are jump shots he hit over Big Dog in his rookie year (2002) and more of those in the 2003 playoffs againt the Bucks. It's never a good idea to put too much stock in the highlight dunks that show up on SportsCenter. Regardless, he hasn't been a slasher as a Buck -- in fact it looks like he's lost some hop.

According to 82games.com shooting stats, 77% of Jefferson's shots are jumpshots, a higher percentage than the shots of the alleged jumpshooter, Michael Redd. Redd takes the ball to the basket much more than many fans realize. When the trade was made, I viewed Redd and R.J. as much more "like" players than pieces that fit together. They're hardly complementary.

Jefferson's no great passer or rebounder, either, although it was also said when the trade was made that R.J. would be a good rebounder. Bucks fans should know what a good rebounding small forward looks like: for the majority of team history the Bucks have had SF's who hit the glass more and better than R.J. -- Big Dog, Terry Cummings, Marques Johnson and Bob Dandridge come to mind. Sticking with the more recent past, R.J.'s not the rugged boardsman Big Dog could be when the team needed him to be.

So what does R.J. do on the court? It's those little things that help win games -- playing hardnosed, constant-pressure, ball-denying D; working hard every possession and never giving up on a play (a couple of things Bogut could improve on); doing more than enough (but not too much) with the ball on offense to remain a threat and maintain spacing for his teammates; getting to the line; keeping the ball moving on offense; being a good teammate; and, thinking and believing that his team is going to win. These are all things that rub off on teammates and, if and when they do, it's called leadership. Plus, Jefferson is able to maintain intensity without seeming to get tired, despite the heavy minutes that coach Skiles keeps him on the court. It's a long list.

Up to this point in the season, R.J. is off to his best start ever shooting from 3-point land. Whether that continues or not is anybody's guess, but he's never shot as well as he is now for an entire season. Whether R.J. continue to hit threes or not shouldn't play into how Jefferson is appreciated by fans. The intangibles that R.J. brings, those things that don't always show up in the box score, are much more important to this team, especially as they learn Skiles' defensive system.

If there's one word that best fits the intangible R.J., it wouldn't be "defense" or even "leadership" (though both of those things are part of it). The word is ATTITUDE.

Bucks vs. Sixers: Two wins in a row under their belts and the Bucks tonight face the Sixers, a quick athletic gang who can't shoot straight. Also waiting for Andrew Bogut and the Bucks in Philly is Sixers center Sam Dalembert. Dalembert hasn't been playing so well this season but in his last two games against Bogut and the Bucks, Bogut had more turnovers (7) than points scored (6). Here's the box score from the last one. It ain't pretty. I have a feeling that Bogut is looking for some redemption tonight.