Quick Recap:
Wednesday vs. New York: Knicks 107 Bucks 101 (2OT) - Wednesday began with some great breaking news from Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that the Bucks' were close to moving rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo into the starting lineup. He didn't really specify when or how soon but then when the Bucks' social media train got rolling with Giannis content, you knew it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that he would be in the lineup Wednesday night against the visiting Knicks.
Sure enough, he was in the starting five along with several other of the young Bucks like John Henson, Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton. With all the injuries to the vets and the fact that the vets are just garbage, for the most part, the team has seemed to finally embrace the youth and thus, embracing the tank in the process. There seems to be a great debate among the die-hards that the Bucks might lose slip up in their draft position if they go younger. I don't think we have much to fear there. Giannis has a pretty decent impact in the game I suppose, but he's still quite young and makes plenty of mistakes. Sure, Brandon Knight had 36 points last night but it's becoming more and more clear to me by the day that he's not an NBA point guard. I needn't go further than pointing out his 3:8 assist to turnover ratio. He seems to like to put his head down and over-penetrate when he's got the ball. This team is just flat out missing a go-to scorer in the worst way. OJ Mayo leads the team in PPGZ at 13.9. That's pathetic.
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| Giannis locking down Carmelo Anthony |
Speaking of pathetic, can we talk about how bad the Knicks are? There's a lot of season left and they have enough talent in a weak East to get into the 4 or 5 seed discussion by March but they are just so mentally weak and full of head cases. A 19 year and 13 day old Giannis practically shows more poise and composure than 'Melo or Ron Artest, who somehow continues to avoid jail time. Giannis talked after the game about how Carmelo likes to bully players and that he "talks too much" which I thought was great. For the record, Giannis held his own while guarding Carmelo (see picture) and showed a lot of fire and grit in this one. His passion is what the Bucks have been missing for a long time, probably since Bogut was healthy and playing in prime form.
Appropriate YouTube video: "Green and Growing" - This is a song that was recorded back in the 1970s after the Bucks traded Lew Alcindor for several young players and marketed the youth. This was during a prior ownership, of course. This might be what we are finally seeing from Herb Kohl. He must have given the green light to start Giannis finally.
Links
The guys from SaveOurBucks.com are having a party at the Loaded Slate in downtown Milwaukee to commemorate their billboard going up. It's happening Monday night, December 23. Pro wrestler and Milwaukee native Austin Aries will be the "celebrity" in attendance. He's apparently a die hard Bucks fan and is on board SaveOurBucks. Very cool.
This is a link to a video of Andrea Bargnani's stupid decision to launch a three immediately after the Knicks got an offensive rebound with just seconds left in the game. All he had to do was hold on to the ball and take his free throws and Knicks get out of there with a win an hour earlier, but he doesn't know what else to do with the ball. Instead, they need two extra periods to stave off the worst team in the league. Well done.
I'd really like to link a video of the nifty alley-oop that Giannis threw to John Henson, but I can't find one. Should be seeing a lot of that some years to come.
What to watch
I've touched on this before but now that Giannis has started a game, it'll be interesting to see what they do with some of the vets or if Giannis gets another start. Khris Middleton has earned the right to be a mainstay in the starting five but so has Giannis. If there's one odd man out, in my opinion, it's OJ Mayo who conveniently had a funeral to attend so he wasn't at the game on Wednesday night. I don't think anyone noticed to be honest but you're paying this guy $8 million a year.
What's next?
The Bucks will head to Cleveland on Thursday afternoon for their game on Friday night at the Cavs. The Cavaliers have been playing much better over the past few weeks and should be a tough matchup for the Bucks. Then, Saturday night they return home to face the reeling Sixers. That game will be huge for the tank.
-Big Money
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