Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.
Quick Recap:
Tuesday vs. Golden State: Warriors 101 Bucks 80
Another night, another double-digit loss. The Bucks are now 7-27 on the season and after reports of a fight/shouting match going on between Larry Sanders and Gary Neal happening on Saturday night after their loss in Phoenix, the Bucks have ostensibly hit rock bottom. I'm going to withhold judgement on whether I think it's "rock bottom" or not because I think it can definitely get worse than it already is.
Gary Neal is apparently being shopped now for any taker. Thank you, John Hammond and Herb Kohl. Some of us were worried that the Bucks would see all this bad PR from Larry Sanders and try to make him the scapegoat and move him. I applaud Larry trying to be a leader and beaking a veteran "leader" for being a chucker and just looking for his shot. Unfortunately, the Bucks are losing night in and night out so this looks really bad. Again, the timing for Sanders is bad as well so people are going to pile on him some more. I think he just wants the team to play cohesively and that hasn't happened hardly at all this year.
As far as the game, it was your typical Bucks game this season. They hung around for the most part into the third quarter but before you know it, they're down by 15-20 points in the fourth quarter and it's suddenly game over. David Lee had a big night offensively but again showed me why that call him "Avid Lee" (no D) while trying to defend Ersan Ilyasova. 'Sova is anything but athletic and he was getting around Lee and getting to the basket. It was fairly entertaining. Ironically, watching Illy defend Lee was also a nightmare and probably set the game of basketball back a few days. Our boy Giannis had a nice night dishing the ball (five assists) but there's some concern that he's a little too passive when it comes to getting/taking shots. I wouldn't worry as he's young and still figuring things out but it's something to watch I suppose.
The Dubs had a really balanced effort overall and Steph Curry put on his show for the Milwaukee faithful. He makes some incredibly tough shots and really leaves you nearly speechless at times. Good to see the Warriors get back to playing good basketball, though. They were hanging back around the nine seed in the West before this epic road trip that the Warriors went on. They lost last night in Brooklyn, forfeiting their chance to be the first team to achieve a 7-0 road trip in NBA history. Now, after a 6-1 road trip, they're comfortably back in that six seed in the Western conference.
Appropriate YouTube video: "Warrior Mentality"
This video isn't necessarily pertinent to the game itself but it's one of my all-time YouTube faves. These guys name off all the obscure Warriors' players that were on the team between playoff appearances. If you're a fan of randon trivia, it gets good. Trust me.
Links
There's a SaveOurBucks.com t-shirt handout at Loaded Slate before the game on Friday against the Chicago Bulls. These are typically home games for the Bulls but maybe if word gets out about these free t-shirts, we can take back the Bradley Center from the FIBs and "Bulls fans". Just scroll down and read the OP's post for details.
From Bucksketball: An article about OJ Mayo possibly going a little heavy on the mayo since he's been in Milwaukee. I recently questioned OJ's heart on twitter and the fact that he's plumped up a bit basically confirms my questioning. He was publicly called out by Rick Carlisle last year so this shouldn't surprise anyone.
What to watch
Obviously, be on the lookout for a Gary Neal trade sooner rather than later (good riddance) and as I touched on above, keep an on Giannis perhaps being more aggressive offensively.
Also, can we get Khris Middleton back in the starting lineup? Jesus Martha. This guy clearly should be starting for the Bucks but Larry Drew has been starting Luke Ridnour instead. We've got nothing to lose at this point. He's been reduced to playing with the bench mob that typically consists of the likes of Mayo and Caron Butler. Yikes.
This isn't directly related to the Bucks but keep an eye on whether or not Jabari Parker, who is Mormon, goes on a two-year LDS mission trip after being drafted. I'd be on suicide watch if the Bucks took him and then he went on a mission. Who's a Mormon anyway?
What's next?
The Bucks take on the Bulls at the BC on Friday, get out there and show you're SaveOurBucks support. The Bulls will, once again, be trying to out-tank us so expect to see Joakim Noah and any other impact players sitting out this one.
Then, they'll travel to Oklahoma City on Saturday to get destroyed by Kevin Durant and the Thunder. I needn't say much else. The tank rolls on.
-Big Money
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