Bucks Buzz: Monday February 3rd

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.  

Hot Recap Takes
Friday: Magic 113 Bucks 102 - Nice fight from Milwaukee as they were down by 21 at half and started to march back in the second with a great effort from the bench from some of the unhappiest Bucks. Gary Neal whose somehow still on this basketball team had a productive night with 13 points going 50 percent from the field.  Caron Butler had 20 points with 7 of 12 shooting. It is nice to see like a white whale that Neal and Butler can come up with big performances every now and again. Also off the bench, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a big night with 15 points with seven rebounds shooting efficiently from the field. He also had a massive dunk in the fourth quarter during the Bucks comeback. Negatives, they missed 10 free throws and allowed Orlando to shoot over 50 percent from the field including a nice game from Arron Afflalo whose developing into a Bucks killer with a 21 points with five rebounds and a PER of +18.

Giannis' unreal slam. Gotta think he is in the dunk contest in under five years. (Full highlights of his night, dunk comes .57 secs in).



Saturday: Grizzlies 99 Bucks 90 - Man, the Bucks had a lead for most of the game until a bad late third quarter into an early fourth quarter. Nick Calathes fills in for an injured Mike Conley and goes for a career-high 22 points which seems ridiculous Milwaukee let happen but we will get to that in a second. Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph combined for 42 points and 16 rebounds inside which does not surprise me in the slightest with how bad they have been defending good big men. Good night from Ersan Ilyasova with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Brandon Knight had a nice night at the two guard position with 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists on 8/19 shooting. Bucks struggled with Memphis defense shooting way too many threes, shot 23 of them and they only shot 39 percent from the field. They could only compete with Memphis for about three and half quarters, and that feels just about right.

Best part of the night... Larry threw up the thumbs up again! (H/T @AnaheimAmigos) 



Nasty Nate's re-emergence as Bucks point guard
Calling a guy that looks like 'I like turtles' kid, 'Nasty' is absolutely perfect. Nate Wolters played a great deal early on in the season, and then Larry Drew sort of placed him on the bench forgetting about him as he only averaged about 13 minutes a game in January. He played well against Atlanta in a blowout, played solid against Phoenix then nearly filled up a triple-double against Orlando with eight points, nine assists and seven rebounds. It almost feels like Milwaukee needs to keep exploring the idea of having Wolters at the one and Knight at the two because that's their natural positions. Knight is not a point guard at this point of his career, and he needs to admit that to himself.  Additionally in Wolters two starts this weekend, he had one total turnover. My only worry with him is the lack of defense because Wolters is putrid at defending almost all point guards in the league.

Links
I do not have any links this week. I am sure there is good stuff out there, but nothing worth talking about it.

What to watch
Let's see if the Wolters-Knight experiment continues and what's up with John Henson's wrist as well as the return of Zaza Pachuila.

Upcoming schedule
Weird schedule for Milwaukee in the next two weeks before heading into All-Star Break. Milwaukee takes on New York at home tonight before heading to Denver for a one-game road trip on Wednesday.

Roundball Wrap-Up: January 15th

Your favorite inconsistent NBA post is back from last year!  I never really had a full grasp on how to do this blog, but I think I have figured it out. There will be similar elements from Bucks Buzz, but in reality, it will be its own post on Wednesday (Or Thursday). I do not really have a time for when it will be up but there will be all sorts of random shit I happen to come across on the Internet plus some thoughts about the week that was.

Players of the Week 
DeMarcus Cousins - BOOOOGIE! I swear I hear Jalen Rose's voice every time I talk or hear Cousins name but the guy is flat out ballin' right now. The last time Cousins did not achieve a double-double was December 20th against Miami. That's nearly a month ago. He is playing his ass off, and deserving of an All-Star spot. In half of his January games, Boogie has 30 points or more and on an incredible run right now. Sacramento is 10 games under .500 and the second-worst team in Western Conference yet the future I feel like is better than ever before. I know they have Rudy Gay whom seems to wreck teams, but Cousins is a top five young interior player without question.

Carmelo Anthony - Sure they lost to Charlotte in a back-to-back last night, but Melo is playing pretty well in this recent stretch for the Knicks where they have won six of their last eight games. People rag on Melo that he cannot be a leader and all of his narrative bullshit yet Anthony has looked inspired this month. I have no idea what clicked for him and the team, but it is entirely different than what we saw in the first two months. The numbers might not show he deserves a POW honor, but the fact he helped rally this Knicks a bit is a significant development for them. Also this is a fantastic post-game interview from him. Vine via @netw3rk



'I am not mad, I am disappointed' Player of the Week
LeBron James - I have a hard time reading into James' comments about Kevin Durant. He told ESPN's Tom Haberstoh about how he is 'jealous of Durant's shot attempts', and I am completely dumbfounded. He had this in Cleveland where he could shoot 30 times a game if he wanted to and left for a super team that delivered him two championships. If James want to jack 35 shots, will anyone freak out? Oh shit, that's right people freak out if LeBron gets mayo on his sub instead of mustard so of course people would lose their collective minds.

Team of the Week
Toronto Raptors - SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT RUDY GAY... Toronto has won 10 of their last 13 games including eight of their last ten games. Also since Gay has been traded, this team found new life and now sits in third spot of the Eastern Conference with an alive fanbase. This team was supposed to tank this season. The plan started when they traded Gay, and then this team starting winning games. DeMar DeRozen is playing great basketball along with Kyle Lowery and Jonas Valanciunas the three seed in the Eastern Conference. Is this team legit?  Absolutely. They are saying all the right things as well as taking care of business against the weak Eastern Conference. Do I expect the Atlantic Division to get sneaky good by the end of the year with Toronto, New York and Brooklyn going at it? Yup I do in a weird way.

Team of the Weak
Los Angeles Lakers - HERE COMES THE SPIRAL. I hate to give into our writer Mitch's conspracies but it is really setting up perfectly right now. For those wondering, Mitch believes the Lakers will miss the playoffs and end up getting the top pick in the draft. Imagine this team with Kobe Bryant and Joel Embiid?  Los Angeles has lost five straight, and the last nine of ten have been losses for them. They now embark on a seven game road trip due to The Grammy's and come home to Indiana after it. While they play Eastern Conference foes after Phoenix, I would not expect much from Los Angeles in this road trip. I would be shocked if Los Angeles is not picking from the top five next year.

Sportandfashion-news Medical Injury Report  
Eric Bledsoe - Probably my least favorite injury of the year. While all of them are horrible, you hate to see this from an emerging Suns team having sort of a dream season. Bledsoe might be able to return after the All-Star Break as he is battling knee issues. If Bledsoe's meniscus removed, it could drastically change what happens with Bledsoe and his contract in the upcoming summer. It also affects how talented of a player he can be in the future.

This Week in GIFs, Vines, Tweets, Instagrams, Videos, Links, Pictures and anything else 
For whatever reason, GIFs are not working today so I have Lance Stephenson channeling his inner Skip To My Lou and Marc Gasol with a happy ass slap.  

Charlie.