Even though the Bucks are only down 1 game in the first round of the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, they’re down a lot more than just that. In the entire game there were absolutely zero lead changes, meaning the Hawks dominated from the get go. It’s pretty safe to say that the 22 point lead that the Hawks had over the Bucks wasn’t too hard for them achieve. The Bucks were simply not able to play big enough to match of up against the Hawks in game 1. Point Guard Brandon Jennings however did play bigger than normal posting a game high 34 points, but only 3 assists. John Salmons, leading scorer for the Bucks since his acquisition, dropped only 16 points on the night. It looked as though Salmons was having an off night by hittin’ 6-18 from the field and posting a donut from the 3-point line. The Bucks’ front court (Delfino, Mbah a Moute, Thomas) were offensiely unmatched to the Hawks defense. No big man for the Bucks scored in double digits, compared to the Hawks entire front court scoring double digits as well as the starting guards and Jamal Crawford coming off the bench. In tomorrow’s game, it’s going to come down to the Bucks playing defense and making shots… all of them. The Bucks have beaten the Hawks already this season, with Bogut only droppin’ 9 points. This big men for the Bucks are going to have to step up in big tomorrow’s Game 2 and not let the Bucks go down by 20 if they want a fighting chance.

Take it either way… WHOA are the Bucks (39-32) for being in 5th position in the East, which even though they haven’t been guaranteed a playoff birth yet, if all goes well they’ll be in the playoffs at the end of the season. Or Whoa are the Bucks for losing to the 76ers and the Heat, last night, after a big win against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. Damn, even in 5th position we’re still looking for some consistency. The Bucks are the clear divide in the Eastern Conference between the good and the bad. At this point all of the good have won 40+ games (Cleveland, Orlando, Boston and Atlanta). The bad, playoff bound as they maybe, have won between 39 and 35 games. The Bucks are in a position that they haven’t been in since 2001.  Even with injuries, the Bucks have to maintain composure by pulling off the necessary games, the games against opponents like Philadelphia with a weaker record.  In the last 11 games, the Bucks play Philadelphia, LA Clippers, New Jersey and Chicago, needing no losses during any of those games.  If the Bucks pull off wins against Boston, Memphis and Atlanta, then they will be going into the playoffs to most likely face the Hawks again with a lot of momentum and excitement. In the last 10 games, the Bucks are 7-3 with 2 of those losses coming Philadelphia who are 26-47 and the Clippers who the Bucks should ever lose to. With all of that said and actually doned, the Bucks could be going into the playoffs a little beastie. Hopefully with Andrew Bogut’s back getting a little rest, the Bucks will be close to full force come playoffs, thanks to Scottie Skiles coaching moves.

Are you serious? The Bucks are 5th in the Eastern Conference right now. Believe it, you suckas! Take that you NBAers! The Bucks are currently 34-29 and 9-1 in the last 10 games going into tonight’s game against the Utah Jazz at the Bradley Center. They’ve been ballin’ baby. Milwaukee’s 15 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are in 1st place. The Bucks are 7 games behind the Boston Celtics, in 4th place. Behind the Bucks, the Toronto Raptors are only 2 games behind. All of this means that there is a little disparagement between the top and bottom of the conference. In order for the Bucks to start solidifying their place in the playoffs, they need to start clipping away at the 7 games that the Celtics hold.

In the 11 games that Jason Salmons has been with the Bucks, his averages have been the best all season. Scoring 18.9 points per game, Salmons is doing what Mike Redd should have been doing all season long. Andrew Bogut has just been getting the job done.  After recovering from injury, Bogut has been a beast handling his business.  In his 57 games, Bogut’s averaging a double-double, 16.2 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting almost 53% from the field. Brandon Jennings is gettin’ it in.  The only player on the Bucks roster to start every game this season, btw he’s still a rookie, Jennings has had his run on the numbers game lately. Only scoring 4 points in the win against the Washington Wizards last Friday, Jennings came back and dropped 25 on the Cavs, sans LeBron. Jennings also finished with 13 against the Celtics on Tuesday. Jennings was talking crazy before the Cavs game about not going to take anymore shots, but Skiles put him back on the right path as we have seen. The best part about the Bucks ballin’ lately is that it’s been a team effort. Carlos Delfino, Luke Ridnour and Ersan Ilyasova all have been averaging over 10 points this season. With the addition of Jerry Stackhouse, the Bucks have a forceful attitude, expressing that they want to play some basketball, baby.

Out of the next 5 games, the Bucks should pull off at least 3, if not all 5, with a finish against the Denver Nuggets. Believe it or not, the Bucks are on their way to the playoffs!

After two games in the second half of the season, the Bucks are still in playoff contention, 2 games behind the Charlotte Bobcats in 8th place.  Much of this success can be attributed to the only player to play in and start all 53 of the Bucks games this season, rookie point guard Brandon Jennings. The Bucks nunber 1 draft pick this season leads the team in mintues (33.6/g), points (16.7/g), assists(6.1/g) and steals(1.3/g). Jennings is 3rd on the team in free throw percentage (80.7%) and three point percentage (37.8%). Head Coach Scott Skiles has allowed Jennings to make rookie mistakes, learn from them and play ball. If you would have paid attention to Jennings’ summer league play in Vegas, you would have been able to see this coming. Even in the Rookie/Sophomore game last saturday, Jennings was getting it in, hustlin’ up and down the court. This isn’t to say that Andrew Bogut, the Bucks’ staple in the center, hasn’t been ballin’ for the 47 games that he worked in this season so far. Bogut is averaging 15.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. With addition of gaurd John Salmons from the Chicago Bulls, the Buck now have added depth in the back court. Salmons has averaged 12.8 points/game and dropped 19 in his debut. Salmons will help pick up the void left by Mike Redd’s healthy jumper. Going 7-3 in the last 10 games, the Bucks need to pull off a victory against the Bobcats tonight, getting them one game closer to the post season business.

Even with the Bucks’ 109-97 home loss last night to the Washington Wizards, the Bucks will still retain the 7th ranked position in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 12-15, the Bucks are 8.5 games behind the Central Division leading Cleveland Cavaliers, 22-8. Like the past 3 seasons, the Bucks are having trouble finding wins on the road.  Currently, the Bucks are 9-6 at home and 3-8 on the road. So either more of you Bucks fans need to start traveling to away games or the Bucks need to petition the rest of the season for all home games in order to stay in the playoff race. And yes, we’re talking playoffs already since the Bucks haven’t been since 2001. Right now there are 5 other teams that are within 2 games of being tied with the Bucks. With expected ‘Buck Slump’ of mid January, the Bucks are going to have to do a lot of battling from here on out.

In the past 4 losses the Bucks have lost by a combined 5 points.  In the game against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers went into overtime and was won by Kobe’s buzzer beater with 0 seconds left on the clock in overtime. Michael Redd came thru and balled against the Lakers and the Cavs, it just the consistency the Bucks need now. Brandon Jennings has been the most consistent player on the Bucks throughout the entire season, but he still rocks some Rookie tendencies which will prove to be some great learning experiences for the future. Speaking of the future, the Bucks have San Antonio at home, but hit the road for 2 games against Charlotte and Orlando to close out 2009. Hopefully Redd can continue his strong play and mesh with Jennings to get a good chemistry going into 2010.

The Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics 89 – 98 on the road in Boston. The Bucks actually outscored the Celtics in the 1st and 3rd quarters. Going into the 4th quarter the Bucks trailed only by 1 point. The Bucks just didn’t have the fire power in the 4th to keep up with the Celtics deeper bench.  Head Coach Scott Skiles only had 3 players coming off of the bench, none of which contributed as much as the Celtic’s 6th man, Rasheed Wallace, who finished with 13 points.  All of the Celtics starting 5 had double digits points with center Kevin Garnett finishing with 25.  Bucks’ center Andrew Bogut wasn’t going to be no bitch with K.G. getting mpney and him not getting some change too.  Bogut finished with 25 points as well as 14 rebounds.  Bucks’ gaurd Brandon Jennings, who’s have a spectacular year, only finished with 17 points, going 0-4 from behind the arc. Next the Bucks have the Toronto Raptors @ home Wednesday, 9 and then the Portland Trailblazers on Sat,12.

Amazing enough, damn near unbelievable is the fact that the Milwaukee Bucks (8-4) are 5th in the Eastern Conference. Right, not only are we having “Indian Winters” in Milwaukee, but the Bucks are actually ranked amongst teams in the NBA… Fuckin’ amazing. Most of the success can be attributed to the play of rookie starting point guard Brandon Jennings. Coming into the season, especially after the NBA summer league in Vegas, we all knew that Jennings was going to be a contributor, but a major factor was a little of reach for being this early in the season. Thanks to the best decision made by Buck’s head coach Scott Skiles, Jennings opened up the season as starting point guard and took off running. Jennings is first on the Bucks in scoring, averaging 24.2 pts/gm, which puts him at 8th in the entire league. He’s also first in minutes per game with 34.6 min. Jennings is tied for 3rd on the team in field goal percentage with 46.2%. Jennings is the only player to start all 12 games thus far in the season. Jennings is first in assists per game with 5.7 and only averages 2 personal fouls. Take a poll right now in the league, you will see that Jennings is leading in the race for Rookie of the Year… much in part to his 55 point game against Golden State on Nov. 14th. Jennings tied the Bucks record for most points scored in the game held by Kareem Abdul-Jabar. At 6’1″ and 169 lbs. soaking wet, holding a boulder, Jennings has taken some mean bumps and bruises getting used to playing with the NBAers.
With Mike Redd expected to be the go to guy for most of the season, Skiles now knows that when Redd is out (which as of late he has been) he can go with Jennings. The best part is is that nobody in Milwaukee even has a problem with this. Luke Ridnour has been coming of the bench providing some consistent play to Jennings a spell, but when Ridnour is off… he’s off. When Ridnour’s on, he’s on. That’s just going to be something that we all have to deal with. Andrew Bogut is out for the next 2-3 weeks due to a lower left leg strain and contusion which he suffered against New Jersey. Back up center Dan Gadzuric started last night against the San Antonio Spurs in place of Bogut. With only a nice dunk off of a Charlie Bell miss, Gadzuric didn’t contribute much as only going 3-5 for 6 points and 4 rebounds. Gadzuric and center Fransisco Elson are going to have to have 2 great weeks in order to keep the Bucks strong in the middle, making room for the Jennings, Bell and Redd to slash through the lane.
The Bucks have an opportunity of going up against Orlando strong on Saturday, if they can find a rhythm against New Orleans (6-0) and Oklahoma City(7-7) during the week. Look for a big game out of Jennings against Oklahoma City, but it’s going to be a long night against the Magic… Holla!!!

Leading by 6 points at the half, the Bucks couldn’t keep up with Philadelphia 76ers in their 99 – 86 season opener. Michael Redd scored 17 points shooting 6-17 from the field and 2-6 from three point range. Brandon Jennings was the highlight of the night for the Bucks, as he too scored 17 points, while contributing 9 assists and 9 rebounds. To say the least, Jennings flirted with what would have been a well deserved triple double. Andrew Bogut pedestriafied the paint with 8 points and 6 rebounds. Ersan Ilyasova came off the bench and scored 11 points.

The Bucks defense in the second half was lacking from the start as the 76ers came out pulling from deep and running the court. The 76ers opened up the second half by outscoring the Bucks 35-20. This was the difference maker as the Bucks weren’t able to recover. Six players for the 76ers finished in double digits, lead by Andre Iguodala with 19 points and Elton Brand with 17.

Tonight the Bucks take on the Detroit Pistons at the Bradley Center at 7:30pm for the Bucks home opener. The 1 -1 Pistons are going to be without Richard Hamilton, their usual leading scorer to do a sprained right ankle. However, Charlie Villanueva will be returning to the Bradley Center to face his former teammates on the hardwood.

The Bucks summer league squad did a pretty damn good job on showcasing what they can do well and what they need to work on for the season as the team finished up 4-1 in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League. Joe Alexander had an impressive 5 games, showing that is already improving from last season. Against Sacramento, Alexander finished up with 24 points in what some considered to be a breakout game. Rookie guard Jodie Meeks finished with 29 points in the last game against the Toronto Raptors, his last 2 coming in a pressure situation with 15 seconds left. Young Money aka Brandon Jennings proved that he was at least ready to play with the young talent of the NBA by directing his team as a pass first point guard. Even though Young Money consistantly dropped double digits in the points column, he put the ball on the floor and made plays for his teammates. Scott Skiles and the rest of the Bucks coaching staff has enough film to evaluate on the Bucks’ young players to get the ready for the upcoming ’09-’10 season.

Yesterday’s NBA Draft went more or less as expected. Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin went #1. UCONN’s Hasheem Thabeet went #2. Some hoopers slipped a few spots in the draft costing them millions. Tyler Hansborough is on the Pacers where he’s going to pan out like Christian Laettner. Blah, blah, blah.
Here’s a look at the first 10 picks:
1. – Los Angeles Clippers – Blake Griffin
2. – Memphis Grizzlies – Hasheem Thabeet
3. – Oklahoma City Thunder – James Harden
4. – Sacramento Kings – Tyreke Evans
5. – Minnesota Timberwolves – Ricky Rubio
6. – Minnesota Timberwolves – Jonny Flynn
7. – Golden State Warriors – Stephen Curry
8. – New York Knicks – Jordan Hill
9. – Toronto Raptors – DeMar DeRozan
10 – Milwaukee Bucks – Brandon Jennings
It’s really whatever for the other 31 teams in the NBA, but it’s major for the Bucks. The last great satisfying draft pick the Bucks have had in recent history was T.J. Ford, whom we proceeded to trade after 2 seasons. The Bucks went big by selecting 19 year old Brandon Jennings, originally out of Compton, CA. The 6’1″ 169lbs point guard forgone attending Arizona partly because of SAT scores to play ball overseas in Italy for a nice chunk of change. In 17 minutes in 27 Italian League games, Jennings averaged 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Those aren’t super ballish numbers, but coming out Oak Hill Academy, Jennings averaged 35.5 points, 6.8 assists and 3.2 steals making him the most highly taughted recruit coming out in ’08. Jennings was #1 on everyone’s list as best player in the nation. With David Stern’s “one and done” NBA ruling on kids forgoing college to jump directly to the league, Jennings was in a situation of waiting for the D-League or going overseas, catching an Under Armour contract and get paid over a milli, a milli, a milli, a milli… Not really a tough decision when you look at it though.
When Kobe Bryant came into the league at 18 back in 96, he averaged 15.5 minutes per game in 70 games in 7.6 points per game. Bryant did this coming out of Lower Marion HS in Pennsylvania where he averaged 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4 steals and 3.5 blocks per game as a senior in high school. Jennings who will be better known as “Young Money” from here on out didn’t put up Kobe numbers coming out of school, but has polished up his overall hooping skills from European experiences. Young Money has great ball handling skills and exciting passing skills. Young Money’s decision making with the ball is going to be crucial playing at the highest level. Young Money can drop dimes from anywhere on the court (who’s going to convert them is the question?). At 6’1″ Young Money ain’t Kobe’s height, but he’s got Shawn Kemp springs with the ability to posterize cats like Phoenix Sun’s guard Kevin Johnson did to 7’0″ Hakeem Olajuwon in game four of the ’95 playoffs. Young Money can bounce. Is Young Money the answer though? Many have compared Young Money to the Georgetown/Philadelphia 76ers Allen Iverson. We all have yet to see though. What we have seen at the Bradley Center was Young Money’s gumby high top fade with steps at last years McDonald’s All American game. Young Money’s got style, even the UA shoes look nice.

It’s going to be a long hot ass summer in Milwaukee, welcome Young Money!

Photo Credit: Steve Boyle / www.steveboylephoto.com