Bucks v the West Conf week

Went to the game - was a slow start, but they have so much firepower that they can come back against many teams. Pretty nice win against a talented Denver team especially considering Middleton and Lopez had low scoring nights. 

I know Giannis effects the game in so many ways, but I think his shot looks terrible right now. I might have missed a few shots during beer runs, but I dont believe Giannis hit a shot away from the rim. He airmailed a few 3's, badly missed on a few mid-rangers, as Denver dared him to shoot from 15' and out. Other than dunks, lay ins, and put backs, I dont think he made a shot greater than 5 ft.  Might be my imagination, but with every clank it looks like his frustration is growing. 

The Bucks just annihilated the #2 team in the West by 43 points... holy shit.

Went to the game tonight v Portland. First time at the new arena.  Very nice. 

It’s interesting when I watched Giannis tonight I didn’t think he had a particularly great game but then you look at his stat line and he had 30+ points and 15+ boards.  He makes it look so easy. 

Bledsoe might have played his best game of the season.  He was dominant on both ends of the floor and made a lot of good decisions.

Then you spell Bledsoe or play him off Brogdon and he just killed the Blazers driving to the rack on the layups.  Those two shot 50% and poured in 30+ 

Middleton looked like Middleton.  Hitting shots - long range, mid range, whatever.  He played well tonight.  Dude is so smooth and reminds me of Big Dog. 

The other guy that jumped out to me was Christian Wood.  He was all over the place hitting shots and grabbing rebounds. 

My only real frustration was Thon Maker.  He is a real liability defensively and I don’t care for the fact he took 10 3pt shots.  He isn’t good enough to jack up that many and he has to play better and make better decisions.

Overall, impressive effort considering Lopez and Ersan basically did nothing against Portland and it was a laugher from start to finish. 

Giannis didn't play a minute of the 4th & should've had a Triple-Double. Maker fumbled a pass on a clean look from 3 and stepped out of bounds. They took Giannis out afterwards.

Love the dismantling after the Blazers were so fired up in Portland like they just won the Larry.

That’s a good point Boris.  Giannis had a long break in the first half as well. He played a lot of minutes against Denver and quite honestly it was good to see them get a bit of rest.  

Also good to get some minutes to the bench guys.   Christian Wood wow he looked excellent.  11 points and 5 boards in 11 minutes? 

He’s more of a traditional forward and might not be the top notch athlete but he sort of reminded me of a poor mans Al Horford or Serge Ibaka.  Can step out and hit shots and has enough bulk and strength to play down low.  He’s also a very good rebounder.  Personally I would give him some of Maker’s minutes.  

Sterling Brown also did some good things. 

Bucks are letting Phoenix do whatever they want with the ball- parading into the paint like they own the place. Defense needs to adjust the pick and roll...

They do what they do....

Ersan Ilyasova with the momentum plays... 2 charges taken, a layup, and a putback at the buzzer to cap off an 11-0 run to finish the 3rd...

Booker is murdering them in the p&r... they need to hedge and rely on the help. 

Defense is the issue here... they need to force sone different looks and make them uncomfortable... 

Wow... right on cue. Bledsoe is playing inside Booker’s shorts. Changed the game. Big run to go up 5, now 6

Bucks choke on this one as they needed to make one shot, but the Bucks got screwed on about 3 calls in the last 1 minute. 

Giannis got ****ing fouled... how can that not be a foul on both arms??? 

Middleton late on the buzzer beater. 

Bledsoe showing what real defense looks like, but they had 4 open looks after going up 6. 8-0 Suns run and they lose. Bucks get no media coverage when they win, but you can guarantee  it’ll be front page now that they lost...

Of course, if Brook Lopez shots 20% from 3 they win. 0-12 - just a brutal night for him.

They were all good looks, too

And Middleton with another maddening turnoverfest. 

I don’t understand for the life of me why Giannis does not get the calls.  He gets hacked and hammered a lot.  It cost them down the stretch.

It still doesn’t explain the lack of energy and effort.  Phoenix might not win more than 20 games this year.  You can’t afford to lose games like this at home.  Then again, very weird evening as a 2 win Cleveland team beat the Sixers at home. 

Music City posted:

And Middleton with another maddening turnoverfest. 

He also got hacked in the last two minutes and it wasn't called. 

Bucks seem to think getting up 15 on the Spurs is enough to put it in cruise control. Up 1 by the end of the Q. 

This team still has a long way to go in understanding the nature of the game. 

But again- when Bledsoe is locked in on D, he’s elite. Really is becoming the straw that stirs the drink. 

Music City posted:

Bucks seem to think getting up 15 on the Spurs is enough to put it in cruise control. Up 1 by the end of the Q. 

This team still has a long way to go in understanding the nature of the game. 

But again- when Bledsoe is locked in on D, he’s elite. Really is becoming the straw that stirs the drink. 

Ah, yah, NBA is boring.....right when Milwaukee, Wi team, IS #1 in the country.....

Spurs have a 1 point lead at the half... they have a 16-7 advantage in FT attempts from a 13-4 advantage in fouls called. Bucks are shooting 60% from the field but still playing sloppy. 

Spurs continue the parade to the FT line... 20-9 now...

28-14 FTs in favor of the Spurs... 8 point game. 

Big run, up 6!! Gotta finish! 

Brogdon!!! Dagger!!!!

Gotta love it... they got the big shots down the stretch and they got a series of very good defensive stops. Brogdon with some strong D on Derozen after he was strong for 3 quarters. Bledsoe really active and did a great job of creating. The Brogdon dagger was a drive and kick from Bledsoe, right in the pocket, perfect rhythm. 

I bitched about FT discrepancy all game- Giannis shot like 12 FTs in the 4th. My issue was there were a lot of ticky tack calls going the Spurs way, but in the 4th the Bucks were called for one foul. 

What a friggin 4th quarter. That was really fun to watch.

Nice win after the previous disappointing effort v Phoenix. 

The guards came up big and good showing from Sterling Brown.  

14-5 is a heck of a start to the season.