Click Here to view the Sabermetric Bucks Boxscore from last night's win over Toronto

Executive Summary of the Bucks home win

1. I somehow lost the long post I did on the game and I have no motivation to redo it, so just check out the boxscore above -- it explains the game from the Bucks perspective -- and below I have summarized my supplementary points:

2. That was a gutty and important win for the Bucks primarily because the team had to overcome a ridiculous, Nintendo-like performance by Chris Bosh (I refer to such performances by big men as "Bill Walton 03-26-73"). Bosh is a great player, though, so his performance wasn't a total shock, especially with Andrew Bogut out.  The near killer was the "Larry Bird at the 3 point contest" performance by Andrea Bargnani.  That almost did the Bucks in.  Bargnani is a one dimensional player and the Bucks for some reason allowed him to play in that one dimension.  Nearly unforgivable.

3. There's no question that the Bucks won the game in the backcourt   The Bucks received a tremendous performance from Michael Redd, and induced some awful performances by Toronto SG Jason Kapono and PG Will Solomon.  Those two were simply brutal.

4. All in all, the Bucks caught a huge break when Toronto PG Jose Calderon was unable to play.  With center Andrew Bogut out, Jose Calderon's presence probably would have turned  the game in Toronto's favor.

5. Whatever, though. The bottom line is the Bucks got one of those wins they had to have, defending their home court like a real contender. I thought it showed character.  It was certainly a game in which Milwaukee could have given in to the circumstances, but they did not, and that my friends is GENUINE Bucks basketball.

6. Toronto may have ironically caught a break when C Jermaine O'Neal did not play (how long is he out for now?).  It seems as though ever since the Palace brawl he has been a shell of himself.  His Marginal Win Score this season is -0.6. Toronto is much better with Bosh at center instead.  But the Raptors certainly missed Calderon.  The dropoff to Solomon was more than they could overcome.

close article | permalink

In a matchup that paired Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls, Toronto teased by storming to an early double-digit lead, but Milwaukee finished with poise and a win. Michael Redd scored 35 point to lift the Bucks to a 107-97 win over the Raptors as the former continued to look like a playoff contender while the latter team played more the part of pretender.

Chris Bosh made nary a mistake en route to 31/5/12 on 12-14. Andrea Bargnani also came quite alive with 21/8/2 and converted 5-6 from deep for the Raps, but Luke Ridnour, Charlie Bell, Redd, and company had fourth quarter fun to propel the home team.

Three Bucks

• Michael Redd. Embracing a team concept under Scott Skiles, no Buck reached 30 points for almost two months before Redd scored 31 last week. Now the two-guard has surpassed that mark twice in the last three days. Worry not though, because Milwaukee has won both of those games. In a largely lethargic first period for the hometown cagers, Redd ripped the Raps for nine straight points to help Milwaukee hang, and the Bucks rode Redd's 16 points into a three point halftime deficit that seemed like it should have been a lot more. Michael supplied a season-high 35 points along with six rebounds and four assists.
  
• Charlie Villanueva. Charlie loved playing Milwaukee when he was a Raptor, and he sure seems to like playing the Raptors now that he's with Milwaukee. CV entered the game with nice numbers (14.6 points on 54.0 % FG and 44.0 % 3PT) against his former north-of-the-border mates. Villanueva was productive (25/6/4), and timely, with a jumper to end the first, a stuff of Will Solomon's layup attempt at the second quarter buzzer, and a jumper to provide Milwaukee a 99-97 lead late.
• Ramon Sessions. Ramon hasn't spent much time up here since December commenced, but with Ridnour sort of skidding after a couple scorching weeks, it's nigh time Sessions reasserts himself. Tonight was a step in the right direction as the backup point guard made the most of his 23 minutes with 11 points and eight assists.

Three Numbers

• 7. Luke Ridnour was virtually invisible until the last few minutes, but still finished second among Milwaukee starters with a mere seven points...
• +77. So how did the Bucks win then? Well, bench contributed 51 points, and the Bell/Villanueva/Elson/Sessions foursome performed wonderfully and combined for an unbelievable +77 differential. Redd (+11) was the only Bucks starter with a positive differential.
• 11. Milwaukee nailed 11-26 from long range, led by Redd's 4-10 effort. The three-pointers were plentiful, and they came at just right the time, including three in the last three minutes. Well-done.
  

Three Good

• Starry night. The lack of stars (Andrew Bogut, Jose Calderon, and Jermaine O'Neal didn't play) wan important pregame theme, but Chris Bosh and Michael Redd shined brightly in a starry night at the Bradley Center. The Team USA gold medalists didn't guard each other on the court, which is fine but they might as well have because no one could guard them anyway. Playing on a different plane, both guys made the spectacular look routine as the game progressed.
  
• Getting better. I have to admit Milwaukee got better, a little better, all the time. A painfully slow start (remember when the Bucks were down 21-8?) saw Toronto take control, ever so briefly. But Milwaukee proceeded to outscore Toronto by five, six, and then seven points in the final three quarters. Ridnour, of course, took the getting better theme to the extreme. He started 0-5 but buried a pair of hugely clutch three pointers late in the fourth quarter to boost the Bucks to victory and turn from scapegoat to mobbed hero.
• Pleading the fifth. They won without their top perimeter player (Redd) early this season, and now they've won without their top post player (Andrew Bogut). After looking lost and meek on both sides of the ball early, the Bucks broke through for a win for the first time in five tries playing without Bogut.
  

Three Bad

• Toronto's J's. The Raptors are top ten in two-point and three-point jump shooting accuracy. And really, it's no wonder that a team with a Jamario, Joey, Jose, Jason, Jermaine, and Jake can shoot the J. But it was a pair of B's (Bosh and Bargnani) who beautifully shot Toronto into a lead for most of the game. We lamented how Milwaukee lost while making half its shots against Charlotte on Saturday. This time, the Bucks prevailed despite the Raptors shooting 54.2 % overall and 42.9 % from deep. 
• Jefferson. Richard Jefferson clunked his way to 1-7 for 6/2/2 in probably his worst game as a Buck.
• Not seeing Joe Dunk. This back-and-forth contest didn't allow time for the first-round pick. After his fourth DNP in eight games, it looks we really do need to vote Alexander into the All-Star weekend contest if we hope to ever SeeJoeDunk, you know, a basketball, not that we have anything against oreos or anything.

close article | permalink

I'm trying to put together a shorthand basketball version of the Davenport Translations.  So far, all I have are a couple of platitudes, but two of them could be useful in evaluating this year's top prospect, Oklahoma C/PF Blake Griffin.

1. Be wary of the high collegiate eFG

Unless the big man's name is Shaquille O'Neal, it is difficult to find a big man who has a Field Goal % in the upper 50s in college who does not experience a rather sharp decline when they enter the professional ranks.  I believe this reflects the fact that they were afforded too many easy baskets in college and are therefore unpolished offensively.  They do not know how to score the basketball against competent defense, in other words.  Examples this year are Greg Oden (61.6% to 43%) and Kevin Love (56% to 40%), both of whom are going through an offensive adjustment period.  One can probably expect the same thing from Griffin,who is currently shooting 66% from the field.  Having watched him briefly, he does not appear to have very polished offensive skills, thus he is ripe for this adjustment.

2. How many "easy" rebounds in college?

Last season, Kevin Love acquired 29% of UCLA's defensive rebounds, and around  the same % of their offensive rebounds.  Thus, one can suppose he got few "gimme boards", and thus would probably continue to rebound on the next level.  And he has... at the very same pace adjusted rate he did in college.  Likewise, Greg Oden has proven to be a prolific NBA rebounder, after getting less than his fair share of defensive rebounds in college (he grabbed 31% of Ohio State's offensive rebounds and only got 24% of their defensive rebounds... he was voracious).  On the other hand, Michael Beasley acquired 34% of Kansas State's defensive rebounds, and only 23.5% of their offensive rebounds.  Thus, it would have been smart to question the amount of "padding" in his rebounding statistics.  Apparently, there was quite a bit.  This season he's grabbing 14.2% of Miami's offensive rebounds and only 11.5% of their defensive rebounds, and his rebounding statistics have plummetted.  In another example, Kevin Durant grabbed 32% of Texas' defensive rebounds and only 22% of their offensive rebounds, and his rebounding numbers have not (until recently) been very good in the professional ranks.  Blake Griffin is currently grabbing a whopping 40% of Oklahoma's defensive rebounds and only 24% of their offensive rebounds.  That will not translate.

I've got some other platitudes and warning signs, which I will roll out in the coming  weeks.

close article | permalink

Raps (14-20, 7-11 road) @ (Bucks (16-19, 9-5 home)

Gametime: 7:00 p.m. central time (FS Wisconsin)

Injuries:

Bucks: Andrew Bogut is day-to-day with back spasms.  Malik Allen missed Saturday's game with a lower back injury.

Raps: Jermaine O'Neal (right knee) is a game-time decision while Jose Calderon (hamstring) is day-to-day.

08/09 Series:

Nov 2: Raps 91, @Bucks 87

08/09 Advanced Stats:

Bucks Offense: 23rd (104.0 points/100 possessions) Defense: 5th (103.6) Pace: 13th (92.0)

Raptors Offense: 17th (105.9 points/100 possessions) Defense: 23rd (109.2)  Pace:  18th (90.7)

Three points:

• Who's on first?  Both teams could be missing key pieces tonight, as Andrew Bogut missed Saturday's game with back spasms and the Raps beat Orlando 108-102 while missing both Jose Calderon and Jermaine O'Neal.  Will Solomon and Roko Ukic (9/14, 23 pts, 11 assists combined) were excellent filling in for Calderon, while Bargnani has been greatly improved in the three games he has started in O'Neal's absence (21 ppg in that span).  Either way, the starting lineups could look very different by tipoff.
  
• Bogut's back.  The Bucks are 0-4 without Bogut this season and 16-15 with him, so naturally we'll be paying close attention to the big fella's injury status--he's become the Bucks most indispensable player.  The good news is that Bogut doesn't consider the injury serious but it's the same one he thought he had put behind him.  If Bogut does play he'll likely have an interesting matchup against Bargnani, who can be bullied on the block but will draw defenders to the perimeter on offense--not exactly where Bogut wants to be playing.  Bogut has at times matched up with Bosh as well, though he typically has to concede open jumpers given Bosh superior quicness from the face-up. 
  
  Whether or not Bogut plays we'll probably see some interesting matchups here, as the Bucks could go small (Luc, CV) and hope Bargnani is unable to take advantage of his height in the post.  Mbah a Moute had some success guarding Bosh in the late-going of the team's first matchup, so it will be interesting to see how he handles Bosh this time around. 
  
• Boards and Bombs.  The Bucks can't shoot but rank fourth in both offensive (29.5%) and total rebounding percentage (52.0%), while the Raptors are second to last in both categories.  The Raps' usual prolific three point shooting is down slightly this year, as they rank just 17th in threes per game (6.4) but still manage a respectable 8th in 3fg% (38%).  Calderon (.458), Parker (.426), and Kapono (.438) are still all draining threes at excellent rates, though yesterday Parker managed to score 26 points on a sizzling  13/16 fg without attempting a single three.
  

Coverage:

Raptors HQ / Raptors Republic / Doug Smith / RaptorBlog / DinoNation

close article | permalink

Things have been awfully quiet on the Bucks front since the Charlotte Bobcats blew them out Saturday night less than 24 hours after the Bucks trashed the 'Cats at the Bradley Center, 103-75. The final Saturday was 102-92, but don't let that fool you: the Bobcats (12-22) were up 98-77 with 4 minutes left in the 4th when the benches were cleared for garbage time 

The Bucks (16-19) were playing their fourth game in 5 nights, each game in a different city; and they played without Andrew Bogut, who sat out with back spasms.  The Bucks are now 0-4 without Bogut in the lineup this season. Bogut's back has been bothering him since Dec. 17th in Philadelphia, but he hadn't missed a game until Saturday. According to the injury report, Bogut could play tonight at the BC against the Raptors, and is listed day-to-day. (He didn't play).

With or without Bogut, the big concern coming into Saturday's game was whether the Bucks would muster the mental toughness to beat a team on consecutive nights. The answer was an emphatic NO. The Bucks were lethargic, sloppy, and didn't move the ball (only 15 assists despite shooting 50 percent) or run the floor well. Point guard Luke Ridnour never seemed to have control of the game. Turnovers were a key (led to 29 Charlotte points), and the Bucks increasingly consistent defense took the night off.

Bad taste in Skiles' mouth:  Needless to say, coach Scott Skiles was more than a little unhappy about the Bucks lack of tenacity, among other things, and for the second time this season said: "I've got a bad taste in my mouth right now." (The first time was after the Philly game Dec. 17). "... this kind of game is not how we wanted to represent ourselves. We clearly still have some things that we need to address."

Michael Redd led the team with 5 assists (and 17 pts) but they lost this game with both Redd and Richard Jefferson (19 pts) on the floor. After scoring 27 Friday night, Charlie Villanueva scored just 5 on 2-6 shooting and gave up a five-point play.

How to give up a five-point play? Charlie did it the hard way. First he committed a flagrant foul on 'Cats forward Gerald Wallace. Wallace hit two free throws, Charlotte ball. On the ensuing play, Villanueva was called for another foul on Wallace and was hit with a technical foul arguing to the call. Wallace made two more free throws and Matt Carroll swished the technical. Before getting too upset with Charlie, note that the Bucks were down 16 with 4:30 to play when this chain of events occurred. At that point, it was a fitting expression of the Bucks futility; it's okay to laugh. The degree of difficulty in singlehandedly giving up a five-point possession is impressive. Skiles cleared the bench.

Bucks vs. Raptors, 7pm,  Bradley Center:  The Bucks now begin a stretch in which they play 16 games in the next four weeks, on a weekly Monday, Wednesday, Friday-Saturday schedule. They begin with three games at home this week, first up the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors beat the Bucks in the final minute of the Bucks home opener Nov. 1.  Remember that one? Bucks had a chance to tie with 16 seconds left when Redd decided the shot to take was a fall-away going out of bounds with a defender in his face, plenty of ticks on the shotclock. Bucks point guard Luke Ridnour (bad back) didn't play in that one. Since then, the Raptors have struggled and fired coach Sam Mitchell. Jay Triano, a Mitchell assistant, took the reins.

The Raptors (14-20) have won two straight against tough competition, beating cold-shooting Houston Friday and Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic Sunday in Toronto. Against the Magic, the Raptors shooters went off, led by long-range gunner Anthony Parker (26 pts) and All-Star forward Chris Bosh (23), to win (108-102) -- without starting point guard Jose "I made T.J. Ford Expendable" Calderon and center Jermaine "Trainer's Table" O'Neal. Neither Calderon or O'Neil will play tonight against the Bucks, and rookie point guard Roko Ucik will start in Calderon's place.

The Raptors are poised, it seems, to turn their season around, regardless of whether the stars suit up (the trade of T.J. Ford for O'Neal hasn't worked out as planned, obviously).

It shouldn't matter. The Bucks, for all of their relapses to the bad habits and disjointed pace of the pre-Scott Skiles era, have been a good bounce-back team. After a tough trip west early last month, they turned it on in the 4th quarter for a much-needed win at home vs. the Pacers. After the last "bad taste" in Skiles mouth game (in Philly), the Bucks blew out the Knicks in NY (Ok, it was only the Knicks); and after the debacle at home against Detroit Dec. 27, the Bucks gritted out a tough win in San Antonio against a full strength Spurs team.

Yes, it's time for another statement of commitment from the Bucks, less than a week after the last one. This is the week to make it stick for at least a few games, as their competition for the bottom rung playoff spots (the Raptors, Sixers and Nets) visit the Bradley Center. I'm not so sure, however, that it's a good idea for the Bucks or Bucks fans to think about the playoffs just yet.

*****************************

Meanwhile, ...deep within the bowels of the Bucks central command center, Charlie Bell prepares to use the photocopier ... 

To vote Joe, go to SeeJoeDunk.com ... I know it's not why the Bucks drafted him (or is it?) but this campaign of his to get to the All-Star dunk competition is d*** good for morale.

******************************

Michael Redd scores his 11,000th point as a Buck:  I never thought I'd see the day. Michael Redd on Friday moved past Marques Johnson into fifth place on the Bucks’ all-time scoring list with 31 pts in the Bucks win against Charlotte Friday. On Saturday, Redd scored 17 more to top the 11,000-point milestone and has now tallied 11,004 points in his Bucks career. At his current 19.4 ppg scoring pace, Redd will surpass Bob Dandridge (11,478) and Sidney Moncrief (11,594) into 3rd place on the points scored list. Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson (12,010) at # 2 will have to wait until next season, and Kareem Abdul Jabaar (14,211) atop the list? That could occur in the 2010-11 season, the final year of Redd's contract. More on this topic later; it deserves a post of its own.

Catching up with Landry:  When the Bucks were in Houston Wednesday, Journal Sentinel scribe Tom Enlund checked in with Milwaukee Vincent High alumnus Carl Landry, Rockets backup power forward. Landry, 25, in his second year with the Rockets, was recently the centerpiece of a rumored trade to the Bucks involving Charlie "5-point play" Villanueva and Tyronn Lue. The trade talk was not confirmed past the rumor stage, and Enlund doesn't mention it in his story (Journal Sentinel Bucks writers didn't publish the rumor).  Instead Enlund reports on Landry's progress since last season, when, as a rookie, he hit the offensive glass at a remarkable rate, muscling his way into the Rockets rotation. Rockets coach Rick Adelman is a Landry fan; it doesn't sound as though Landry's going to be wearing a Bucks uniform anytime soon.

close article | permalink

Wrong white boy?

Check out the advertisement below for the Sprite "They dunk, you decide" campaign.  Doesn't the picture appear to be of Bucks center Andrew Bogut and not the actual Buck participant, small forward Joe Alexander?  Check out the little beard.  Isn't that Bogut's?  And the way he's reaching looks like patented Bogut.  Maybe I'm crazy.  I think they got the wrong white dude. 

Edit:  Eh, upon further review, I'm starting to think I'M WRONG.  The Bucks "See Joe Dunk" site seems to have similar pictures to the one used by Sprite.  I may have mistaken my white boys.  That does look a bit like Bogut, though.

close article | permalink

Redd much better at shooting guard

Most of the time, when I'm looking at production splits on 82games, and a player does better or worse at one position than he does at the other, I don't draw any conclusions from it, unless there is a substantial difference between the positions.

For instance, early in the season, Malik Allen had excellent numbers at center and poor numbers at power forward.  But I didn't jump to the conclusion that he was better at center... he plays pretty much the same game at each position.  The center numbers, having been based upon a small sample set, turned out to be an aberration.  As I figured, Allen sucks at both positions.

I would tend to have the same opinion about Michael Redd's inferior performance at small forward (compared to shooting guard).  There isn't that much clear blue water between the duties of the two positions, so it wouldn't make a hell of a lot of sense for Redd to be substanially better at SG than he is at SF.

Except that the difference in performance for Michael Redd at each position this season is quite substantial, and an overall difference in performance goes back a couple of seasons.  This season, Redd's marginal win score at shooting guard is +1.7.  His marginal win score at small forward is -3.3.  Last season his MWS at SG was +0.6.  Last season his MWS at SF was -0.8.  And you see the same pattern going backwards.  So something is at work here.

The key difference appears to be scoring efficiency.  Redd is having to take many more shots than his small forward counterparts to produce the same scoring gap he produces at shooting guard. 

Mostly, I think it can be explained like this.  Redd is a little worse at SF than he is at SG at all of the "bigger guy" stats.... blocks and rebounds. But, he is much less efficient than his counterparts with shots.  I think he is playing the SF position with a SG mentality, whereas on the other end the SFs he is matched up against are abusing him down low. 

Check this out.  This season, when playing SG, Redd's eFG% is about the same as his CO shooting guards.  Yet when playing SF, Redd has an eFG% of 37.3%, whereas his CO small forwards are shooting 63.7% against him.  You see the same pattern going backwards. The eFG% gap between Redd and his COs always seems to be worse at SF than SG. 

So perhaps Redd simply doesn't match up well against small forwards. But, since the team has no decent backup for Richard Jefferson at small forward, Redd is probably going to continue to get minutes at that position, and its going to continue to hurt his Win Contribution.

Footnote:  You're going to think I'm crazy, but I maintain it was a mistake to force the retirement of SF Adrian Griffin.  He was an excellent "blue-collar" win contributor throughout his career, he played good defense, and he could have spelled RJ at the 3.  I don't know why they did that.  He wasn't that old, and he produced last season.  

close article | permalink

5th best?!  The Bucks?!

I've been making the argument for a while now that the Bucks are projecting much stronger than their record shows because of the strength of their schedule and because of the imbalance in their home/road splits.

But I'm not prepared to make them the 5th best team in the NBA!  ESPN's normally staid John Hollinger is... and he's not one of these "flavor of the week" power rankings... he bases his picks (I think) on evidentiary findings.

5th best?  That even looks fuzzy when I look at it through Green and Red Kareem goggles.

I think possibly the key variable that's pushing the Bucks up to fifth in his poll is "Recent Performance".  If you followed my "Win Trajectory" predictions, which are somewhat similar to Hollinger's "expected wins", you will know that the Bucks' trajectory recently rocketed from around 35 wins to around 44 wins.

The strong numbers the Bucks are compiling there must somehow be overwhelming his formula.  That's all I can figure.

I just don't think the Bucks are the 5th strongest team in the Association.  I want them to be, but I want to maintain realism along the way up. I want to keep my feet somewhat on terra firma.

close article | permalink

After I caused a temporary meltdown of this blog, I momentarily switched back to the old blog to do a post about a great comment that someone posted - on this blog - as "Anonymous".  I'm not sure who to credit, but the comment was dead on. Here was my reply post in relevant part:

Whoa. The commenter was eerily correct. The Bucks record two years to the date the commenter posted was 16-15, and they were on a slightly better pace. Coolstandings had them projected to win 45 games. Tip of the cap to the commenter.

Of course the bad news is the Bucks won only 10 more games the rest of the season and finished 26-56. Scary.

But, I think the factors that led to the collapse were by and large outside the realm of forecast... injuries devastated that team as I recall. And they may (knock, knock, knock) do the same to this team... who knows?

Another key difference that I think is worth noting is the 06-07 team was powered by offense, while this season's team is most certainly powered by defense. Defense is much steadier.

Nevertheless, we can thank the commenter's fine Milwaukee Bucks memory for providing a warning against early hubris.

close article | permalink

Why does the NBA schedule back-to-backs

I don't understand why the NBA insists on repeating the scheduling quirk I call the "back-to-back"... when two teams play in Team A's gym and then the next night the same two teams play in Team B's gym.  For some reason, and I may be absolutely wrong here, but for some reason it seems impossible for one team to win both games, even if it is a superior team.

Thus the Bucks lost a game on the road to Charlotte that was one of those "gotta win" games I hate to see them let slip away.  (I consider any home game against any of the bottom 22 teams in the NBA and every road game against any of the bottom 10 teams in the NBA "gotta win" games... games you simply must put in the win column to be a serious contender. I base that estimate loosely on the historic home/road data.)

The thing that makes me mad is, I think if the Bucks had this particular game scheduled for some other time on the calendar, its a game they win.  Now, its a bit of a cop-out, I realize, but it just seems to me that teams dont get up to play teams they just beat.  Again, I may be wrong, but that seems to me to be a common occurence.

Of course, not having Bogut tonight because of back spasms really hurt, but then again he didn't do much on Friday night and the Bucks cruised.  Redd had an incredible game on Friday, as did Villanueva.

RJ, Moute, and company really seemed to struggle checking Charlotte F Boris Diaw both nights.  That was a bit surprising, although Diaw's a decent player.  But the Bucks usually lock those kind of one dimensional players down.

I'll have some statistical stuff in a bit.

close article | permalink

A night after locking down the Bobs at the Bradley Center, the Bucks turned back the clock and looked positively defenseless in Charlotte as the Bobs waxed them 102-92.   Not having Andrew Bogut (back spasms) didn't help, but the Bucks didn't do themselves any favors against one of the East's lesser lights--and one they had already beaten three times this season.

Luc Mbah a Moute was schooled by Boris Diaw early and often, as the Frenchman finished with 21 points (8/11 fg), six boards, and seven dimes.  Meanwhile, Gerald Wallace looked clueless in the first half before going nuts in the second half, finishing with 24 points and making 6/8 to finish the game.

Three Bucks

• Richard Jefferson.  Jefferson got the better of Gerald Wallace early and wasn't entirely to blame for GW's second half explosion, so with 19 points (6/12 fg) and seven boards RJ was almost by default the Bucks' best on the night.
  
• Michael Redd.  With Andrew Bogut out with back spasms, Redd carried the early load for a second straight night with 11 points in the opening quarter. Then again, Larry Brown's puzzling insistence on again having Matt Carroll defend Redd from the start made it a fairly straight-forward task.  Thereafter Brown wised up, using the bigger Wallace for stretches and holding Redd to just six points in the final three quarters.  To his credit, Redd wasn't really forcing the issue and he ended up with five assists in addition to three steals.  But on a night when the Bucks were missing their Australian anchor they could have used another crazy scoring night from their leading scorer.  Two such nights in a row is a tall order, but we can dream, right?
  
• Charlie Bell.  No one else really stood out, so let's make note of the fact that Bell continues to refind his touch.  He scored 11 (4/8 fg) including a four-point play late in the game.

Three Numbers

• 50%.  Easily the weirdest thing about this game was the fact that the Bucks made half their shots, a feat they seem to accomplish only once a month or so.  So how'd they manage to lose?  Well, they uncharacteristically couldn't adequately defend the Bobs either, allowing them to make 33/70 shots including 7/18 threes in addition to 29/33 from the stripe.  The Bucks made just one more field goal (34/68) while making four fewer threes (3/11) and scoring eight fewer from the free throw line (21/29).
  
• 29-14.  The Bucks trailed by as many as 21 points late in the game, before their usual never-say-die mentality whittled back down to 10 at the final horn.  The big difference between the teams was opportunism: the Bob scored 29 points off the Bucks' 17 turnovers, while the Bucks managed just 14 points off the Bobs' 16 turnovers.
• 22.  Wallace started 1/9 from the field but turned it on in the second half with nine in the third quarter and another 13 in the fourth.  The Bucks trailed by nine at the half and, with Wallace starting to take over offensively, could never get closer than seven in the third.  By the end of the third the lead had ballooned to 13 and the rout was on. 

Three Two Good

• Joe the Garbageman.  Last night I pinpointed Joe Alexander for looking a bit jumpy during the final minutes of the Bucks' blowout win, so it's only fair that I point out that he channeled his energy more effectively tonight.  Of course, it was pretty irrelevant given the game had been decided by the time he entered the game, but there's really nothing else good to take from this game.  Bogut was hurt, the Bucks didn't play defense, and they lost to a bad team. 
  
  Joe scored eight (3/4 fg) in nine minutes, crashing the boards for his first bucket, then slashing to his left for a driving lefty layin past Adam Morrison (OK, not the toughest task).  His final hoop came off a nice feed inside from Sessions. 
  
• The Nets and Bulls lost, too.  New Jersey lost in OT in Miami, while the T'Pups embarrassed the Bulls at home.  Schadenfreude, yay!

Three Bad

• Charlie's island.  A night after CV's 27 point explosion, you kinda knew he was due for a bad game...that's just how these things seem to go.  Still, you had to feel kinda bad for CV as he got manhandled by former UConn buddy Emeka Okafor a couple times late in the third quarter.  Both times Villanueva was vainly trying to front the bigger Okafor, only for the Bobs to pass around and eventually find angles to feed Okafor for dunks.  I really can't explain why Skiles would even bother trying that matchup--maybe he was letting Villanueva take his lumps for some reason or another, but the Bucks were only down 10 until that quick burst made it 16.
  
  Things got even worse late in the game when CV collared Wallace with a hard foul after GW had ripped a rebound away from him.  The call drew a flagrant, and to make matters worse Charlie then got called for fouling Wallace on a jumper on the same possession.  His night mercifully came to an end when he collected his sixth foul minutes later.
• Boris vs. Luc.  Mbah a Moute has made a name for himself frustrating the best of NBA vets, but Diaw caused him some trouble in Milwaukee and even more in Charlotte.  Diaw began his night by bullying Mbah a Moute down low, before taking his game outside as the game wore on.  Then when Mbah a Moute finally did a good job he couldn't seem to catch a break, as Violet Palmer bailed Diaw out on a desperation jumper late in the first quarter.  Skiles was rightfully pissed and took a technical to protect his rookie.  All told, Diaw made 8/11 from the field and generally packed the box score.
• Point guard shuffle.  Luke Ridnour made 5/9 shots but didn't tally a single assist while turning it over four times; he's been due for some bad games, and in fairness he wasn't torched by Felton or Augustin either. Still, it would have been nice to see Sessions get some burn before the game was out of reach.  And why was Lue the primary ballhandler when both he and Sessions were on the court in the fourth?  Though Sessions has had success playing off the ball with Ridnour at the point, Lue really can't effectively run an offense.  He's only going to create shots for himself, so doesn't it make more sense to have Sessions run the show while Lue spots up for open looks?
  

close article | permalink

Did anyone notice anything different about this blog in the last day?  Ah, my bad.  That was on me.  What happened was, I may or may not have had a few cocktails in me, and I attempted to install a poll on this blog and I ended up... I don't what I did the heck I did.  Anyway, it messed everything up so badly I couldn't even post new material.

So I tried to undo whatever the hell I did, and just like the Cat in the Hat, I made things even worse.  Baboom... I blew the whole blog up!  I turned it into some sort of baseball blog I guess. 

So then I had to go with my tail between my legs to the systems administrator, who probably has a vision of me similar to this, and he fixed my catastrophic mistake.  Thank you Brandon. 

Oh, in the interim I posted on the old Bucksdiary praising an astute observation made by a commenter several days ago.  Its actually interesting and informative. 

From now on I just won't touch anything.  Now back to basketball, and thanks again to MVN.

close article | permalink

Mike was one of the best last night. (via Yahoo)

Bucks (16-18, 7-13 road) @ Bobcats (11-22, 8-12 home)

Gametime: 6:00 p.m. central time (FS Wisconsin)

Injuries:

Bucks: None.

Bobcats: Sean May (knee) is out. Raja Bell (groin) is questionable.

08/09 Series:

Nov. 22: Bucks 79 @Bobcats 74

Dec. 5: @Bucks 101 Bobcats 96

Jan. 2: @Bucks 103 Bobcats 75

08/09 Advanced Stats:

Bucks Offense: 23rd (104.0 points/100 possessions) Defense: 6th (103.3) Pace: 12th (92.0)

Bobcats Offense: 27th (102.3 points/100 possessions) Defense: 14th (105.7)  Pace:  29th (87.8)

Three points:

• Familiar foe. Charlotte continued its franchise-long habit of losing to the Bucks last night. A couple of last year's holdovers, Michael Redd (season-high 31 points) and Charlie Villanueva (27 points on 16 shots), carried Milwaukee to win number 14 in 17 games against the Bobcats all time.
• Sessions regressions? Ramon Sessions is shooting 1-6 for two points in 19 minutes in the last three games. He finished December averaging 16.1 minutes in the month, barely more than half as many as his 33.7 minutes per game in November. And he started January with a DNP. Luke Ridnour has been lighting it up of late, though he didn't set the court on fire last night. But Tyronn Lue (6 pts, 4 rebs, 2 ast, 0 turn in 21 mins) did a fine job backing up Ridnour against Charlotte. Ramon started the season as the Bucks' most consistent offensive player, scoring (hit for double figures in 16 of his first 17 games) and running the offense with guile. Yet he's played more than 22 minutes just once in over a month.
• In defense. The Bucks held an opponent under 90 points for the twelfth time this season. That's something they accomplished nine times all of last season. And Milwaukee is playing at a faster pace this year.

Coverage:

Queen City Hoops / Rufus on Fire

close article | permalink

With the Texas trip out of the way, the Bucks began the soft part of their schedule with an appropriately lopsided demolition of the Bobcats, 103-75.  The Bucks won every quarter and used a 9-0 run at the end of the second to push their lead to a dozen at the half.. Next up: the same Bobs team but on their turf tomorrow night at 6 pm central time.

Three Bucks

• Michael Redd.  Whether he's a trade chip or a cornerstone, the Bucks need Redd to come around and his vital signs are looking much better of late.  Redd was at his best in the first quarter, erupting for 18 of his season-high 31 points (10/16 fg, 3/5 threes, 8/10 ft).  I had kind of forgotten what it looked like for Redd to be on, so it was a nice reminder of how unstoppable he can be at his best.  All we need now is for Redd to have one of these games every week (rather than once every three months) and the Bucks will be pretty tough.
  
• Charlie Villanueva.  Villanueva broke out of his recent slump in a major way, notching 27 points on 16 shots in only 29 minutes.  His jumper was falling and he was looking friskier than he has in a couple weeks, which is always a good combination.  Though ten of his points came with the game out of hand in the fourth, CV was a consistent threat inside and out all night.  Welcome back, Chuck.  Stay a while.
  
• Richard Jefferson.  RJ more or less put up his season averages all around, but he's the logical third pick because a) no one else really stood out and b) he's probably the Bucks third best player anyway.  His shooting could have been better (18 points on 17 shots) but six boards, three dimes, no turnovers, and good defense on Gerald Wallace (11 points, 4/11 fg) got it done.

Three Numbers

• 50.  That was the Bobs' scoring output in the final three quarters: 19, 13, and 18.  Yep, these Bucks can play some defense--hopefully they can bring it again tomorrow night in Charlotte.
• 23.  OK, so it wasn't all great defense that allowed the Bucks to throttle the Bobs--Charlotte helped out with 23 turnovers and the Bucks outscored the Bobs 30-11 off turnovers. The Bucks must be doing something right considering they rank third in the NBA in forcing turnovers; ah, the miracle of intelligent team defense and hard work.
• 58.  Redd and CV needed almost no time to rack up their big scoring nights, totaling 58 points in just 61 combined minutes. 

Three Good

• Resting up.  The Bucks held serve in the front end of the home-and-home, and they also got the added benefit of resting their starters in the fourth quarter.  Heck, there was even a shot of Scott Smiles Skiles laughing on the bench with a couple minutes to go.  Don't go soft on us now, Scott.
• Chuck and Mike.  The Bucks' two most explosive scorers rarely seem to both be on in the same game, but when they are the Bucks are going to be tough to beat.
  
• The early playoff race.  With the Bulls' loss to the Cavs, the Bucks (16-18) remain in the 8th spot in the East, a game and a half up on Chicago (14-19) and just a half game back of New Jersey (16-17) for the seventh spot.  I see the Nets fading in the second half--they've had a nice run and look good for the future, but they rely heavily on a young cast and their point differential (-2.5) suggests they've been very lucky thus far.  That said, both Philadelphia (13-19) and Toronto (13-20) have the talent on paper to make some noise, though their decisions to go with interim coaches probably won't help.

Three Bad

• Young bigs.  While Okafor's line (11/12) looks good next to Bogut's (2/5), he was also stuck on only two points until he piled up those nine garbage time points with Bogut resting.  You'd have to ask Larry Brown what the point of that was given the teams are playing again tomorrow night.  Let's hope Bogut was saving something for Charlotte, an arena where he's had some of his best games. 
• Reloads.  Though the Bucks wound up winning the rebound battle 44-42, they allowed Charlotte a whopping 16 offensive rebounds.  Part of that was because Charlotte missed so many shots (38%), but it's still not a trend we'd like to see continue.
• Wild Joe.  Joe Alexander got in for the last six minutes and as has often been the case looked a little too amped up for his own good.  He missed three shots in the span of about a minute, the last being a wild prayer out of the post where he seemingly made up his mind immediately he was going to shoot no matter what (maybe we should call it a Gadzuric).  He did end up hitting a tough 22-footer with a man in his face in the final minute, but this was another reminder that the education of Joe Alexander might take a little while. 

close article | permalink

close article | permalink

close article | permalink

I was leafing through Elliot Kalb's book, Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball.  It purports to rank the 100 greatest basketball players of all time.

It looks like a rather weak effort.  It seems to be rife with subjective opinion and moving standards.  If I want that, I'll turn on NBA Fastbreak.

An example is Kalb ranks Shaquille O'Neal the number one player of all-time but, having read the Shaq chapter, I couldn't tell you why.  As far as I can surmise, Kalb contends Shaq is the best because in Kalb's mind he's better than everyone else.  Purely circular argument.

In fact, you cannot objectively argue that Shaq's impact was better than any of the other 4 Kalb ranks in his top 5.

Click Here for a Win Profile of the best seasons of 5 all-time greats

Wilt has to be considered most valuable

Amongst Kalb's top 5: Shaq, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I think Wilt has to be the most valuable player.  He was simply further above his contemporary competition than the rest, and therefore was able to make a more positive win contribution to his teams.  As for who's the "best" player, that's purely speculative.

As you can see from my chart, Wilt's 1966-67 season easily eclipses anything produced by the other 5.  He was simply awesome, on par with Babe Ruth in 1927.  (Kareem's best season, you will notice, was in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform.)

As for Michael Jordan, he had a consistently great career, but he simply was not as far above his competition as Wilt Chamberlain was above his, and therefore he was not as valuable to the Bulls in any one season as Chamberlain was to the Sixers in 66-67.  You can argue he had greater intrinsic value to his team, I suppose.  I can't really argue that point either way.

I was surprised to discover what a poor offensive player Bill Russell was.  But he buttered his bread on defense and on the boards, and he did that for many seasons.  Shows what you can do even if you cannot score. 

close article | permalink

Ridnour is standing tall lately. (Morry Gash/AP)

Bobcats (11-21, 3-9 road) @ Bucks (15-18, 8-5 home)

Gametime: 7:35 p.m. central time (FS Wisconsin)

Injuries:

Bobcats: Sean May (knee) is out. Raja Bell (groin) is questionable.

Bucks: None.

08/09 Series:

Nov. 22: Bucks 79 @Bobcats 74

Dec. 5: @Bucks 101 Bobcats 96

08/09 Advanced Stats:

Bobcats Offense: 26th (103.1 points/100 possessions) Defense: 13th (105.1)  Pace:  28th (87.7)

Bucks Offense: 23rd (104.3 points/100 possessions) Defense: 8th (103.9) Pace: 11th (92.6)

Three points:

• New-look 'Cats. Charlotte has a fresh, new look since the last time Milwaukee saw them less than a month ago. The Bobcats traded away three-point/slam dunk specialist Jason Richardson in exchange for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell. Charlotte is 3-6 since the deal, but Boris Diaw has had some nice moments out of the Phoenix sun. In nine games with the Bobcats, the versatile Frenchman is averaging 15.0/8.1/4.9 and is hitting on 55.6 % of his long-range attempts. But he's also turning the ball over (3.9 TO) a ton and can't find his free-throw form (52.4 % from the line).
  
• Bobbing for wins. The Bucks are already 2-0 against the Bobcats this season and have a chance to double the fun by tomorrow night, with a home-and-home series to start the weekend. Milwaukee just loves to play the Charlotte; they are an incredible 13-3 against Charlotte all-time. And who could forget Yi Jianlian's near-perfect game against the Bobs just a shade over a year ago? The former Milwaukee forward dropped 29/10 with three steals on 14/17 shooting in his best game as a pro. Current first round rookie forward Joe Alexander doesn't appear primed for a similar breakout game -- he has three DNP's in last four -- but with Charlie Villanueva quiet of late, perhaps Scott Skiles will find a few minutes for Alexander to audition. Meanwhile, Charlotte rookie D.J. Augustin is averaging 12.5 points and 4.3 assists, earning him a place among the top five rookies in the latest Blogger MVP/ROY Rankings.
  
• Inside issues. The Bobcats (.542) and Bucks (.541) have the two worst team shooting percentages on inside shots in the NBA. Both teams attempt a lot of shots around the basket however, so they are middle-of-the-pack in scoring inside.

Coverage:

Queen City Hoops / Rufus on Fire

close article | permalink

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Bucks fans and welcome back for more myopic and often annoying attempts to trade a certain shooting guard, though I maintain we were headed down that road this summer until Kiki Vandeweigh called offering Richard Jefferson for Yi ... What would  Wyle E. Coyote do?

ON TAP this weekend: Bucks play a back-to-back with the Charlotte Bobcats (11-21), whom the Bucks beat twice before the Cats traded J-Rich to the Suns for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell. I don't have much to say about it, other than the Bucks should win them both. (Bucks won the first Friday 103-75, with Michael Redd shooting well in the blowout).  ... It can be tough to beat a team twice in two nights, and Charlotte does have some talent (Okafor, Gerald Wallace, D.J. Augustin) but this is a good weekend for the Bucks to show more of that mental toughness they played with in San Antonio.

Bad news: Despite a little help from those magic pain pills, Andrew Bogut's back is still bothering him. After the Bobcats game Friday Bogut said he didn't know whether he'll be able to play the Saturday game in Charlotte.

Bad taste in Skiles' mouth: Bogut didn't play Saturday and the 'Cats returned the favor, blowing out the Bucks (it was 98-77 late in the 4th; the Bucks closed the gap to 102-92 in garbage time). Needless to say, coach Scott Skiles was more than a little unhappy about the Bucks (16-19) mental tenacity, among other things, and for the second time this season said: "I've got a bad taste in my mouth right now." (The first time was after the Philly game Dec. 17). "... this kind of game is not how we wanted to represent ourselves. We clearly still have some things that we need to address." Yes, you do coach.

*************************

And with that, let's take a quick look back at a few things in 2008, because the editorial board says the big Damon Jones retrospective I was working on can wait until Damon's actually in playing shape and in a Bucks uniform.

The most popular Jinx blog of the year, if the Sportsbubbler hit counter is to be believed ... "Injections for all" - an August 21 inquiry into how Basketball Australia apparently treated Andrew Bogut's ankle injuries during the Olympics. I write "apparently" because the Aussie coach was never quite able to explain what had happened with the first ankle sprain. The post also included a few "artistically nude" pix of Aussie womens team star Lauren Jackson (quite on topic: Jackson had received a couple of cortisone shots to a creaky ankle so she could play in the Olympics.) The Naked Truth revealed.

************************** 

"It takes two NBA teams to make a player trade, and the odds of Utah being willing partners in this deal are about the same as the odds that the Jazz's Mormon owner will convert to Judaism." -- August 5, 2008

That spewed out after I had watched Andrei Kirilenko block Kobe Bryant's shot in game 4 of the Jazz-Lakers playoff series. Like a lot of Bucks fans, I like Utah's roster, and Kirilenko seemed a likely candidate for a Michael Redd swap. Kirilenko had cited some concerns in 2007 about living the rest of his basketball life as "a robot" in Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's system, and his contract is about the same dollars as Redd's. But Kirilenko is a longarmed, 6' 9" defensive machine who can block Kobe's shot. I just couldn't (and still can't) imagine Redd blocking Kobe's shot, and can't imagine why a team would trade anybody who could, even after admitting (more or less) to being a cyborg.

***************************

A brand new 2008 highlight:  Bogut 5, Duncan 3

Much ado is made of the Bucks 12-10 record against the Spurs in The Tim Duncan Era. Jonny Mac & Jim Paschke talk about this phenomenon every time the Bucks play the Spurs, and it's a neato-cool thing to be able to say -- no other team can say it's beaten Duncan more than it's lost to him, unless you account the aggregation of Shaq-dom with the Lakers, Heat and Suns.

Leave it to me, however, to point out that this bit of NBA trivia is somewhat misleading when you consider that what's driving this phenomenon is the inability of Duncan and the Spurs to beat The Big Three Bucks.  Ray Allen and Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson lost twice to Duncan and Hall of Fame center David Robinson in Duncan's rookie year (1997-98). But after Sam "I am" Cassell joined Ray and Dog in 1999 the Bucks trio never lost to the Spurs again, going 6-0 (they didn't play the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season).

The Bucks simply had the Spurs completely outgunned at the Big Three positions. This was before the advent of Manu Ginobili; and Tony Parker and Bruce Bowen were Spurs for only the last two defeats. Shooting guard Antonio Daniels, however, was around for all six of them, often found guarding Ray ... sorta. The Big Three was a nightmarish matchup for the Spurs

To be fair, a few Spurs careers were in their twilight years and the team was in transition to the one that would win the 2003 title and become the Spurs we know today. Forward Sean Elliott retired in 2001. Avery Johnson was 36 in 2001; so was David Robinson, who retired in 2003 having lost 6 of his last 10 games vs. the Bucks.

Nothing Spurs coach Gregg Popovich did could net a win against The Big Three, and it wasn't for lack of trying. It started Nov. 18, 1999 in Milwaukee when George Karl went small in the 4th quarter of a close game and the Bucks bombed the defending champion Spurs off the court, 99-88. Here's a treat: the Michael Hunt game story. 

By March 31, 2001, Pop had realized that Sam had special Sam-I-Am powers over Avery; and that Big Dog'd start happily slobbering and barking and wagging his dogness whenever Elliot limped out onto the court to defend him. So that night Pop started defensive-minded Terry Porter and Derek Anderson on Sam and Ray, and checked Big Dog with Duncan, going big by starting Danny Ferry at the other forward. It was a nice idea and it forced the Bucks into a bad shooting night -- but Bucks big forward Jason Caffey killed the Spurs underneath while Duncan was out harassing the Big Dog, and Pop's defensive stalwarts (Duncan included) couldn't put the ball in the basket. Bucks won 86-77. The Spurs won 58 games that season, the Bucks 52.

Here's another one from the basketball-reference archives, less than a year later, Dec. 23, 2001:  Ray didn't play in this game but Sam-I-Am and Big Dog went off, shooting a combined 28-45 for 63 points. Michael Redd filled in for Ray, scoring 16 points on 6-11 shooting (Redd was very efficient, once upon a time). The Spurs just couldn't keep up with the scoring pace, and the Bucks won 101-91 in San Antonio.

Six days later in Milwaukee, again with Ray out, the Spurs would take the Bucks to OT only to lose. As in previous meetings, Big Dog romped with 24 on a good shooting night, but this time it was Anthony Mason inside for 18 and Tim Thomas with four 3-pointers off the bench that killed the Spurs. The Spurs finished with 58 wins; the Bucks, 18-9 after their two wins vs. the Spurs, would flop and finish 41-41, missing the playoffs.

The Spurs took five of the next six from the Bucks as George and Ernie dismantled the Big Three and were dismissed; and new GM Larry Harris set course for the Michael Redd era. The Spurs picked up Manu, David Robinson retired and Pop even hired Big Dog to help out in the 2005 championship run. 

The dynamic changed again in the 2005 offseason. The Bucks drafted Andrew Bogut. Since then, the Bucks are 5-3 vs. Duncan. There's some luck involved (the Kukoc-to-Bogut tap-in play at the buzzer in Bogut's rookie year is unforgettable) but some skill too, which was on display Tuesday: Bogut had 20 pts, 14 rebs, 4 assists and harassed Duncan into a 7-20 shooting night.

I hereby propose a simplification of this factoid to avoid any Bucks-have-a-whammy-on-the-Spurs confusion with The Big Three Bucks, who really did have the whammy on the Spurs. Fox Sports North graphics people and Bucks broadcasters Jonny Mac and Jim Paschke should focus the message as follows: Andrew Bogut 5, Tim Duncan 3.  It's simple, effective, and gets to the crux of the current situation, which is that Bogut plays very well against Hall of Famer-to-be Tim Duncan.

**************************

"Mo Williams trade: Cavaliers get their Shooter - but how did the Bucks do?"  The Apocolypse Now of all Mo Williams trade analyses, and the most-widely read Jinx other than Bogut's ankles and Lauren Jackson's naked truths. The Sportsbubbler eds liked this one a lot, and it still holds up, I think  ... "Mo Williams had to be one happy-go-shooting point guard Wednesday after the Bucks, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City finalized a trade that sent Mo to the Cavs and brought point guard Luke Ridnour from OK City to the Bucks. ..."

Also featured is MiniShaq's ultimate Lucky Luke Ridnour mix. Hit it or quit it.

*****************************

If you were allotted one, and only one, Bob Boozer Jinx blog to read from 2008, I would point you to May 16th's "In the spirit of Al McGuire". It's about Jim Boylan, Scott Skiles lead assistant, who was also with him in Chicago. Boylan took the reins in Chicago after Skiles left (or was asked to leave - or a little of both, as the story goes, Christmas Eve 2007). Boylan was Al McGuire's point guard on the Marquette 1977 NCAA Championship team. Those are the thumbnail facts.

The story isn't even about the Bucks or basketball really, though it does speak to the kind of person that Scott Skiles surrounds himself with and the wisdom found on this Bucks coaching staff. It's about something greater, I think, simply because Al McGuire's in it.  Here's a clip:

"'I told the guys that we shouldn’t concentrate so much on winning. Let’s concentrate on letting go of the things we can’t control and free ourselves to be the kind of players we know we are. Live in the moment.'

That quote from Boylan, Bucks fans, is the Al McGuire basketball philosophy to the letter. It was infused throughout the basketball world in the late 1970's and early 1980's when McGuire was on top of that world and players, especially those on Al's home turf in state, were told to play "in the moment" and forget the scoreboard. The coaches would let you know when to look at the scoreboard and the clock. It was all very mystical and Zen, long before Phil Jackson won championships and wrote Sacred Hoops.  It was very McGuire."

******************************

It was only a matter of days after the Celtics had eliminated the Cavs from the 2008 playoffs that Cavs fans decided to get proactive about finding a # 2 scoring option for Lebron James. Paint Cleveland Redd '08 was born. The campaign was the brainchild of Cavaliers Corner blogger Dan Labbe, who blogs at the Cleveland Plain Dealer's online site, Cleveland.com. (Yes, blogs "at" the the daily newspaper's site, as part of its regular sports coverage, unlike the separate reality JSOnline has created for its fan hub here. That's supposedly changing soon I'm told, so look for the Bob Boozer Jinx sometime soon, maybe, on the JSOnline Bucks pages.)

Cleveland fans are fun, and they love their Lebrons. Sweet Caroline's