Bucks lose it on the boards
After a ridiculous NBA All-Star break, Michael Redd made his long awaited comeback for the Bucks. It was as if he never came back. The Bucks lost again.
Redd looked quite rusty, as was to be expected. He had an off-game, but the Bucks kept it competitive through... defense!! The problem was they were beaten off the boards. The Bucks outshot the Pistons (eFG 46.5% to 42.8%), had the same number of turnovers (14), but were a -10 in the rebounding category (48 to 38), with the Pistons doubling up the Bucks on the offensive boards (18 to 9), giving them 12 additional field goal attempts. Detroit used the extra "reloads" to their advantage, getting the win on the Bradley Center hardwood, 84-83.
A couple of disturbing trends continued. Ever since his shoulder injury, and excepting his great game against the Knicks, Bucks PG Mo Williams has struggled mightily. Last night was no exception. In the last 10 games he's had an Eff48 of 18.64. That's way too low. By comparison, his Eff48 in the successful month of December was 29.65. (Making the situation worse last night, Earl the Pearl actually had a counterproductive night. See below.) Also, the Bucks continue to allow too much production from the opponents 4 spot. Last night they didn't go crazy (Rasheed Wallace Eff48: 26.52; Antonio McDyess Eff48: 34.56) but it would be nice to see the Bucks shut down the 4 spot just once. They couldn't do it last night.
Here are the Bucks' Eff48 numbers from last night:
Patterson.......36.48
Bell..............29.05
Bogut............25.84
Redd.............15.99
Skinner.........15.62
Williams..........3.69
Boykins.........-(6.83)
Respect for KG
Everyone keeps saying the Timberwolves need to trade Garnett to a contender. I've always contended "Why?". Where is it written that superstars deserve to be traded if their team's suck? Just so they can get a championship for their mythical "legacies"? I've never bought into that notion.
And it seems neither has KG. When asked whether he would demand a trade from Minnesota he said no. He thinks the team should build around him rather than trading him. Thank you, KG.
The Wolves have one of the best talents of this generation and they can't seem to do anything with him. Under the mathematical formula that evaluates the number of extra wins a player brings to a team, Garnett is consistently amongst the NBA's most winning players. The problem is the garbage around him adds nothing. The Wolves have no concept how to build around Garnett. They need to ship out their management, not Garnett.
Photo Credit: AP/Darren Hauck
posted by Ty Will @ Wednesday, February 21, 2007
4 Comments:
Just wondering, according to the box score I saw Redd started at small forward? Seemed strange to play him out of position in his first game back after injury, or did matchups dictate this?
To answer the question above, it's because Stotts likes to play AS MANY GUARDS AS POSSIBLE. Given that Naismith limited each team to five players on the court at one time, it allows Terry to run a lineup of Earl, Mo, Bell, Redd and Ruben at times.....
It's wildly successful as you can see. Tonight against the Pacers, Bell, Mo and Redd combined for 83 points and we still lost.
Went to the game tonight. Gotta say, it ended up as a lot better night out than the first quarter foreshadowed. Still disappointing in the end.
All Stephen Jackson jerseys must go, $10 gets one at Conseco.
Terrific point, Pressey. I was just thinking about that, actually. It goes along way toward explaining why the Bucks are getting killed up front. For the strategy to have any chance of success, Skinner has to play above his ability. Lately he's been doing just the opposite.
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