The horror! Bucks blow big lead to Bulls

If the CIA is searching for any new torture techniques down in Guantanamo, I've got a suggestion. Turn all the prisoners into hardcore Bucks fans and then force them to listen to radio accounts of Bucks games (there was no TV because of the ABC contract) where the Bucks blow 18 point 4th quarter leads and end up losing. To the Bulls. God, is that painful. And Ted Davis, the radio Voice of the Bucks (who is otherwise awesome) always makes it an especially excruciating experience with his Chinese water torture "lead countdowns" ("The lead is down to THREE! It was EIGHTEEN!!!").

Redd couldn't do it alone

Michael Redd had a spectacular first three quarters scoring 44 points. He ended with 52 points and a spectacularly productive stat sheet, but after three quarters the Bulls put Adrian Griffin on him, and he basically was shut down from there (he went 4-for-10 for 8 points in the last two frames). Not surprising -- you couldn't expect him to stay white-hot all day. The problem was the Bucks offense was so Reddcentric or Reddmesmerized, that when he went cold no one else wanted to -- or had the cahones to -- step up. It sounded on the radio as though the other 4 Bucks started playing hot potato when the game got close ("Here Mike, you take it!").

How the Bucks blew an 18 point lead

While that foolishness was going on at the Bucks offensive end, something much more pathetic was occuring at the Bucks defensive end. NO ONE on the Bucks could shut down the 6'1'' Ben Gordon, who absolutely went nuts, and ended the game with a career high 48 points. He dominated the final stretch of the game. From the time the Bucks took their soon-to-be infamous 18 point lead (100-82, with 9:02 left in the fourth quarter) until the end of overtime, the diminutive Gordon scored as many points personally as the Milwaukee Bucks did collectively (21). That is piss poor.

Gordon was not alone. The Bucks weren't stopping any other Bull either. From the aforementioned 9:02 mark until the end of the game, the Bulls shot 15 for 20 from the field. For you math geniuses out there, that's 75%!! And their effective field goal percentage (they hit three 3's which each count as an extra 0.5 makes) was 82.5 frickin' %!! They couldn't do better against air. Actually, I can't vouch for the fact that they weren't playing against air since I was listening on the radio and all I could hear was a dissipating lead.

While all that was happening, the Bucks great offense was stuck down in Walker Point in the Klement's meat locker. During the above referenced stretch the Bucks as a team went 8-for-26 from the field with 6 turnovers. That's 24 empty trips in less than 15 minutes of game action. Are you beginning to feel my pain?

Don't blame The Pirahna

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why aren't you laying into Ruben? Ruben Patterson choked at the line with 0:03 on the clock when he could have won the game for Milwaukee rather than merely tying it (he made one of two). But I think the "Pirahna", as Ted Davis calls him, has earned some slack. At least he has around here. The problem, to my mind, was no defense and a suddenly ice cold offense. Here are the numbers:

Bucks Diary Eff48 BoxScore

121

Redd...........................................43.63

Patterson.....................................25.26

Bogut..........................................23.44

Skinner........................................23.04

Villanueva.....................................22.28

Bell.............................................13.50

Williams........................................09.79

126

Gordon............................................36.76

Griffin.............................................27.10

Deng...............................................25.46

Wallace............................................24.61

Hinrich.............................................22.15

Thomas............................................18.00

Duhon..............................................12.63

Photo Credit: AP/Darren Hauck