Last night's loss goes on Coach K

Collectively, the Milwaukee Bucks played an outstanding basketball game last night. However, with a bit better resource management by Coach K, the Bucks could have won.

In terms of Win Score, six of the nine players who participated in last night's game for the Milwaukee Bucks had either above average or outstanding games. Two had below average games, and one had an absolutely awful game. Unfortunately, the latter three started the game and were given extended playing time. That may have been the difference in the outcome.

Actually, the narrative can be condensed even further and focused entirely on one position: small forward. The starter, Bobby Simmons, had an atrocius game. His shot selection started out poorly and then became laughable. His scoring efficiency numbers, 12.3%, indicated he could not hit the building if he were standing in the doorway. Meanwhile, his "backup", Michael Redd, had a superlative game. His scoring efficiency numbers, 61.3%, were off the chart. He was really zeroed in on the target. Yet somehow Simmons was alloted two more minutes of floor time than Redd.

Milwaukee Bucks Win Contributions

vs. Los Angeles Lakers 01/11/08

Andrew Bogut...........WS: +6.57................WC: +.793

Michael Redd............WS: +6.69...............WC: +.696

Maurice Williams.........WS: +2.60.............WC: +.465

Charlie Villanueva...........WS: +7.29.............WC: +.455

Charlie Bell....................WS: +1.89................WC: +.196

Michael Ruffin................WS: +2.53................WC: +.189

Yi Jianlian......................WS: -1.20..................WC: -.165

Royal Ivey......................WS: -3.03.................WC: -.290

Bobby Simmons...............WS: -12.63...............WC: -1.420

Note: Win Score, or WS, compares the player's production to the production of an average player at that position, with a WS of 0.00 representing the average player's production. Win Contribution, or WC, multiplies the player's WS times the player's percentage of overall playing time (overall playing time= 240 minutes per game) to assess the player's overall impact on the game. Thus, a player who has a higher WS than another player can still have a lower WC if his playing time is lower.