Ginobli drops 30 "Quiet" Points on the Bucks

One time I scored 25 points in a high school game. Felt all proud. After the game a buddy of mine was looking at the scoresheet and said "You scored 25? Wow, that was a quiet 25."

What the hell does that even mean?

I bring it up because last night Spurs SG Manu Ginobli dropped 30 on the Bucks. But after the game Coach K tried to argue that the Bucks played good defense on him because it was a "quiet 30 points."

What difference does that make? I don't know about you, but I thought Ginobli's 30 looked pretty "loud" on the scoreboard.

On the other hand, there is such a thing as an ineffective 25 points...

Click here to see the Bucks Win Score Breakdown

Redd ineffective, Mason/Bogut brilliant

Michael Redd scored 25 points, and some of them came with pretty impressive shots. But, when it comes down to his overall contribution to victory, he wasn't very good. He only had one assist and 4 rebounds in 39 minutes, he missed 11 of 19 shots, and he turned the ball over a whopping 6 times.

On the other hand, Andrew Bogut, Desmond Mason, and Bobby Simmons all had outstanding games. Bogut and Mason controlled the boards, and Simmons played a very nice "power forward" after the Bucks got nothing from Charlie V and Yi.

Also, the Bucks played an outstanding overall defensive game, holding the Spurs to a Win Score of 36, which is 6.4 under the NBA average, and 11.9 under the Bucks Oppositions' average for the season.

Rabbit Ears Ref costs the Bucks

That young ref was obviously wrong when he ran Bucks PG Mo Williams in the 3rd Quarter. The foul he called on Mo was a phantom foul, and then he gave Mo 2 T's before Mo even got out 3 sentences. Unless Mo said something very personal about his mother, that ref needs thicker skin. It costs the Bucks the game last night because it brought Poison Ivey into play...

The Ivey illusion

"Full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

Royal Ivey is constantly getting praised by the Bucks television announcers, but when you look at his statistics after the game, they inevitably stink. I think I figured out the disconnect.

Remember the episode on Seinfeld when Costanza revealed his trick for seeming busy at his Yankee job when in fact he wasn't doing anything? He said he would make "stressed out" noises and gestures, like sighing loudly or grimacing, and whenever he did his boss Wilhelm would think he was actually getting something accomplished.

I think that's what happens with Royal Ivey. Everything he does looks difficult. He looks so active on defense, which leads to observations like "Tenacious defense from Royal Ivey!" But then his man scores on him at will.

Or he'll doing things like making a bounce pass while falling down, which he did last night. "What a pass by Ivey!" the announcers proclaimed. But it wasn't that great a pass... its just that he made it look more difficult than it was by losing his balance.