For the most part, the Bucks hustled throughout but were simply overwhelmed in too many aspects of the game to seriously challenge the Suns.
Here are the particulars:
OFFENSE
Michael Redd and Charlie Villanueva are professional scorers, smoothly racking up points from here, there, and everywhere. It would require a laboratory environment and a super-sensitive timing device to determine which of them has the quicker release. Too bad neither one is much of a passer.
Charley's NBA tour
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Charley Rosen has been watching every team closely this season. Now he has a scouting report on each one.
Richard Jefferson isn't quite as fluid as Redd or Villaneuva and has to work much harder to generate makeable shots — but he's still a major-league scorer. Jefferson is also more active without the ball. The Bucks' offense is most effective when they run isos (including post-ups) for Redd, Villanueva, and RJ. The hazard here is the resulting lack of ball movement — each team tallied 44 baskets, but Phoenix out-assisted Milwaukee by 23 to 18. Jefferson deserves special praise for driving the ball right at Shaq (twice!) knowing that he would be taking big hits. Which he certainly did. Andrew Bogut hit a jumper, beat Shaq downcourt for a layup (the Big Aristotle was engaged in a heated dialogue with the refs at the time), showed a nifty left-handed baby hook, and climbed the offensive glass for the rest of his 15 points. Luke Ridnour registered 10 assists but frequently looked shaky with the ball — particularly when trying to force his way through a crowd. His shooting was way off, which is not exactly news to NBA aficionados. This guy just doesn't have the stuff to be a starting point guard on a winning ball club. Ramon Sessions most likely represents Milwaukee's future at the point. He's faster, quicker, a better finisher, and a far superior athlete to Ridnour. This is his first full-season in the NBA, and the odds are that he'll replace Ridnour in the starting lineup before too long. Luc Mbah a Moute has a quirky shot-release that limits his accuracy, but he plays with total intensity. Dan Gadzuric hit a mid-range jumper and showed quick ups.With Jefferson, Villanueva, and Redd combining for 69 points, neither shooting (a more than competent 46.8 percent from the field, including 6-14 from beyond the arc), scoring, nor offensive rebounding (16 to the Suns 11) were at all problematic for Milwaukee.
Unfortunately, all three of these point-makers have to bring their respective A-games for the Bucks to be competitive — and of the three, Villanueva is the most inconsistent.
All of which means that the erratic Bucks' offense has little margin for error.
DEFENSE
Jefferson turned his head a couple of times, yet he was the only Buck who consistently made appropriate rotations on defense. The bigs rotations were either late or ended up much too close to the basket to have any dampening effect on the Suns offense. Mbah a Moute plays serious defense. For sure he was mostly abused by Amare Stoudemire, but he never stopped scraping — fronting the bigger man, three-quartering him, and/or attacking entry passes. Redd played veteran-savvy defense, understanding when to go where, and how to get there. Ridnour was repeatedly chumped by Steve Nash, and was routinely rubbed out by high screens as well. Villaneuva's defense is soft. In the first half, Bogut made no attempt to do anything else but stay hidden behind Shaq's considerable mass. If Bogut was slightly more aggressive after the intermission, he still defended Shaq as though he was afraid of either getting hurt or posterized. If Bogut is slow of feet, he has long arms and strong hands, which translate into his being a superior rebounder. Gadzuric jumped around, and fouled out in 9 minutes. Sessions defense is earnest and quick-handed, but extremely inexperienced.
The lack of both courageous (Bogut) and massive (Gadzuric and Francisco Elson) interior defense was trumped by Shaq for 35 points. The doubles on Shaq's first moves were abysmally late — but why, when it became clear that he was dominating the game, wasn't he simply two-timed on the catch? Not that Shaq was the only player the Bucks failed to control — overall, Phoenix shot a blistering 58.7 percent.
For sure, the Bucks swarmed the paint with fast-handed defense that accounted for their 12 steals. But a major factor here was the Suns sloppy ball-handling.
It should be expected that Scott Skiles' manic focus on defense will eventually improve Milwaukee's screen/roll rotations — and that this team will eventually improve to the point where they can repeatedly beat up on the league's many weak sisters.
But what does Milwaukee need to move up to the next level?
Sessions and Mbah a Moute to take at least three experience pills on a daily basis. Villanueva to develop consistency. Bogut to be a man among men. Another space-eating big. More toughness more often from more players.In other words, Skiles should seriously be considered for the dreaded Coach of the Year award if the Bucks finish with hailing distance of 41 wins.
Straight Shooting
Some observations as the season nears the quarter pole:
Too often, the Lakers react to having a big lead by taking bad shots and playing loose defense. Remember Game 4 of the Finals? Apparently many of the Lakers do not. This unfortunate trend indicates that too many of the Lakers lack sufficient discipline and maturity, that they're also too cocky, and lack a killer instinct. All reasons that mitigate against their usurping the Celtics and winning PJ his tenth ring. Speaking of the Lakers, even with Andrew Bynum whole and hearty, their defense depends on quickness and they still don't have the interior power that's necessary to unseat Boston. While the Celtics are running through the league, sooner or later they'll miss James Posey and P. J. Brown. Without Posey as their defensive stopper, the task necessarily falls to Paul Pierce — but this is a risky business since PP also has to bear the primary burden of the offense. And without Brown, the Celtics' backups at the center spot are woefully undersized. If Don Nelson has given up on the Warriors season, it sure looks like his players have given up on him, and on each other. Will Phoenix ever successfully integrate the disparate talents of Shaq, Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire? Probably not. The OKC Thunder are a serious threat to challenge the 1972-73 Sixers for the worst record in NBA history (9-73). But what if the Thunder get rid of their veterans who still have some value — Nick Collison, Chris Wilcox, Damien Wilkins — and stock their squad with young, promising players? If they're going to lose anyway, why not make a full commitment to the future? (Joe Smith should be kept around so that his wisdom and professionalism might shorten the young players' learning curves.) The grateful, enthusiastic OKC fans will certainly support their own NBA team no matter what the record might be. At this point, do you think the Timberwolves would rather have O. J. Mayo than Kevin Love? And would Dallas rather have Devin Harris than Jason Kidd? What's going to happen when Yi Jianlian's diligent and multitudinous countrymen vote him into the starting lineup for the All-Star game? Will the NBA finally scrap the whole idea of letting fans select the starters, or is the pandering to millions of mostly myopic home-team rooters worth making the game even more of a farce than it already is? The final verdict is already in: Chauncey Billups has done more to improve the Nuggets than Allen Iverson has done for the Pistons. Notice the empty seats that have become so prominent in the background of virtually all NBA telecasts? Let's see — tickets for working folks cost from $50-$80 each, add at least another $50-$70 for parking, gas, beer for the grownups, and flimsy made-in-China NBA paraphernalia for the kiddies. The tab for Dad, Mom, Sis and Junior would amount to around $300. Compare this to all of the games for free on the tube. What to do? In the face of the financial downswing that affects civilians but not NBA players, said players should willingly accept a one-third cut in their contractual salaries. After all, can't a guy live just as well on, say, $6M as he can on $9M? Then the team owners should pass the same proportional savings on to their customers. There's no real reason why innocent bystanders like us should be called upon to make the most painful sacrifices.Vox Populi
Could you identify those players in the history of the NBA who were able to radically improve their early-career deficiencies on their way to greatness?— Radu, Bucharest, Romania.
Despite P. J. Carlesimo's contention that there's no difference between college and pro basketball, for some players making the huge leap is a painful experience. The longer games, the better competition, the quickness and physicality, the increased pressure to make correct decisions in a hurry, the limited practice time, and the constant traveling are considerable obstacles that must be overcome.
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Some top draft choices never make the adjustment — Marcus Fizer, DerMarr Johnson, Jerome Moiso, Mateen Cleaves, Donnell Harvey, Trajan Langdon, Rico Hill, Cherokee Parks, Eric Montross, and so on.
Some do almost instantaneously — Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing, Larry Bird, Dave Cowens, Terry Cummings, Adrian Dantley, Walter Davis, Joe Fulks, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Shaq, Magic, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Paul Arizin, Bernard King, Bob Lanier, Jerry Lucas, Pete Maravich, Earl Monroe, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Willis Reed, George Mikan, Rick Barry, LeBron James.
And some must undergo long seasons of disappointment, embarrassment, and frustration before they learn how to translate their specific skills into NBA success.
For example:
Chauncey Billups bounced around with Boston, Toronto, Denver, Orlando and Minnesota before becoming the perfect fit in Detroit's perfect puzzle. Kobe Bryant (averaged 7.6 ppg in his rookie season) was very young and very foolish, and had to learn there were four other guys wearing the same uniform. These days, he's not quite so young and not quite so foolish. Steve Nash (3.3 ppg) didn't average double-digits until his fifth season in the league. Since he wasn't a physical specimen, Nash had to learn how to recognize and anticipate all the angles, permutations and probabilities of the pro game.
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| Chauncey Billups took his lumps with four teams before hitting his stride with the Pistons. (Victor Baldizon / Getty Images) |
John Stockton (5.6 ppg) had to learn defense and screen/roll offense. That's why he didn't score double-figures until his fourth season in Utah. Sam Jones (4.6 ppg) had to learn where his shots would be coming from. Kevin Martin (2.9 ppg) had to bulk up and discover where the empty spaces and open lanes were. Gail Goodrich (7.8 ppg) was too slow to play the point and too short to play shooting guard — until he eventually discovered how to play a little bit of each position. Jermaine O'Neal (4.1 ppg) came out of high school, tried to do everything, and succeeded in doing very little — until he learned the parameters of his game. Ditto for Tracy McGrady (7.0 ppg). Dirk Nowitzki (8.2 ppg) had to toughen up and slow down. Other future all-stars and Hall-of-Famers who needed time to figure out NBA action included Paul Westphal (4.1 ppg), Alex English (5.2 ppg), Clyde Drexler (7.7 ppg), David West (3.8 ppg), Manu Ginobili (7.6 ppg), Devin Harris (5.7 ppg), Nate Thurmond (7.0 ppg), Baron Davis (5.9 ppg) and many others. And, as a rookie in 1960-61, Jerry West averaged "only" 17.6 ppg.Travels with Charley
When I coached the Rockford Lightning, the unmarried players had free lodging in a motel in town (the rent was subsidized for the apartments that the married guys occupied). The team also provided two cars to be shared by the motel-based players — a dark blue Oldsmobile, and a pink Lincoln. How they divvied up the driving time was strictly their business, and apparently everybody was happy because nobody complained.
Until one day when four of the single guys were a half-hour late for practice.
What was their collective excuse? Somebody had slashed all four tires on the "stinkin' Lincoln."
Say, what? How could that be? What could motivate someone to do that? None of them claimed to have a clue. It sounded like a fishy story to me, so I fined them all.
A few days later, I rescinded their fines when I finally discovered what had really happened.
It seems that one of the guys had a hot date and was allowed to use the car. However, it turned out that his date was the wife of a local contractor — and since the Lincoln was so easy to spot, the illicit get-together was quickly discovered by the outraged husband, who took his revenge on the car.
For the sake of total justice, and to hide the whole story from the team's ownership, I wanted to fine the backcourt adulterer the exact amount that it would cost to replace the tires. But the player in question (who'd spent some time in the NBA) made a deal with a local tire distributor, trading a batch of complimentary tickets for new tires.
Stumped, I let him slide with a $100 fine for being responsible for wasting a practice session.
But there's more to this tale.
My standard operating procedure was to use all of the collected fines as prize money for various shooting games. At our very next practice, there was $100 at stake for a 3-point shooting contest. And guess who won!
The moral is that, in the CBA, crime did pay.
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