WHO: (7-9) @ (9-6) WHERE:Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI WHEN: 7:00 PM Central TV-Radio MILWAUKEE: TV: FSN North RADIO: WTMJ 620 Los Angeles: TV: KCAL RADIO: ESPN Radio 1330 PREVIOUS MATCHUPS Bucks: Magic 84 @ Bucks 104 Lakers: Bobcats 98 @ Lakers 99 Streaks Bucks: Won 3 Lakers: Won 1 Injuries Bucks: Joe Smith- OUT (Knee) Bobby Simmons- Questionable (Ankle) Lakers: Kwame Brown- OUT (Hamstring) Deaven George- Probable (Foot) Slava Medvedenko- OUT (Back) Aaron McKie- OUT (Quad) Sasha Vujacic- Probable (Ankle) Probable Starters C: Jamaal Maglorie/Chris Mihm PF: Andrew Bogut/Brian Cook SF: Bobby Simmons/Lamar Odom SG: Michael Redd/Kobe Bryant PG: TJ Ford/Smush Parker 6th Men: Mo Williams/Luke Walton Coaches: Terry Stotts (1st yr w/ Bucks, 3rd ov. 61-91) Phil Jackson (6th yr w/Lakers 293-132, 15th yr ov. 838-325) Matchup to Watch Michael Redd vs. Kobe Bryant Mike: 25.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 45.9% FG 55.7% 3Pt FG Kobe: 32.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.1 APG, 41.6% FG 25% 3Pt FG GMan's Predictions Bucks come off a blow out win and two days off, Lakers will have one day off coming off a close victory at home against the Cats. Bobby is questionable, but I expect him to play. I think the Bucks rebounding and inside game will be too much for the Lakers weak front court. Bucks win this one... Bucks 102 Lakers 90
Well, even when he's healthy, Redd isn't the type of guy who can shut Kobe down, so I expect him to get about 40. As long as he doesn't pwn Bogut too badly, right Shape? The Bucks should win this game. I think we've got a big advantage in the post, with Bogut and Magloire, who are both going to need to give us some consistent offense. We aren't going to stop Kobe, so what we need to do is make sure his role players don't hurt us too badly. TJ is going to really have to step up on Smush Parker. If he goes nuts hitting 3s like he has a couple times this year, the Bucks' lives become a little more difficult. Brian Cook might be the biggest matchup problem the Lakers present to us. Bogut is not going to be able to keep up with him on the perimeter, so I think that Bobby Simmons is going to have to not only play, but play very well on defense. He's going to have to help on Cook as much as he's going to have to defend Odom. This is the type of game the Bucks need to win, against a sub .500 team at home, but the Lakers present some sure matchup problems for us, and we're going to need to take care of business against a dangerous team. Bucks 105 Lakers 99
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Schaddy:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, even when he's healthy, Redd isn't the type of guy who can shut Kobe down, so I expect him to get about 40. As long as he doesn't pwn Bogut too badly, right Shape? The Bucks should win this game. I think we've got a big advantage in the post, with Bogut and Magloire, who are both going to need to give us some consistent offense. We aren't going to stop Kobe, so what we need to do is make sure his role players don't hurt us too badly. TJ is going to really have to step up on Smush Parker. If he goes nuts hitting 3s like he has a couple times this year, the Bucks' lives become a little more difficult. Brian Cook might be the biggest matchup problem the Lakers present to us. Bogut is not going to be able to keep up with him on the perimeter, so I think that Bobby Simmons is going to have to not only play, but play very well on defense. He's going to have to help on Cook as much as he's going to have to defend Odom. This is the type of game the Bucks need to win, against a sub .500 team at home, but the Lakers present some sure matchup problems for us, and we're going to need to take care of business against a dangerous team. Bucks 105 Lakers 99</div> Yeah I had this game circled after Bogut took those cheap shots against Kobe. I'm sure those comments will be posted all over the locker room to remind #8. Kobe hasn't been shooting the ball very well, but last night he started attacking the rim again. His teammates are finally learning the offense and making teams pay when they double on Kobe. Brian Cook has been the main recipient from Kobe double teams, and I think he could have a big impact on tomorrow's game. The Bucks don't really have a big man to guard the perimeter with Smith injured, and Gadzuric buried in the rotation. The key for the Lakers though is Odom. He has to neutralize the Bucks size on the inside by putting pressure on Bogut and Magloire, and forcing them into cheap fouls. The Lakers are thin in the middle, and Mihm is as soft as tissue. Lakers have to hold the Bucks to one and down on offense, and not allow Ford to break down the defense. The Lakers are one of the worst at transition defense, and Ford loves pushing tempo, should be a key matchup with Smush and TJ. I expect Kobe to lockdown Redd in this game. He did a number on him last year and seems driven to contain all the elite scorers in the league.
Schaddy, you weren't kidding about the Bucks defense. They haven't played any so far in the game. The Lakers have 7 assists on 9 makes, and Smush Parker is torching the Bucks. Interesting starting lineup by the Lakers going with Sasha, Smush, and Kobe.
kobe 7-12.... micael redd 1-5.... not going well for redd so far, and the bucks needs to tighten up their D
Lakers lead 61-51 at halftime. The Lakers have capitalized on every single Buck turnover and the Kobe & Parker have a combined 38 points for the Laker backcourt. The Bucks got back in the game with Gadzuric back on the floor, but once he went to the bench Odom abused Bogut. Odom's just too, quick for the rookie and it's leading to Odom scoring or setting up his teammates for dunks. TJ Ford is a blur on the court, but he's passed up three wide open layups. No one on the Lakers can stay in front of him, and I expect him to have a big second half. Mo Williams is playing great tonight as well. He's a confident player and doesn't miss open looks. He leads the Bucks with 11 points and 5 assists at halftime. Kobe Bryant has kept Redd in check so far. Redd is 2-6 from the field and had one shot sent into the second row by Kobe. Redd is getting it done at the FT line though 6-6, but when Kobe is guarding him he hasn't done much.
LA Lakers 34 27 27 23 111 Final Milwaukee 25 26 21 20 92 Bucks Leading Scorer-Michael Redd 21 pts Others: Ford 16, Williams 14, Gadzuric 12, Bogut 9, Magloire 7, Kukoc 5, Bell 4Simmons 2, Welsch 2 Lakers Leading Scorer-Kobe Bryant 33 pts Others: Odom 24, Parker 20, Mihm 13, Walton 7, Vujacic 6, Bynum 3, Wafer 3George 2 Bucks Leading Reb.-Andrew Bogut, Dan Gadzuric 8 boards Others: Redd 6, Magloire 4, Simmons 4, Kukoc 3, Ford 2, Welsch 1, Williams 1 Lakers Leading Reb.- Lamar Odom 9 boards Others: Mihm 7, Bryant 5, George 5, Cook 5, Parker 4, Profit 2, Walton 2, Vujacic 1, Bynum 1 Bucks Leading Assists- Mo Williams 8 assists Others: Ford 6, Simmons 3, Bell 2, Redd 2, Kukoc 1 Lakers Leading Assists- Lamar Odom 8 Assists Others: Bryant 6, Vujacic 4, Parker 4, Walton 2, George 1 GMan's Thoughts Ehh.....so frusturating. Getting beat badly at home by a team I think we should be better than. Bobby Simmons didn't start the game, he played limited minutes in his return. Stats are pretty similar....weird. Shot the ball almost equal, rebounds were close. The difference was the Lakers forced turnovers, and got easy buckets off of them. Smush Parker had 7 steals. We also let Smush Parker score 20, thats bad. Lamar Odom had a phenomial game, close to a triple double. Kobe actually made his shot. Bucks D wasn't there, Lakers capatilized and played one of their best games of the year. Always tomorrow. Now I can't sleep tonight.... GMans MVP: Lamar Odom NEW RECORDS Bucks 9-7 Lakers 8-9 Next Games Bucks @ Philly Tomorrow Lakers @ Toronto Tomorrow
Well, tonight was a complete f***ing embarassment. Way to go, Bucks, you let a team that is not better than you come into your building and absolutely kick the **** out of you. Congrats! Hey, everyone, let's give the Bucks a round of applause walking onto the court tonight! That's all they did, so let's thank them for it! It's tough when the other team seems to make a basket every single time you make a mistake, but you don't help yourself much when you make every friggin mistake you possibly can. Bucks, I've said it all season long, and I'm about to tear my hair out of my head. Where is your god damn defense? YOU DON'T PLAY ANY. NONE. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ON THE DEFENSIVE END. What is your problem? Jesus Christ almighty, guys, I cannot possibly imagine how you can show up for a professional basketball game and simply not give a **** that some other team wants to come in and hand you your ass with a cherry on top. YOU WERE LAZY TONIGHT. MUCH THE SAME AS THE GAME AT THE CLIPPERS. YOU SIMPLY SHOWED ZERO HEART ALL GAME. I'm just about fed up with watching these guys after a night like tonight. We need a trade or a new coach, something that's going to light a fire under someone's ass and make this team play defense. It's not just tonight, this thought has been creeping through my head for a couple of weeks now. Check out these stats: We are giving up 99.5 points per game. NINETY NINE POINTS PER GAME. Are you joking me? No team can have serious playoff aspirations when they can call allowing the opponent to score 98 points an above average defensive effort If we weren't second in the league in rebounding margin, we'd probably be 5-11 right now We're also 13th in the Eastern Conference in steals per game (that is so rediculously inexcusable for a young, athletic team like us that it's not even funny. TJ Ford has just about doubled up every other player on our team in steals), and we're 27th in the league in blocked shots. Again, you've got to be f***ing kidding me. Bogut, Magloire and Danny G and we're 27th? Jesus Christ. We're also allowing opponents to shoot 45.4% from the field (24th in the league) and 40.3% from 3 (second to last in the entire NBA). High holy f*** are we terrible on defense. This team needs a swift kick in the ass, because they simply are not getting it done on the defensive end. Other than TJ, Danny, Bobby (when healthy) and Jamaal, this team just doesn't give a **** about playing defense, and that has got to change.
I pin this loss on the coach. There were a lot of areas the Bucks could have taken advantage of and improved on in the second half. I didn't see any of those take place, and the Bucks continued to match up the wrong players on the Lakers two best people, Kobe and Odom. Putting Michael Redd on Kobe Bryant is a no win situation for the Bucks. Not only does Redd get torched on defense, he has to use a lot of energy chasing Kobe around. Burning this energy effects his offensive game and Redd also picked up some frustration fouls. The other mismatch, Andrew Bogut on Lamar Odom and then Toni Kukoc on Lamar Odom. Terrible coaching decision to let those slow footed players guard Odom. The Lakers scored a lot of easy baskets with Odom dribbling right by his man and forcing the defense to collapse. I thought the Bucks should have told TJ to be more offensive minded in the 2nd half as well. He had dribble penetration all game long, but instead of scoring a layup, he kicked the ball out. You like to see your guard pass, but when you're down by 10, and TJ has an advantage, he has to switch gears and become a scorer. What's the deal with Dan Gadzuric? He was the most effective defender on Odom, but he barely played in the 2nd half. Is he in the doghouse for some reason?
He can't be in the doghouse-he's the highest energy player we've got. If he's in Stotts' doghouse, then the problem is with Stotts and no one else. This is why I got so mad when we cut Terry Porter. He'd get the guys to play tough, physical defense when they needed to a couple years ago; Stotts is just letting them go out and run around like the whole friggin game is a pickup game and he thinks that ridiculous matchups are going to solve the problem. I think he's just plain not a very good coach.
