The Bratwurst - Milwaukee Bucks Blog

Several years ago, I was on a co-ed rec league flag football team. As many of you have probably experienced, most good football players wont play in a co-ed league, so the key to a good team is (1) organization and (2) having at least one really good female player, since typically the rules state that a girl has to touch the ball once every four downs. Our team was pretty much lacking in female talent (except for one who was deceptively quick but had awful hands. She was a great edge rusher. Sort of a female Lawrence Taylor without the coke habit), but we were really well organized.

So after getting smoked in the first two games we came out in a zone. It worked great for the entire regular season, as no other team seemed to know what hit them. Next thing you know we were picking off passes left and right, winning games we had no business winning, and even won one game on forefit when the opposing QB — frustrated because we were in the process of returning his fifth interception for our third defensive touchdown — tackled the returner, touching off a brawl.

It worked great until the second round of the playoffs, when we ran into a team with a good quarterback.

It took him two posessions to figure us out. Because we had to use guys at the safety positions and middle linebacker, at least one of our edge players had to be female (and there was usually a second gap, because LT pretty much did nothing but count to five and rush the QB). Soon enough they were running quick outs one after another, flooding whichever zone a weaker girl was covering. We couldn’t cover the holes fast enough. 30-0, season over.

And that, dear reader, is why the Bucks should never, ever play zone.

I remember years ago, when zones weren’t allowed in the NBA, commentators saying that nobody would ever use them because NBA players shoot too well and would just bomb away over them. Well, the Bucks have certainly been proving that one true over the last couple of games.

It’s one thing if you have Kevin Garnett covering the baseline. It’s another if you have big, physical perimeter defenders who can sag inside to cover their zones and then close out fast enough to reach the shooters and contest outside shots. But the Bucks don’t have anybody like that. Bogut may have blocked some shots recently but he’s not an eraser or even exceptionally quick. Redd has spent seven years proving that he’s not much of a defender — he doesn’t have enough lift to deny an open shooter in a zone. What is Mo or Bell going to do in that situation? How are they going to close out on guys who are consistently 4-6 inches taller than them?

But despite having completely the wrong personnel for a zone that hasn’t stopped Krystkowiak from whipping it out over the last two games. And, what do you know, the Bucks zone defense has gotten shredded by the likes of Joe Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Kyle Korver and even Andre Iguodala.

It’s one thing to look at the box scores and say, “well, they just had a hot shooting night.” It’s another to watch open shot after open shot after open shot. If you never contest a shot then any NBA players’ shooting percentage is going to go up by 20%. And when the Bucks play zone, the opponents should always be able to get an uncontested shot. And that will turn plenty of 6 point deficits into 15 in a hurry, just like it has the last two nights.