The Bratwurst - Milwaukee Bucks Blog

Last night the Knicks tried their hardest to set basketball back a few years. The team has clearly pretty much given up on themselves and their coach, and needed a last-second, 37 foot 3 pointer to reach 59 points and avoid setting a team records for the lowest scoring output in a game. It was so bad that Boston had pulled Garnett, Pierce and Allen by the beginning of the 4th quarter, and the Knicks still got ouscored in the 4th by an 22-18 margin.

They didin’t play any offense, shooting 30%; or defense considering they forced a whopping six Celtic turnovers. At one point the Celtics had 20 assists and zero turnovers.

So after that display, what do the Bucks have to worry about?

I’m really afraid of a sort of “a wounded dog comes out fighting” thing tonight.

The problem is that the Knicks’ collection of talent dovetails right into the Bucks’ weaknesses. Specifically, Zach Randolph and David Lee are the sort of power forwards that give the Bucks fits. While Randolph will probably be gunning for his own stats, you never know when he will gun his way to a 35 point night. David Lee does all the “dirty work” plays that keeps teams in games. Both of these guys will be tough covers for Yi.

The other key is that Andrew Bogut has to stay out of foul trouble. If Eddy Curry gets that ball in the post, then let him score. For all their weaknesses, the Knicks are actually a pretty good rebounding team and in order to keep guys like Lee and Balkman from cleaning up on the glass, the Bucks need to have Bogut in there.

The other matchups tonight:

Mo Williams vs. Stephon Marbury: Marbury’s game — and possibly his sanity — have seriously slipped in the last couple or years. He has lost a step and some of his court vision, and with his personal conflict with Isiah Thomas at the forefront he a pretty much given up on running their offense as well. He has also stopped trying on defense. All Mo needs to do to stop Marbury is sag off of him and keep him out of the lane.

Michael Redd vs. Jamal Crawford: I think the “Craford as budding superstar” can finally stop now. He hasn’t improved at all in 6 years now, and has settled into a reputation as an incredibly streaky player who either looks like a hall-of-famer or 12th man. It all averages out to an incredibly average player, albeit one who is way too thin to do anything against the new, well-rounded Redd. When matched up against Crawford, Redd should be able to get into the lane and to the foul line whenever he wants.

Desmond Mason/Bobby Simmons vs. Quentin Richardson: Knicks fans are blaming Richardson for the Boston loss, something about Richardson making some remarks about the Celtics not being very good beyond their big 3. Blaming a 45 point loss on one guy? Talk about struggling to find a scapegoat. Simmons vs. Richardson matchups are always fun, since they were high school friends and teammates at DePaul and with the Clippers. Richardson has chronic back problems and was never that great an athlete to begin with, so he’s become little more than a 3-point gunner and a pretty good, instinctive rebounder. Keep him off the boards and he’s nothing to worry about.

Andrew Bogut vs. Eddy Curry: A solid all-around game vs. one dominant skill. Curry is lazy, overweight, slow, and a beast within 2 feet of the basket. Bogut has to stay out of foul trouble against him, because other than scoring Curry offers so little that the Bucks are probably better off without him. I just love how Curry is too slow to get back on defense and yet routinely beats his man downcourt on offense. I don’t care how many points Curry scores, he still doesn’t scare me at all.

Yi Jianlian vs. Zach Randolph: Randolph is way too physical for Yi to stop him offensively, and way too lazy to chase Yi around the perimeter. It’s no surprise to me at all that the Curry/Randolph frontcourt hasn’t worked out and that both of their numbers are down. This matchup concerns me the most of all, because if Randolph is on his game — hitting jumers and throwing his body around — and Yi can’t handle him, Charlie V doesn’t really offer a much different look to try and stop him. The good thing, though, is that if Randolph is playing well then it keeps the Knicks best player — the pesky David Lee — off of the floor.

The bottom line: the Bucks really should win this game handily, and send Isiah Thomas off the home floor to yet another chorus of boos. The Knicks have quit on their coach, so the only thing that can win this game for them is a bunch of great individual efforts.

So this game is right there for the Bucks to take. Hopefully they grab the opportunity and get their second blowout win of the year.