The Bratwurst - Milwaukee Bucks Blog

It does seem to defy belief — down three with 10 seconds remaining in overtime to Boston, the Bucks need a quick score. Instead of going to Ramon Sessions or Richard Jefferson they wind up running a screen-roll with Joe Alexander and Dan Gadzuric?

Gadzuric would miss a six-foot floater and that ended the game.

It seems ridiculous that Gadzuric and Alexander would even be in a situation to touch the ball in a big moment, but that’s what happened. And I’m fine with it.

With Redd and Villanueva not suiting up, Bogut ejected and Ridnour fouled out; the Bucks were without 4 of their top 6 offensive players. And considering that Richard Jefferson had spent the whole game getting beaten down by Paul Pierce, that left Ramon Sessions as the only viable offensive threat the Bucks could put on the floor.

I knew that. You knew that. Doc Rivers certainly knew that.

So, assuming that Sessions would draw a crowd as soon as he touched the ball, why not run something for the two guys least likely to get the ball? Besides, taking a quick two was the Bucks’ best chance of winning the game at the time. Think about it:

If they make a two, foul, and Boston misses a free throw then they are in a situation where a three can win the game on the last shot.

If they make a three with 10 seconds remaining, then they are tied and the Celtics will have 10 seconds to work for the last shot — where they will most likely get a foul or force a second overtime.

If the game went to a second overtime, the Bucks — with only Jefferson and Sessions remaining of their good offensive players, and both of them with four fouls — would have been toast.

So why was Gadzuric and Alexander in the game? Alexander had to be in, since Tyronn Lue and Francisco Elson were the only other Bucks remaining on the bench after Ridnour fouled out. A good case for Elson being in over Gadzuric can be made, but while I was driving home I figured it out:

Gadzuric deserved to be in the game. He had come in cold and made two big free throws when Bogut was ejected, and had played pretty well for about nine minutes by the end of overtime. Does Elson, who would have been coming in cold, have that much better a chance of making a 6-foot shot than Gadzuric would at that time? Gadzuric still likely had about a 60% chance of making it.

Gadzuric had earned the playing time through his efforts after Bogut was ejected, and Scott Skiles let him keep his spot. Rewarding the guys who are playing hard. Good coaching.

Meanwhile, it’s too bad that the Bucks couldn’t pull out the Boston game, but with the team losing players left and right it’s not too big a surprise that the better team would win at the end. The Celtics simply had more guys on the floor who could get off a good shot whenever they needed it.

The problem, though, is that the NBA is reviewing the bogus call that got Bogut ejected in the first place. Clearly Garnett, who swung at and hit Bogut in the face, deserves a suspension but there seems to be some precedent to suspend Bogut as well, even though all he did was inadvertently hit Garnett in the mouth while getting smothered by KG.