Truman Reed

The 2011-12 National Basketball Association season has  created a different sense of urgency than many of its players have ever  experienced.

The Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t have responded to the urgent  call much better than they did on the night of Jan. 28.

The Bucks, who were coming off a 107-100 loss at Chicago the  night before, won the second game of a back-to-back for the second time this  season with a 100-89 triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers.

And the Bucks did it without starting center Andrew Bogut,  who will miss between 8 and 12 weeks with a fractured left ankle sustained at  Houston on Jan. 25, and second-leading scorer Stephen Jackson, who drew a  one-game suspension from the league for verbal abuse of a game official and failure to leave the  court in a timely manner following the loss at Chicago.
In a typical season, most NBA players would quickly file  away a January game and focus on the next one. But after the Bucks won game 19  of the lockout-shortened, 66-game season, several of them took a moment to  acknowledge the significance of the win.

“This was a good victory,” forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said. “I  think at the beginning of the game, we had really good energy and that’s  something we needed, especially playing a team like the Lakers. We kept that  energy the whole game.”

Point guard Brandon Jennings savored the win over his hometown team, too.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a confidence booster,” Jennings said. “This is not  the same Lakers team they had last year.

“They’re still the Lakers, though, and it does feel good to get a win.”

Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles liked what he saw from his team early and  often.

“We executed well offensively,” Skiles said. “We had some  great sequences of ball movement again.

“We did as good a job on their key guys as we could. I  thought we were outstanding on Kobe (Bryant), and he almost had a  triple-double. In particular Luc -- he did what Luc does.”

Mbah a Moute drew the assignment of guarding Bryant in the  fourth quarter after sharing those duties with Carlos Delfino and Shaun  Livingston during the first three periods. Bryant scored a game-high 27 points,  but went just 2 of 9 from the field in the final 12 minutes.

“We tried to make him have a tough night,:” Mbah a Moute said. “ We  succeeded.

“It was a team effort. Carlos got him off his spots early in the game and  I came in and tried to continue to do that.”

Bryant wasn’t the sole focus of the Bucks’ defensive effort,  which held the Lakers under 90 points for the fifth time this season and helped  Milwaukee snap a three-game home losing streak to the Lakers.

“It was clear shortly after the jump ball they were going to  try to go inside on us,” Skiles said. “I thought we held our own.

“We were smart about our fouling. We tried to push them out  of there and tried to control their length. Our big guys competed against them.  Those two guys are tough to cover.”

Drew Gooden started at center for Milwaukee in place of  Bogut for the second straight game and delivered team highs of 23 points and  eight rebounds, hitting nine of 15 shots from the field and four of four from  the line during a yeoman’s 36 minutes.

“Drew was great,” Skiles said. “As so often happens, they  made a little run at us and we had to make some big shots and big plays, and  tonight we made them.”

 Gooden has achieved  four double-doubles when starting at center this season.

“Before the game, the question was ‘How are we going to  guard Bynum and Gasol?’” Gooden said. “And I kept saying, ‘They’ve got to guard  us also. We put them in as many pick-and-roll situations as possible. We made  (Lakers coach) Mike Brown have to switch the coverage numerous times.

“They got a little confused out there on certain occasions  and it led to open jump shots or we made a play to the open man.”

The Bucks limited Lakers power forward Pau Gasol to 12  points on 6-of-18 shooting and Bynum to 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Milwaukee forwards Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders, playing  valuable reserve roles, were instrumental in frustrating Gasol at the offensive  end. Ilyasova scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked a shot in 24  minutes, 48 seconds and Sanders collected four rebounds and three blocks in a  13:19 stint.

“That meant a lot, especially with Bogut not being here,” Mbah a Moute  said. “He’s always our anchor down low. For us to go out and make it tough on a  guy like Gasol, that’s big. That’s a big reason why we won the game.”

“The fact that they had those two twin towers down there in Pau Gasol  and Andrew Bynum, I thought we did a great job on them,” he said. “Kobe Bryant  is going to do what he does regardless. But I think a big key was our bigs kind  of contained their bigs.”

Mbah a Moute liked the message his team sent from the get-go  as it opened a 27-23 first-quarter advantage.

“We have to come out and play hard from the start like we did tonight,”  Mbah a Moute said. “It says a lot for us to play the way we did tonight. With  Bogut out and with ‘Jack’ (Stephen Jackson) out, our energy was really high.

“We need to play at that level every night for us to be good. We pride  ourselves on playing defense and when we play hard there, it creates our  offense a lot of times.”

Milwaukee reserves played the majority of the second  quarter, during which the team extended its lead to 51-43. Swingman Mike  Dunleavy led the charge, scoring 10 of his 15 points during a 7:37 stint, and  Ilyasova, guard Beno Udrih and forwards Sanders and Jon Leuer also made key  contributions off the bench.

 Jennings pinpointed  that stretch of the game as a pivotal one.

“I think our second group played the biggest part in the success,” he  said. “They came in and really carried us in that second quarter especially.  They made that run and made some great plays for us.

“Our second group has really been helping us. Sometimes the starters,  including myself, don’t start off the game the way we want to, but they’ve been  coming in and picking us up. It’s been a team effort all the way around.”

Los Angeles tried to make a mount a comeback in the third  quarter, but the Bucks countered what the Lakers threw at them.

“The third quarter’s been rough for us,” Mbah a Moute said. “In the  games we’ve lost by a couple of points, we didn’t start off well in the third  quarter. That’s been critical for us.

“Tonight in the third quarter, they made a run at us, but were were able  to sustain and extend our lead in the fourth.”

Jennings said he didn’t take a lot of extra satisfaction in  the fact that the victory came over his hometown team, but he did make an  admission.

“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “I grew up kind of  a Lakers fan and also a Kobe Bryant fan … but it does feel good to beat them.”
  Mbah a Moute, who played collegiately at UCLA, said the win didn’t carry  any additional value for him, either, but he did notice something different  afterward.

“I just took a look at my phone,” he said. “There are a lot of text  messages. A lot of my friends are Lakers fans and they watch the game.

“When we win like we did tonight, it’s always fun to see what they have  to say after the game.”

Mbah a Moute looked at the big picture, too.

“This was a very good victory for us, and not just because they’re the  Lakers,:” he said. “The way we started the game tonight, we felt like we had a  good opportunity to win and we seized that opportunity. That’s always good for  the team.”

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bucks-respond-to-urgent-call

Bucks respond to urgent call

Little-known players getting chance with last year's NBA finalists

Judging  by what has transpired since the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat,  105-95, in Game 6 of the 2011 National Basketball Association Finals to win  their first league title, championship chemistry and continuity appear to be  things of the past.

Last  year's NBA runners-up entered the shortened 2011-12 NBA season as the consensus  favorites to win the 2012 title while the reigning champions had the fifth-best  odds.

If  either or both of those teams get back to the Finals, they will do so with  different casts of characters than they put on the floor last June.

Some of the personnel changes have been inventive ways to  follow the luxury-tax rules that came with the new collective bargaining  agreement. Some teams are creating salary cap space for next summer by signing  multiple players to single-year contracts.

Some of the players who have been brought aboard by last  year's NBA finalists need no introductions.

Miami, the consensus favorite to win the 2011-12  championship, added veteran forward Shane Battier to provide defense and an  additional 3-point shooting option. His addition should help ease the loss of  Mike Bibby and Eddie House, who bolstered the team's veteran nucleus during  last season's drive to the finals.

Second-year post player Dexter Pittman, a 6-foot-11-inch,  308-pound University of Texas product, is back with Miami after spending most  of his rookie season with the National Basketball Development League's Sioux  Falls Skyforce, playing just two games for the Heat.

Miami also signed former Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks  center Eddy Curry as a free agent. Health issues have kept Curry out of the  league since the 2009-10 season.

Pittman and Curry won't likely fill the shoes of Erick  Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Jamaal Magloire, who went elsewhere after  helping the Heat reach the 2011 Finals, but they at least give Miami two backup  post options.

Three other players who made the Heat roster are less  familiar to NBA fans, so introductions are in order.

Mickell Gladness, who could make the NBA's all-name team if  nothing else, is a 6-11, 220 post who led collegiate basketball in blocked  shots with an average of 6.3 per game as a junior at Alabama A &amp; M  University in 2006-07. Undrafted by the NBA, Gladness' professional basketball  experience has come with Matrixx Magic Nijmegen of the Dutch Basketball League.  He played in the 2010 NBA Summer League with Miami.

Terrel Harris, a 6-5, 190 guard, was named to the all-Big 12  Conference Defensive Team as a senior at Oklahoma State University in 2008-09.  Also undrafted by the NBA, Harris has since played for the Maine Red Claws and  Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBDL and for EnBW Ludwigsburg of the Basketball  Bundesliga in Germany. Miami signed Harris as a free agent in December and he  made the team's roster.

Another addition to Miami's cast, 6-2, 175 point guard  Norris Cole, didn't receive a lot of attention despite being chosen with the 28th  pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. Cole's  draft rights were traded on draft night to Minnesota and then to Miami.

The former Cleveland State University standout got his foot  in Miami's door with a 21-point, four-assist performance in the Heat's annual  Red &amp; Black Scrimmage, was rewarded with a roster spot and paid the team  back quickly.

He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter of Miami's  season-opening victory over the Boston Celtics and finished his first NBA game  with 20 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals. He was averaging  9.8 points and 3.3 assists through his first 12 pro contests.

Reigning  NBA champion Dallas lost Tyson Chandler, JJ Barea, Caron Butler, DeShawn  Stevenson, Peja Stojakovic and Corey Brewer off its title-winning contingent of  last season.

The  Mavericks did acquire two high-profile players in Vince Carter and Lamar Odom,  who bring with them 13 and 12 seasons of NBA experience, respectively, and also  added seven-year NBA veteran Delonte West to their backcourt.

Dallas  also extended opportunities to five less accomplished young players , two of  whom were on the Mavericks roster last season, but saw limited action during  the championship run.

The  newcomers include 7-0, 250 forward Yi Jianlian, who entered the NBA as the sixth  overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Yi showed some  flashes of promise before having his rookie season shortened by 16 games due to  injury. He was traded to New Jersey, where he spent  two seasons before  being dealt to Washington. He became a free agent after one season with the  Wizards and signed with Dallas in January of this year. He played two games  with the Texas Legends, the Mavs' D-League affiliate totaling 46 points and 24  rebounds to earn an NBA call-up.

Also  in their first season with the Mavericks are Sean Williams, a 6-10, 235 center  who signed a free-agent contract in December of 2011. Williams was selected 17th  in the 2007 NBA Draft by New Jersey and split time between the Nets and the  Colorado 14ers of the D-League. He was released by the Nets in January of 2010  and played professionally in Puerto Rico and China before joining the Texas  Legends of the D-League and making the 2011 NBDL All-Star Game. He averaged  14.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for the Legends.

Dallas'  other December 2011 free-agent signee was Brandan Wright, a 6-10, 210 forward  who played one season at the University of North Carolina before being taken  with the eighth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by Charlotte, then had his  draft rights dealt to Golden State on draft night. He played three seasons with  the Warriors before being traded to New Jersey in February of last year. Each  of his  four NBA seasons have been shortened by injuries. He carries  career averages of 5.4 points and 3 rebounds per game, but has never appeared  in more than 39 games in a single season.

Two  players who were on the Mavericks' 2010-11 roster, but saw limited action last  season – guard Dominique Jones and post player Ian Mahinmi -- are back for  2011-12.

Jones,  a 6-5, 215 guard who led the Big East Conference in scoring in his junior and  final season at the University of South Florida in 2009-10, was selected by  Memphis with the 25th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. His draft rights  were traded to Dallas, but he spent most of his rookie season with Texas of the  D-League, averaging 18.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5 assists. He played 18 games  for the Mavericks last season.

Mahinmi,  a 6-11, 230 post who was born and raised in France, was the 28th player  taken in the 2005 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs.  He has gained most  of his pro experience playing in France and in the D-League.

Mahinmi  signed as a free agent with Dallas in July of 2010 and did see some action with  the Mavs last season, recording a 12-point, 10-rebound double-doubel against  Golden State and a 17-point outing against Memphis. He averaged 3.4 points and  2.1 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game during the regular season and played in  six of Dallas' playoff games, averaging 2.5 ppg and 1 rpg in 5.5 mpg.

Mahinmi  has seized his expanded opportunity in Dallas this season, averaging 7.7 ppg  and 5 rpg in 19.6 mpg. He scored in double figures in three of his first 10  contests.

Thus  far, Cole and Mahinmi have been the most valuable diamonds-in-the-rough for  last year's NBA finalists. Time will tell if they and other little-known  players around the league will step into major roles once playoff time rolls  around.

the-knock-of-opportunity

The knock of opportunity

Veteran has earned universal respect of teammates

If one were to  index all of the articles that have been written about Stephen Jackson during  his 11+ years in the National Basketball Association, it might appear that his  given name was “Volatile Stephen Jackson,” judging by the number of times that  reference has been used.

Jackson, though,  would never allow such a label to bother him. After all, it sure beats tags  that go to the other extreme such as indifferent, ignorant or uncaring. None of  those have ever been tied to him.

During his first  mass meeting with the Milwaukee media, Jackson talked openly about what makes  him tick and how he rolls.

"Sometimes  I'm loyal to a fault,” Jackson said. “Sometimes my emotions end up hurting me.

"At the end  of the day, my heart is in the right place. I care about winning. I care about  being there for the people I care about and the people I work with every day.  If people say that's weird, hey, I'm weird.”

Milwaukee is the  seventh NBA stop for the 6-foot-8-inch guard/forward, who averaged 16.3 points,  4 rebounds and 3.3 assists over his first 11 years in the league. He has  approached his job in the same manner at each of those stops and has established  a reputation as a fiery competitor and loyal teammate.

“I don't mind  leading by example,” he said. “I don't mind fighting for my team. I don't mind  putting myself on the line for my teammates. That's what a leader does. I've  always been a team player. You can't teach somebody to be a leader. You have to  be born with it. If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. That's  why I'm respected, I guess."

Jackson has also  earned the respect of many opposing players and coaches, including the man who  became his current coach when the Bucks acquired him last June 23 in a  draft-day trade with Charlotte and Sacramento.

 “’Jack’ is a proven scorer,” Bucks Head Coach  Scott Skiles said. “He can make big shots in big moments. He’s proven that.  He’s playoff-tested. He’s volatile. Everybody knows that. He’s going to play  with a passion and intensity out there. That’s appealing. At the same time,  there’s a flip side to that. It goes back to the chemistry

"One thing that's always been said about Steve is  his teammates always like him. You know that there's going to come a time when  there's something going on. He may get two Ts and get tossed out of a game 3  minutes in. And we want to minimize all of that, obviously. But if teammates  always like a guy and gravitate toward a guy, he's doing something right."

Jackson developed a respect for Skiles, too, during their  years as opponents.

“I've always  wanted to play for Scott,” Jackson said. “He's been one of the very few coaches  who I've gone over and shook hands with when I've been on opposing teams. I'm  looking forward to me and him arguing. That means there's fire on the team and  we're going in the right direction.

"To be able  to play for him is definitely a blessing for me. I've been able to play for a  lot of great coaches. Now I'm not only playing for another great coach, but he  was a great player, so that's a blessing, too."
  Jackson smiled when told that Skiles welcomed the “edge”  that he expected him to bring to the Bucks.
  "I respect  that,” Jackson said. “I know his heart. He's not a mean guy or an unhappy guy;  his passion is in his job. He loves his job. This is his life. I know how he  feels because I play the game the same way.

“If I dive for a  ball and I don't wake up the next morning, I'll be happy with that because I'll  know I died doing something that I love to do. So I kind of relate to him.  Drive is heart, intensity and passion and it's almost humbleness. I'm big on  that."

Jackson is big on  the prospect of becoming part of a winning team in Milwaukee, too, and  expressed excitement about playing alongside center Andrew Bogut and point  guard Brandon Jennings.

"I'm excited,  man,” he said. “The last time I had a good point guard and a big man, I was  able to win a championship -- that was with San Antonio. I'm excited to be here  with these guys and see what we can do.

“I know my job is  easy. I've just got to be a leader and have everybody buy into what the coach  wants to do. That's easy. If everybody's on the same page and everybody plays  their role, we'll have an exciting year."

Jackson developed  a lot of respect for Bogut during the years in which he played against him and  rates him in the NBA hierarchy at the center position.

"I think he's  top-three, man,” Jackson said. “I've got him behind Dwight (Howard) and (Pau)  Gasol. Playing defense is going to be great with Bogut back there. I can  pressure up more. I'm ready to turn it up."

Jackson  immediately embraced the idea of playing alongside Jennings, too.

"I love that  kid,” Jackson said. “Of course, I was on the opposite end of his 55 points  (while playing for Golden State). I know what this kid can do. He's put on a  little weight and he's worked hard his summer. He's one guy I stayed in contact  with during the summer. I'm excited to see what he's going to do.

”We have all the  tools here. We have a great group of young guys. We have two stars in Brandon  and Andrew, and this is their team. There's no question about that. Everybody  else has to buy in and back these guys up to get the goals we want done."

Jackson will  continue to pursue those goals in the same the way he always has. And he  realizes that way isn’t always understood by the fans.

"A lot of  people don't know me because they've never had the chance to talk to me,” he  said. “They've just seen me play on the court. I am crazy on the court. I don't  mind getting kicked out. I don't mind fighting. I love the game that much. And  I hate losing. So if people misunderstand me for that, that's cool.

"Off the court, I'm a totally different guy. I'm a family guy,  which people never get a chance to see because they always show the bad stuff.  I know that on every team I've played on, I've done my job. I've been a factor.  Every guy I've played with wants to play with me, so at the end of the day, if  the people I work with and the people I work for know me as a person, I can  live with that.”

jackson-brings-fiery-passion-to-bucks

Jackson brings fiery passion to Bucks

Coach believes condensed schedule could create sense of urgency

Scott  Skiles experienced three of the four lockouts in National Basketball  Association history – two as a player and one as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Skiles  welcomed the opportunity to get back to work Dec. 8, 2011, when Lockout No. 4  came to an end after 160 days.

During  the latest hiatus, some NBA players opted to play overseas while many others  elected to stay in the United States.   Some of those who remained stateside sought out local pick-up games  while others participated in organized exhibition tournaments such as the Drew  League in Los  Angeles,  the Melo League in Baltimore and the  Goodman League in Washington,  D.C.

Some  NBA coaches and management types have discouraged their players from venturing  into the playground basketball culture because of the injury risks involved,  but Skiles isn’t one of them. He was pleased to discover that a number of his  players seized such opportunities and remembered those days when he pounded the  pavement himself.

“After I played for Orlando, if we had a Sunday  off after the season, I went to the playground and played pickup ball with  people outdoors,” Skiles said. “I thought it was fine. If you hear guys are looking  for places to play, you’re glad. You just hope nobody gets hurt.

“In our guys’ case, apparently nobody  significantly did. If the guys want to go out and play ball, they should go out  and play ball.”

Skiles, due to league restrictions, couldn’t  monitor how much basketball the Bucks were playing during the lockout, but he  was pleased with what he saw and heard once the players and owners settled  their issues and his team reported to an abbreviated camp.

“When you can’t talk to anybody, you can’t call anybody  on the telephone, you can’t have them in the gym, you like to think guys are  putting in the time,” Skiles said. “You trust them. You might be thinking, ‘Well,  I trust this guy, but I’m a little worried about him.’ But you’re never  sure. 

“The guys who were here last season all left with a bitter taste in  their mouths. We all did. We’ve clearly seen a noticeable response to that,  which you like to see. I’m  really pleased with the condition of everybody, and that’s good. We hope it turns into something really positive for us.”

Skiles was asked if he was able to gauge the  effects of the last lockout, which spanned July 1, 1998 to Jan. 20, 1999  and forced the 1998–99  season to be shortened to 50 games per team.

“During the last lockout, it was  hard to quantify if the defenses had an edge or if offensively, the teams  coming out of the lockout the players were just so rusty,” Skiles said. “In  theory, that could be a strength of ours early on. We know what we have to do.  We have to play similar-type defense -- we have to be a top-five defensive  team. And we’ve got to score more points.

“There’s a bit of a mystery on how teams are going to start. Is it  going to look a little more rough than it normally would, or have the guys been  playing enough that it almost looks like no time was missed, or will it fall  somewhere in-between?”

Skiles and his staff have to mesh last season’s holdovers with five  newcomers, but he didn’t go into the season worrying over how a shortened camp  and preseason might affect the building of team chemistry.

“I don’t ever worry about it,”  Skiles said. “I know everybody thinks every coach has a magic wand. The coach,  in reality, can only sort of nudge that in the right direction. Normally it  happens naturally with the guys. You try to gather unselfish people – and it  isn’t just lipservice – who are genuinely interested in the team’s well-being  rather than their own well-being. When you do that, every team in the league  has a high level of talent; it’s just a matter of getting chemistry in order.

“Everything we’ve done and will  do is with an eye toward that. It’s important for us as a franchise that we  have good chemistry out there. It’s one way we can beat people that we have to  take advantage of.”

Skiles wasn’t going to let his team’s  early-season, five-game West Coast trip worry him, either.

“Our West Coast trip just  happens to be in January,” he said. “I guarantee you other teams are saying,  ‘My God, have you looked at March?’ or ‘Have you seen that April?’ Hopefully  sometimes if you have the right group, you can go out on the road and find  something. You get a couple of tough road wins and chemistry starts to develop.

“Hopefully when the season’s  over, we’ll look back at it and say, ‘That was a good experience for us. It  toughened us up a little bit. We got to know each other,’ and that we win  enough games that we’ll still keep ourselves in good position.”

Skiles believes the challenges  presented by the condensed schedule could benefit the Bucks.

“We know it’s going to be a difficult  schedule,” he said. “The good thing is that, in theory, it could help the guys  stay focused a little bit better because every game is more meaningful. I know  it’s a coaching cliché, ‘Every game’s a big game,’ but literally, just with the  amount of games we have, teams have to be ready to play.

“A three-game losing streak will  be different than a three-game losing streak in a regular schedule. Hopefully  that’ll cause the guys to have more focus.”

After wrapping up their early  western swing, the Bucks got a respite with consecutive home games against San  Antonio on Jan. 10 and Detroit Jan. 12, but the Pistons contest will be part of  a challenging back-to-back, followed by a visit to Dallas on Jan. 13.

The balance of January will  include back-to-backs at Philadelphia and at home against Denver on Jan. 16 and  Jan. 17, followed by road games against New York on Jan. 20 and Miami on Jan.  22, then a quick trip home for a date with Atlanta on Jan. 23.

The Bucks will close out the  first month of 2012 with visits to Houston on Jan. 25 and Chicago on Jan. 27,  followed by home games versus the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 28 and Detroit on  Jan. 30.

Peering further into the new  year, February will bring back-to-backs Feb. 3 at Detroit and Feb. 4 at home  against Chicago, a Feb. 7 home game with Phoenix and a Feb. 8 game at Toronto,  a visit to Cleveland on Feb. 10 proceeded by a home game with Orlando on Feb.  11, a trip to New Jersey on Feb. 19 and a home tilt against Orlando on Feb. 20,  and a Bradley Center battle with Washington on Feb. 28 followed by a road game  at Boston on Feb. 29.

The March schedule will begin  with three games in four days – visits to Atlanta on March 2 and Orlando on  March 3, followed by a March 5 home game against Philadelphia. It will continue  with a back-to-back on the road at Toronto on March 11 and at New Jersey on  March 12. Then it will close with three consecutive back-to-backs: home against  Boston on March 22 and at Charlotte on March 23, at New York and home vs.  Atlanta on March 27 and at Cleveland and at home against Memphis on March 31.

The Bucks will open their April  agenda at Washington on April 2, then play their longest homestand of the  season, taking on Cleveland on April 4, Charlotte on April 6, Portland on April  7, Oklahoma City on April 9 and New York on April 11. That will be followed by  the first back-to-back of the month featuring a visit to Detroit on April 13  and a home game with Indiana on April 14. They will play their final two  regular-season back-to-backs April 18 at Washington and April 19 at Indiana and  April 25 at home vs. Philadelphia and April 26 at Boston.

skiles-bucks-prepared-to-tackle-unique-challenges

Skiles, Bucks prepared to tackle unique challenges

Marvin  Lee Aday aspired to be a football hero when he was a youngster growing up in  Texas. Most of his sports connections, though, have been to the diamond.

He  has thrown a no-hitter as a softball pitcher.

He  has displayed a mighty swing while playing in four celebrity-legend softball  games during Major League Baseball's All-Star week.

And  he and New York Yankees legend Phil Rizzuto once recorded a hit song about  baseball.

Aday  does, however, consider "Hoosiers" his favorite sports movie. And he recorded  another song that not only became a major hit in the 1970s, but could aptly  summarize the first week of the Milwaukee Bucks' 2011-12 National Basketball  Association season: "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad."

Even  Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles would probably agree with that assessment made  over three decades ago by the man best known as Meat Loaf.

Skiles'  team dropped a 96-95 heartbreaker its season opener at Charlotte on Dec. 26,  but rebounded with home victories of 98-95 over Minnesota on Dec. 27 and 102-81  over Washington on Dec. 30.

Hoping  to build upon their two-out-of-three, the Bucks will experience just how  grueling the NBA's condensed, 66-game schedule will be. They have embarked upon  a five-game West Coast trip that will feature five games in seven days, pitting  them against Denver, Utah, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix.

Milwaukee  players were questioned at length about the challenges they anticipate from the  schedule, which will go to extremes teams have never seen during a customary  82-game slate.

Bucks  newcomer Mike Dunleavy Jr. is a veteran of nine NBA seasons, but he has never  faced a road trip quite like this one.

"It's  definitely going to be a challenge that the guys aren't familiar with,"  Dunleavy said. "We just have to try to figure it out as we go. Obviously there  are going to be some nights where we don't have a lot in the tank. I think  that's where depth comes into play. Hopefully we'll manage it as well as we  can. The good thing is it's an even playing field. Everyone's going through the  same situation.

"It's  not so much the number 66; it's looking at the block schedule month-by-month.  Normally you have two to three days in-between games, but that won't always be  the case now. Everyone has to deal with it, though."

That  fact won't make the situation easy, though, in the estimation of Bucks center  Andrew Bogut.

"It's  still a pretty crazy schedule," Bogut said. "We only have one tripleheader  (three games in three nights), but at the same time, we have 21 back-to-backs.  It's the traveling in-between that kills you.    Sitting in an airplane for three hours with the cabin pressure gets  tough.

"We can't make excuses and say, 'Well, we've had three games in three nights.'  Every team has to go through it. It goes from 3.8 games a week to 4.4, which  doesn't sound like much, but it's more than usual."

As they  set out on their first extended trip, the Bucks face the additional challenge  of incorporating five new players into their system, so chemistry will be a  vital course for them.

"There's no question that early on, the teams that are more established will  get going faster," Dunleavy said. "We have some new guys here, but we also have  some holdovers. Hopefully we'll be able to mesh quickly and get this  season off to a good start."

Second-year  forward Larry Sanders, one of those holdovers, believes the Bucks can benefit  greatly if they continue to play the brand of defense that earned them a No. 3  league ranking last season, particularly when fatigue begins to set in.

"We're  going to have some back-to-backs," Sanders said. "Your body has to hold up and  be strong enough to last.

"We won'' be the only team having back-to-backs, though. If we can keep up our  defensive intensity, we'll be able to pull more of those games out."

Bogut  agrees that defensive-minded teams may have an advantage when it comes to  dealing with the demands of the schedule, particularly early on.

"I  think so," Bogut said. "I think it may be late January or February before a  team's offense really gets in-sync. Our offense has a lot of work to do, but  we've got some really aggressive offensive guys who are adept at shooting the  ball. We should be better, but it's still a work in progress."

Stephen  Jackson, a 12-year NBA veteran and another one of Milwaukee's newcomers,  realizes how vital it is for the Bucks to be ready for the early challenge.

"Twelve  of our first 18 games are on the road," Jackson said. "We've got to focus on  the first six and see what happens."

Jackson was asked how he expected to handle the grind.

"By  waking up on the first and the 15th and seeing that check," he said with a  smile. "That's how you get ready. You love this game. You have to understand  that it's a blessing to play this game and that there are hundreds of people  who want your job. That's how you get up and do it every day."

Brandon  Jennings, now in his third season as Milwaukee's point guard, welcomes the idea  of a high frequency of games.

"I  know one thing: there will be less practice," Jennings said. "But with 66  games, I think the season'' up for grabs. I think whoever starts out hot and  whoever wants it more in the first 10 games will have a big advantage. We have  to try to stay off our feet and get as much rest as we can between games.

"I  like the idea of less practice, though, because it means playing more  basketball games."

five-game-west-coast-trip-presents-new-demands

Five-game West Coast trip presents new demands

Nowitzki’s heroics should make Bucks’ Peterson proud

There is probably no  member of the Milwaukee Bucks organization who is more plugged into the 2011  National Basketball Association Playoffs than Bill Peterson, who has spent the  past four seasons as the Bucks assistant coach/player development.

Peterson, like the  rest of his co-workers, would no doubt prefer to be coaching in the playoffs  rather than watching them. At the same time, has to be smiling as he watches  them unfold.

Peterson, after all,  has a more vested interest in these playoffs than anyone else in the Bucks  organization. He served as a player development coach and scout from 1998  through 2000 for the Dallas Mavericks, who are playing in the second NBA Finals  in their 31-year history.

The Mavericks ousted  the Portland Trail Blazers, four games to two, in their first-round series  before making a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western  Conference Semifinals. They bested the Oklahoma City Thunder, four games to  one, in the Western Conference Finals before splitting the first two games of  the NBA Finals with the Miami Heat.

Just one player on  the current Dallas roster was on board back in 2000, when Peterson left the  franchise to pursue other coaching opportunities. That one player, however,  remains a pretty integral one in the Mavericks’ grand scheme.

Dirk Nowitzki,  participating in the playoffs for the 12th time in his 14-year NBA  career, is averaging 28.1 points per game – a figure he has bettered only once  in his 11 previous playoff trips.

In leading Dallas’  playoff surge, Nowitzki has staged a shooting display the likes of which the  NBA has never witnessed before. Through 17 games, he was hitting .505 from the  field, .514 from 3-point range and .935 from the free-throw line.

Mavericks  fans recognize the 33-year-old Nowitzki as a  10-time NBA All-Star, the 2007 NBA Most Valuable Player and the only player in  the Mavericks 31-year history to achieve all-NBA status – something Nowitzki  has done 11 times.

Peterson, though,  can offer a different portrayal of Nowitzki. It is one of a 20-year-old,  homesick kid from Germany struggling to find a comfort zone both on and off the  court during his first year outside his native Europe.

Peterson might be  better qualified to offer such a portrayal because his job was to ease  Nowitzki’s transition to the American way of life and NBA basketball.

Nowitzki entered the  NBA in 1998. In that year’s draft,  the Mavericks drafted Michigan’s Robert Traylor with the sixth pick, the Bucks  selected Nowitzki with the ninth choice and Notre Dame’s Pat Garrity with their  19th pick. The Mavericks then traded Traylor to the Bucks for Nowitzki and  Garrity, and the Mavs in turn traded Garrity to Phoenix for Nash.

Though Nowitzki had  been earmarked to become an international basketball star since the age of 15  in European circles, Dallas’ Don Nelson and Boston’s Rick Pitino were the only  NBA coaches who had much familiarity with his game.

So when Nowitzki’s NBA  debut arrived, it wasn’t hyped. And it wasn’t a successful one, either.

“He wasn't good  right away,” Peterson said. “His first year or two in the league, he struggled  big-time.”

Peterson soon  realized that he wasn’t working with an overnight sensation. He learned,  though, that he was working with a extremely bright and willing pupil who  possessed a fiery work ethic.

The gym became  Nowitzki’s refuge – one of few places that bore any familiarity to his  environment back home.

"Dirk spent  hours and hours and hours in the gym,” Peterson said. “At night, he'd shoot  extra shots and work on his ballhandling. He'd do extra work in the weightroom.  It was just a process.”

Peterson’s diligence  in helping Nowitzki extended beyond the gym.

“Probably where I  helped Dirk more than anything, besides being there with him on those nights  (in the gym), is with some of the off-the-floor stuff,” Peterson said. “He had  a huge transition. A lot of that was with off-the-court stuff; not that he was  in trouble, but say, if you had a son here and he was 19 and you took him to  Germany, you got him a job, you stuck him in an apartment, you stayed with him  a week and then you left him, well he'd struggle big-time. It's a different  culture, different food ... everything's different.

“So many issues Dirk  struggled with were things I could handle. I was an ex-college coach and I was  used to dealing with players and their problems.”

Some of those issues  were ones most of us take for granted in our comfort zones.

“Dirk didn't know  how to write a check,” Peterson said. “He'd never written a check in his life.  I took him to the grocery store. I shopped with him. I cooked a meal for him  one time.

“At night, he still  had to go back to his apartment and here he was, by himself, in a country where  he'd never been before. He was 19 or 20 years old. It’s not like it is with  most of us, where you just pick up the phone and call somebody you know and  understand. There’s a lot more emotions to it than people think.”

Peterson was there  to pick Nowitzki up when he faltered.

“I can remember one  practice in particular,” Peterson said. “He’d had a horrible practice, and  ‘Nellie’ was all over him. Everybody was all upset at him. I walked over after  practice and asked, ‘What's wrong? What’s going on?’

“He had some issue  with some furniture that he’d bought and it didn’t work out. He didn’t know how  to deal with it, because he’d never had to deal with anything like that in  Germany. I picked the phone up and made the phone call and changed what had to  happen and boom, it was over with in no time.

“I said, ‘Why didn't  you come and tell me?’ Well, he wasn't going to do that. But I could tell  something was wrong.”

Nowitzki averaged only 8.2 points and 3.4  rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game as a rookie. He once said his frustrations  became so great that he contemplated going home to Germany, comparing the jump  he made from his German league to the NBA to “jumping out of an airplane hoping the parachute would somehow  open.”

Thanks in part to Peterson, though,  Nowitzki stayed the course and showed flashes of what would follow by posting  eight double-digit scoring games in his last 12.

Nowitzki didn’t break through as an NBA  player until his third season. Since then, though, he has established himself  as a lock for the Hall-of-Fame, yet he hasn’t forgotten the coach who helped  steer him in the right direction countless times during his introduction to  life in the NBA.

“Oh, man, he had me  doing some crazy stuff,” Nowitzki said with a smile at the mention of  Peterson’s name. “He was a ballhandling freak.

“He had some interesting drills. Obviously, he's been around. We did all sorts  of ballhandling drills and lots of shooting drills. He was great. For me, I was  new back then. I didn't really know anybody. He'd meet me at night at the gym  and work me out.”

Nowitzki remembers  Peterson’s off-the-court assistance as well.

“I think we went and  bought some beds together once,” he said. “When you’re young like I was, in a  new country, you need a couple of people to help you out. I was in a new place,  and I didn’t have any friends there. He was great, though. He was there for  me.”

During the years they spent together, Nowitzki never saw Peterson slack.