Bucks vs Heat
The Milwaukee offense failed to do its part tonight, converting just 35 percent of its shots. A case can be made that the Bucks bench outplayed the starting five. The starters shot just 32.7 percent for the game, while the bench shot a not-much-better 39... Read Full Article
Head Coach Scott Skiles
On keeping it close to the end…
“We had difficulties all night but we got it to three points, got a stop and got an offensive rebound and a couple of possessions later we got another offensive rebound and during that stretch we also got some great looks. We had a dunk at the basket, we had a wide-open shot from Ersan (Ilyasova), Corey (Maggette) got in the paint and we were right at the basket. We just couldn’t get it (the shots) to go down.”
On the Bucks defense…
“It was ok. Their (the Heat) point total is low but their field goal and 3-point percentage was too high. It was ok, it was acceptable.
On the Bucks shooting…
“It’s very difficult to win when we’re shooting the ball like that. You can see the guys getting discouraged by it. Early in the game we were moving the ball around pretty well and executing pretty well, we got some open looks and missed them.”
Guard Brandon Jennings
On keeping the game close…
“As bad as we played we still kept them to 88 points. We just couldn’t knock down shots. We were executing well but we just couldn’t knock down shots when it counted.”
On the Bucks shooting…
“We’re getting good looks but we just can’t knock them down. It’s starting to be every other game now, some days we make shots, some days we don’t.”
Guard John Salmons
On the Bucks defense…
“Our defense has been good all year so we expect to come out and play tough defense. We just have to try and get better on the offense end.”
On improving their play…
You’ve got to try and learn from it. We definitely have to get our offense going better than it’s going. We’re just trying score more points. We just have to keep at it and move on to the next game.”
Tonight the Bucks played their second of four straight games at home.. With tonight’s loss, Milwaukee falls to 7-13 and the Heat improve to 14-8.
The Heat started tonight’s game with a 14-4 run, but the Bucks were able to cut the lead to 25-21 behind Brandon Jennings’s seven first quarter points. Dwyane Wade led the Heat with eight points and were able to out-shoot the Bucks 50 percent from the field to 37 percent.
After tying the game at 25 early in the second quarter, the Heat went on an 11-0 run (which included four points from Wade and a three pointer from James Jones).
Bogut was held to three points on 1-5 shooting in the first half as the Miami Heat extended their lead to 46-35. The Bucks only scored 14 points in the second quarter. Dwyane Wade led the all scorers with 14 points. He also added six rebounds and three assists.
Through three quarters the Heat led 69-59.
In the fourth quarter, the Bucks drew to within three points with 5:54 left in the game; however, the Heat were able to pull away down the stretch going on a 14-7 run, winning 88-78.
Andrew Bogut recorded his sixth double-double of the season finishing with 11 points on 4-12 shooting and 13 rebounds.
Miami came into tonight’s game allowing only 92.3 points per game and were able to hold Milwaukee to 34.6 percent shooting from the field (27-78). The Bucks record is now 2-12 when shooting less than 44.9 percent and 1-9 when scoring less than 89 points.
Dwyane Wade led all scorers in the game with 25 points (9-20). He also had 14 rebounds and five assists. This was Wade’s fourth double-double of the season and his ninth time leading the team in points. Maggette led the Bucks in scoring with 20 points (6-12 from the field).
Milwaukee was able to force Miami into seven more turnovers (18 to 11) but were only able to convert those into 14 points while Miami was able to convert the Bucks 11 turnovers into eight points.
DAUNTING DECEMBER – Welcome to December, where 10 of the 13 Bucks games this month feature opponents
that have records of .500 or better and those 13 opponents combine for a 152-101 record (.601). If you take out
Houston (7-13) and Sacramento (4-14), the combined record is 141-74 (.656). The Bucks are in the midst of five
straight games (@ Utah, @ Denver, vs. Orlando, vs. Miami and vs. Indiana) against opponents who are currently
.500 or better. After the Bucks play Houston, the team then has another tough five-game stretch, at Dallas (16-4),
at San Antonio (16-3), vs. Utah (15-6), at Portland (8-11) and at the Lakers (14-6). Despite the tough schedule, the
Bucks have fared better against teams at or above .500 so far this year (5-7) compared to teams below .500 on
the day of the game (2-4).
J5 – Brandon Jennings has averaged 25.0 points over his last five tilts, more than his average of 18.6 on the
season. He’s also above his season averages during this stretch with a 43.8 field goal percentage, 35.3 3-point
percentage and his getting to the line an average of 8.0 times with a team-best 40 free throw attempts.
15/5/5 = W – The formula for a Bucks win held true on Saturday night as Brandon Jennings had 27 points, seven
rebounds and six assists. In each of the team’s seven wins, one player has had at least 15 points, five rebounds
and five assists. Brandon Jennings leads the team with five of those games while Ersan Ilyasova and John Salmons
have each chipped in with one.
BIG MAN’S BIG GAME – Andrew Bogut tallied 31 points (one off his career-high) and grabbed 18 rebounds against
Orlando on Saturday. It was the second time in his career that he had a game of 30+ and 18 (the other coming on
December 21, 2009 at Indiana). The last Bucks player to record at least 30 and 18 before Bogut was Vin Baker,
who had 35 points and 21 rebounds at Washington on February 25, 1996.
NEARING NUMBERS – A few personal milestones are on the way for Bucks players. Ersan Ilyasova needs one 3-pointer (currently at 149) to reach 150.
Andrew Bogut (484) is 12 blocks away from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (495) for fourth in franchise history. Carlos Delfino (249) is one steal away from
250 for his career and (346) needs four threes to reach 350. Drew Gooden (445) is five steals away from 450, (596) four games away from 600 and (394)
six blocks away from 400. The Bucks franchise (1,797) is three wins from 1,800. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (988) is 12 rebounds away from 1,000.
The Bucks didn’t allow any fast break points in Saturday’s win over Orlando. The last time they didn’t allow any
fast break points was January 11, 2008 at the L.A. Lakers.
In each of Milwaukee’s last three wins, the opponent has never led in those contests.
The Bucks are fifth in the league by grabbing 43.2 rebounds per game and lead the league by snagging 77.9
percent of the available defensive rebounds.
John Salmons has scored in double-figures in five of the last six games and is averaging 14.0 points during
that stretch with a team-best 37.5 3-point percentage (6-16).
One year after ranking 20th by drawing 20.3 fouls per game, the Bucks are now first by drawing 24.5 fouls per
contest.
Milwaukee is second in opponent points in the paint, allowing just 35.6 points per game. The Bucks are tied
for fourth in the league in opponent second-chance points, allowing 11.4 per game.
