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Game Preview: Bucks at Celtics
 |
vs. |  |
|---|---|---|
| 33-29 | Record | 40-21 |
| 98.1 | PPG | 98.4 |
| 96.5 | PPGA | 93.8 |
| 43.6 | FG% | 48.3 |
| 45.2 | Opp. FG% | 44.5 |
| 43.5 | Rebounds | 38.8 |
| 21.5 | Assists | 23.7 |
| 13.4 | Turnovers | 15.5 |
| 7.0 | Steals | 8.7 |
| 4.8 | Blocks | 5.0 |
| Point Guard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Brandon Jennings |
Rajon Rondo | ||
| Shooting Guard | |||
John Salmons |
Ray Allen | ||
| Small Forward | |||
Carlos Delfino |
Paul Pierce | ||
| Power Forward | |||
Luc Mbah a Moute |
Kevin Garnett | ||
| Center | |||
Andrew Bogut |
Kendrick Perkins | ||
| Sixth Man | |||
Jerry Stackhouse |
Rasheed Wallace | ||
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Bradley Center, 8 p.m.
TV: CSN New England
RADIO: WEEI 850 AM
Name the two hottest teams in the NBA right now.
Dallas and...
Dallas and...
Milwaukee.
You read that right: the Milwaukee Bucks. Believe it or not, the Bucks are on an absolute tear of late, having won nine of their past 10 games while climbing all the way up to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.
At 8 p.m. tonight, the Celtics, who are currently riding their own four-game winning streak, will march into the Bradley Center in Milwaukee with hopes of cooling off the red-hot Bucks.
Boston is 1-0 against the Bucks this season, having knocked off Milwaukee 96-89 back on Dec. 8 in the Garden for their eighth win in a row, which was part of a season-long 11-game win streak.
Coincidentally enough, the C's are hot yet again heading into a matchup with the Bucks, as their current four-gamer is the longest win streak for Boston since that run that ended in December. The hope in Beantown is that this game will allow the C's to extend yet another win streak at the hands of the Bucks.
But that task will most certainly be difficult against this Milwaukee team, which is much more potent than the December version. Veteran swingmen John Salmons (via trade) and Jerry Stackhouse (via free agency) have joined the team in the last two months, and their additions have provided some extra punch for the Bucks.
Salmons, in particular, seems to be the difference maker in Milwaukee. In fact, this current run that the Bucks are on goes hand-in-hand with the day he made his first appearance for Milwaukee. He has played 10 games since the trade -- the Bucks are 9-1 in those games -- and is leading the team in scoring with 19.2 PPG to go along with 3.3 RPG and 3.1 APG.
His acquisition lessened the scoring burden that Andrew Bogut and rookie point guard Brandon Jennings had been feeling all season long. Jennings set his expectations extremely high with incredible month of November, but his numbers have dropped considerably in every month since then. Now, with Salmons by his side on the perimeter, he can concentrate on orchestrating the offense and scoring only when the defense gives him a clear opportunity.
The good news for Boston, however, is that they have held both Salmons and Jennings in check this season. In three appearances against the C's while playing for the Bulls, Salmons scored a total of only 17 points while Paul Pierce flanked him defensively. Jennings scored 17 points in his only appearance against Boston, but that came on an inefficient 7-of-19 shooting performance.
Pierce and Co. are playing their best basketball of 2010, and it's a fresh reminder that this team is definitely still a title contender. Their struggles of January and February sent many off the bangwagon, but those people are sure to be hopping back on if this current streak continues.
With the C's finally playing at full health for a week now, the chemistry of the starting and bench units is beginning to show itself once again. That camaraderie might take a minor hit this week when Doc Rivers tries to find some minutes for newly-signed Michael Finley, but it shouldn't suffer much. Finley is a pro, and all he wants to do is fit in and challenge for a title.
That mindset fits in perfectly with the Celtics, who want to keep the momentum rolling tonight with an impressive road win in Milwaukee.
Rebounding
Tonight's game will be an interesting one in the rebounding department.
Milwaukee will enter play as the fifth-best rebounding team in the league at 43.5 per game, and Andrew Bogut ranks ninth in the league with 10.3 per game. However, the Bucks also allow the sixth-most rebounds in the league on a nightly basis.
On the other hand, Boston is the second-worst rebounding team in the NBA in terms of RPG with their average of 38.8 per game. But, due to their slow pace, they rank sixth in the league in opponent RPG (39.7).
Both teams have minimal rebounding differentials, with Boston at -0.9 and Milwaukee at +0.5, so it's going to be interesting to see how these numbers play out tonight. Something will have to give in terms of the averages stated above; in the first game, Boston's opponent RPG gave in, as the Bucks outrebounded them by a count of 44-35.
Stopping Bogut
Andrew Bogut had one of the best games of his career when these teams faced off for the first time this season. He dominated the paint and finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots. The fact that he only took three free throws is also indicative that he got anything he wanted at the offensive end without much resistance from any of the C's.
That type of domination cannot be allowed again tonight, and the man who needs to step up is Kendrick Perkins. If there's a game in which Perk is substantially outplayed by the opposing center, he usually remembers that heading into the next matchup against that player and redeems himself. Hopefully he'll do that tonight by forcing Bogut to establish his post ups from 10-plus feet from the basket, and then not allowing him to get off easy jumpers, because he is more than capable of hitting them.
As a side note, Bogut did finish with seven turnovers in that first meeting, but Milwaukee will take those any day of the week if they're accompanied by the rest of the stats he piled up.
Steals
Scott Skiles had to have felt nauseous after watching the Celtics grab a ridiculous 17 steals against the Bucks back on Dec. 8. To put that number into perspective, Golden State leads the league in SPG with an average of 9.2 (Boston is second with 8.7 per game) and the Celtics nearly doubled that.
Outside of the forced turnovers (the steals), which usually account for a little more than half of a team's turnovers in a game, the Bucks took pretty good care of the ball. They finished with 20 total turnovers, which means they committed unforced turnovers such as an offensive charge, passes out of bounds, stepping on the sideline, shot clock violations, etc., only three times.
The Bucks take care of the ball in general, as they are tied with the Lakers for the sixth-lowest turnover average in the league, at 13.4 per game. That means that if Boston isn't grabbing steals tonight, its fast break opportunities might be very limited, and it could also be extremely difficult to disrupt Milwaukee's offense.
