Posts Tagged ‘Bucks’

History: Fear The Streaking Clippers

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HANG TIME, Texas — It might be time to change the name of Lob City to Titletown or Bannerburgh.

Either way the streaking Clippers are on the verge of moving into a rather exclusive neighborhood that merits quite serious attention. It’s a ritzy place that comes with lots of shiny gold hardware.

When Chris Paul and his pals won back-to-back games over the Jazz to run it up to 17 consecutive wins, they squeezed into a tie for the ninth-longest single-season streak in NBA history.

With one more win tonight at Denver — No. 18 — the Clippers would take another step toward forcing themselves into the conversation as honest-to-goodness contenders.

Of course, the 1971-72 Lakers top the list with their all-time record 33-game win streak that many consider to be unbreakable. But of the eight teams currently ahead of the Clippers, five of them went on that same season to win the NBA championship and two others advanced to the conference finals. Only the 2007-08 Rockets failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs.

1971-72 L.A. Lakers
Streak: 33

Coach: Bill Sharman
Stars: Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich

Start: Nov. 5, 1971 (110-106 over Bullets)

End: Jan. 7, 1972 (120-104 to Bucks)

Record: 69-13

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

2007-08 Houston Rockets

Streak: 22 games
Coach: Rick Adelman
Stars: Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming

Start: Jan. 29, 2008 (111-107 over Warriors)

End: March 18, 2008 (94-74 to Boston Celtics)

Record: 55-27

Playoff result: Lost in first round

1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks

Streak: 20
Coach: Larry Costello
Stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson

Start: Feb. 6, 1971 (111-105 over Warriors)

End: March 8, 1971 (110-103 in OT to Bulls)

Record: 66-16

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

1999-2000 L.A. Lakers

Streak: 19
Coach: Phil Jackson
Stars: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal

Start: Feb. 4, 2000 (113-67 over Jazz)

End: March 13, 2000 (109-102 to Wizards)

Record: 67-15

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

2008-09 Boston Celtics
Streak: 19

Coach: Doc Rivers
Stars: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen

Start: Nov. 15, 2008 (102-97 over Bucks)

End: Dec. 25, 2008 (92-83 to Lakers)

Record: 62-20

Playoff result: Lost in conference semifinals

1969-70 N.Y. Knicks
Streak: 18

Coach: Red Holzman
Stars: Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley

Start: Oct. 24, 1969 (116-92 over Pistons)

End: Nov. 29, 1969 (110-98 to Pistons)

Record: 60-22

Playoff result: Won NBA championship

1981-82 Boston Celtics

Streak: 18
Coach: Bill Fitch
Stars: Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish

Start: Feb. 24, 1982 (132-90 over Jazz)

End: March 28, 1982 (116-98 to 76ers)

Record: 63-19

Playoff result: Lost in conference finals

1995-96 Chicago Bulls

Streak 18
Coach: Phil Jackson
Stars: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman

Start: Dec. 29, 1995 (120-93 over Pacers)

End: Feb. 4, 1996 (105-99 to Nuggets)

Record: 72-10

Playoff result: Won title

2012-13 L.A. Clippers
Streak: 17
Coach: Vinny Del Negro
Stars: Chris Paul, Blake Griffin
Start: Nov. 28, 2012 (101-95 over Timberwolves)
End: ???

* 20 consecutive wins by 2011-12 San Antonio Spurs was split between 10 regular season and 10 playoffs and thereby does not qualify officially.

Heat’s Lost Weekend A Hiccup

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HANG TIME, Texas — What if the Mayans just missed it by a week?

Isn’t the Heat losing on back-to-back nights to the Pistons and Bucks really the end of the world?

That certainly will be the talk in South Florida and all points in the anti-Heat miasma, at least until LeBron & the boys show up in Orlando for New Year’s Eve.

On Friday night Miami blew a 10-point lead in losing to the lowly Pistons. On Saturday night they collapsed like a tin shack in a hurricane in the fourth quarter and were whipped by the feisty Bucks.

Uh-oh. Here it comes. The hue and cry from Panicsville:

Shane Battier treats rebounds like they’re radioactive and fast players go past him like he is a deep-rooted tree. Mike Miller has to be the worst bench player in the NBA who plays significant minutes. Neither could hold down a roster spot on another other NBA club.

“Norris Cole is another not-ready-for-prime-time player. Mario Chalmers is too inconsistent. Ray Allen suddenly looks creaky and at least twice his age, as if his hair would be pure white if he’d let it grow in. Chris Bosh doesn’t know the first thing about playing defense.

“So all the Heat really are is a two-man gang of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and we all know that Wade is wearing out, which is obvious on those nights when he isn’t pulling dirty tricks to get himself suspended.”

It’s enough to get one lost in the standings. I went to the Eastern Conference list and for all my trying couldn’t find Miami down there at the bottom with Washington, Cleveland and Charlotte, where you’d think they’d belong after this Lost Weekend.

Oh, there are the Heat, still up there on top of everyone, including the Knicks who have beaten them twice.

So what happened? In short, the NBA. Sometimes it simply opens its jaws and bites you.

This was only the second time all season that the Heat have lost two in a row, though it was the first time that they took back-to-back losses by double digits.

It was Miami’s succumbing to the grind of a grueling holiday season schedule and and despite all of those muscles and the record-tying string of 28 consecutive 20-point games to open the season, proof that even LeBron is human and eventually became gassed and asked out in the third quarter.

“I was dog tired,” he said. “I would have been cheating my teammates if I stayed out there.

“Four games in five nights . . . we felt it.”

Leave it to our man Ira Winderman of the SunSentinel to provide a bit of perspective and sanity:

Wow, this must be the worst two-game losing streak ever. And the six-game winning streak that preceded it, including the victory over Oklahoma City, clearly was a mirage. OK then, so you’re essentially saying that Erik Spoelstra must be Coach of the Year to have this group at 20-8? Or could it be a schedule that had them playing four games in five nights on Christmas week. Put it this way, how many people do you know who were asked to work in four different cities in five days this past week, Christmas week? Sometimes you bite the schedule; sometimes the schedule bites back.

Let’s face it. Other than the Clippers, Thunder and Spurs, is there another team that can feel as good about its championship chances as 2013 approaches as the Heat? If I gave you the rest of the Eastern Conference contenders, would you figure one of them will be making up half of The Finals next June?

More from Winderman:

Wade said it is another case of the Heat having to step back, address the issues raised in the last two games.

“It’s going to take time, every year,” he said. “You have to figure it out as a team.”

In other words, relax and Happy New Year.

Who Is Your MIP?





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – We’ll get back to our MVP debate later this week.

While we wait to decide between LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant for the top award, today we get an early look at the frontrunners for the Most Improved Player award.

Our West Coast bureau chief Scott Howard-Cooper weighs in today with something of a surprise pick in Jeremy Lin of the Knicks. And he overlooks the fact that Lin played just 53 percent of the Knicks’ game this season and instead focuses on the impact Lin had and the seismic rise in production for the undrafted Lin from his rookie season to this one.

H-C makes the case:

Twenty-seven games, 25 starts, 17.9 points, 7.4 assists and 44.5 percent shooting in 33.1 minutes. The season-long numbers: 35 games, 25 starts, 14.6 points, 6.2 assists, 44.6 percent shooting and 26.9 minutes.

But yes. Playing barely more than half the season, the equivalent of 43 games in a season with an ordinary calendar, is enough to earn Most Improved.

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Monta Finally Being Monta For Bucks





MILWAUKEE – Welcome back, Monta Ellis. Welcome back to the ranks of the NBA’s one-name-only stars.

Ellis – or should we say, Monta – returned to elite-scorer status by lighting up the Atlanta Hawks for 33 points Tuesday in his best performance by far in the two weeks since he’d been traded from Golden State to Milwaukee. And that boosts the Bucks’ chances of returning to the playoffs as they chase the New York Knicks for the East’s No. 8 spot.

A natural-born scorer, Ellis’ game had been rattled by the trade and, given the lack of practice time, by the abrupt drop into the deep end of his new team’s pool. He had missed 50 of his first 76 shots in six games with the Bucks and hadn’t topped 18 points in any of them. He arrived as a 21.9 ppg guy, then played at a 12.2 ppg level, hitting bottom with a 2-of-14 performance at Madison Square Garden Monday.

That prompted a sitdown with Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles. “He’s a little down right now because his shot isn’t going in for him,” Skiles had said before tipoff. “I told him he’s too good a player to get down.”

What the Bucks were hoping was that Ellis would ignite one of these days and stay hot long enough to carry them past the Knicks and into the postseason. Sooner being a better option than later, given the dwindling opportunities to make up ground. And that’s what Ellis did, scoring 10 points in the first quarter to spot Milwaukee to an early lead and then 17 more in the fourth to pull them from the brink of collapse.

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A Monta Ellis Reunion Game, Already





OAKLAND – Officially it was a road game, Bucks at Warriors. In real life, though, Monta Ellis was simply playing a home game a little backward, from a different locker room to a different bench but ending up on the same Oracle Arena court and definitely in front of the same fans.

A fluke of the schedule put his Milwaukee debut, after being traded by Golden State with Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson, in his home of nearly seven seasons. Ellis was greeted with “Monta! Monta!” the instant he stepped out of the tunnel to shoot an hour before tip, got a 40-second ovation from fans and several former teammates during pre-game introductions, then shared a video tribute with Udoh on the message board above center court during a timeout in the first quarter. Imagine once people have a chance to miss him.

The changes were to a green uniform and to uniform No. 11, his high school number, but otherwise it felt like a throwback, all the way to last weekend. Ellis was still a 6-foot-3 shooting guard in a small backcourt, now with Brandon Jennings instead of Stephen Curry, and still in Oakland. And still a scorer, of course, with 18 points toward Milwaukee’s 120-98 victory.

The surroundings just didn’t change the fact Ellis knew it was time for a change. Bogut, who could miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, said the same thing before the game, calling parting with the only professional team he had known a mutual divorce. Annual trade speculation had worn on Ellis, he had matured in recent years but was still viewed around the league as the second-best Warriors guard, rookie Klay Thompson was in place as  successor, and the usual preseason excitement had too often turned to disappointment in the standings.

“I think it was time for a split,” he said. “I knew it was going to come to this one day at one point in my life. I used to be that young guy coming in playing behind Baron (Davis) and Stephen Jackson, and they got traded. I knew one day that some young guy was going to come in behind me and do the same thing, so I was prepared for it. I left on a great note, had a great career here. I wish them the best, and I think it was a great trade for both teams.”

Davis actually left on his own, with a shocking departure to the Clippers as a free agent, and Jackson forced the trade that got him out of town, so it’s not really the same. But, yes, things change. Even when it seems a lot like a home game.

Stephen Jackson Back To The Spurs





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The Golden State Warriors have used Stephen Jackson to land a first-round pick and Richard Jefferson from the San Antonio Spurs, according to league sources.

The Warriors acquired Jackson in a five-player deal earlier this week with the Milwaukee Bucks. Our man David Aldridge reports the Warriors have flipped Jackson into a conditional first-rounder from the Spurs in what should be a very deep Draft this year.

The volatile Jackson is a Gregg Popovich favorite, making his return to the Spurs a reunion for the coach and player that helped the franchise to a championship in 2003.

Also the Warriors announced they acquired a second-round pick in this year’s draft from the Atlanta Hawks for cash considerations.

Let The Trade Deadline Madness Begin





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks kicked off this trade deadline season with a bang, agreeing tonight on a five-player deal that will send guard Monta Ellis, forward Ekpe Udoh and center Kwame Brown to Milwaukee for center Andrew Bogut and guard Stephen Jackson. The deal, first reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, was also confirmed by TNT’s David Aldridge

If the magnitude of this first move is any indication — Bogut was the No. 1 pick in the 2005 Draft, Ellis is one of the league’s top scorers and Jackson, despite his issues with Bucks coach Scott Skiles, remains one of the league’s most dynamic backcourt performers when he’s playing in an environment he likes — we could be in for a wild ride the next 24 hours.

Ellis has been the subject of trade rumors in Golden State for the past three seasons, with the reasoning being as nuanced as his game. Bottom line, just like Bogut and Jackson (who had expressed their own desires to be shipped out of Milwaukee from whatever restrictions they felt Skiles’ system placed upon their respective games), Ellis is being moved at his own behest.

The only problem? You can bet Ellis didn’t have the Bucks at the top of his list, not with the chatter about him joining Dwight Howard in Orlando heating up in recent days. The addition of Ellis also raises questions about Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings, whose name has also surfaced in trade rumors in the past few weeks. Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported yesterday that the Bucks don’t have any plans on moving Jennings, which should make some chemistry issues down the stretch this season for Skiles with an Ellis-Jennings backcourt.

Jackson presented a unique set of challenges, same as he always has for whoever is coaching him. A backcourt with two offensive-minded guys like Ellis and Jennings should be as exciting as any combo in the league, but will they defend the way Skiles demands?

We’ve got it covered for you from every angle …

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Time To Earn For Bucks’ Ersan





MILWAUKEE – Forward Ersan Ilyasova has been on a tear for the Milwaukee Bucks – enough of one, in fact, that there might be interest in him at the NBA’s fast-approaching trading deadline (though Ilyasova will be an unrestricted free agent come July).

The 6-foot-10 power forward from Turkey, still just 24, had averaged 17.1 points and 11.7 rebounds over his last 10 games heading into Milwaukee’s clash vs. Chicago Wednesday night at Bradley Center. He had an active streak of 25 consecutive games with at least one offensive rebound, and he had boosted his 3-point shooting from 29.8 percent last season to 37.3 percent.

A week before the All-Star Game, Ilyasova went for 29 points and 25 rebounds against New Jersey, just the third player in franchise history to log a 25/25 game. In 37 appearances, he had three games with at least 20 points and had led the Bucks on the boards 19 times, compared to four and 11 times respectively in 60 games last season.

Granted, there are more rebounds to be had, with Andrew Bogut out again. But Ilyasova is free of the concussion troubles that cost him 20 games last season and he has improved his focus on the glass and his overall play. It’s safe to say that Ilyasova -– a bargain playing near the end of a three-year, $7 milllion contract -– will get a big raise somewhere this summer, though he has a nice comfort zone in Milwaukee.

“He’s rebounded the ball at a great rate pretty much the whole season,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said before Wednesday’s game. “And he doesn’t take as many ill-advised threes, and that’s had a very positive effect on his game. He’s gone from a 25-to-27 percent 3-point shooter to a plus-35 percent 3-point shooter in large part because he takes good ones now. He’s not running around searching for the line as so many guys do. If he finds it and he’s behind it and his feet are set, he lets it go. Otherwise … from 12-18 feet, when his feet are set, he’s a high-level shooter. He’s kind of found his areas there.”

Was it hard to sell Ilyasova on this more disciplined, higher percentage approach?

“No,” Skiles said bluntly. “He’s in his contract year.”

Ankle Fracture Sidelines Bogut





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Not that they needed any, but there is more bad news for Andrew Bogut and Bucks fans after the 7-footer’s latest injury brush.

Bogut suffered a left ankle fracture in Wednesday’s game against Houston and is out indefinitely, the Bucks announced earlier tonight.

Bogut left the game in the first quarter and did not return. Bogut has played all 82 games of the regular season just once during six seasons in the league, his rookie season, after being chose with the No. 1 overall pick by the Bucks in the 2005 draft.

Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel reported that Bogut had a bad feeling about the injury after the game:

“It wasn’t good,” Bogut said. “I knew when I came down I was in some trouble. Keeping optimistic, everything’s fine with the X-ray, but that’s to be expected. I know I didn’t break a bone.

“But tomorrow’s the day of reckoning where I go under the MRI machine and find out my fate.”

… “I’m not optimistic. With my history of unlucky injuries I’m hoping this one can do me a favor and (go away). Most of my injuries are unfortunate things and this goes in the same boat as that. It’s frustrating.”

Bogut, who is averaging 11.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 blocks this season, has had to deal with a series of injuries throughout his career. He’s had a major injury cost him significant time in each of his last four seasons.

He led the league in blocked shots last season playing with virtually one hand. He had surgery in April on his right elbow, the same one he  injured during an infamous April 2010 during a dunk attempt against the Suns where he landed on his own arm. That injury cost him the 2010 playoffs, when the Bucks pushed the Hawks to seven games in a first round series.

It’s a blow for the Bucks, 7-10 right now and headed to Chicago for a game against the Bulls Friday night, but one that Bucks coach Scott Skiles and his crew are used to where Bogut is concerned. They’ll have to manage without him once again.

Bucks break streaks, predict titles

Forty years ago tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers’ fabled 33-game winning streak was ended by the Milwaukee Bucks. No great surprise there — the Bucks were the NBA’s defending champions, they were headed toward a 63-19 record (not far off L.A.’s 69-13), the game was in Milwaukee and Bucks coach Larry Costello had circled the date on his squad’s calendar. “We’ll beat them,” Costello said. “We’re the champs and all they have is the streak.”

Final that night: Milwaukee 120, Los Angeles 104. The Lakers still went on to win their first championship of the Los Angeles era, beating the Bucks in the Western Conference finals (4-2) en route.

Oddly, it was the start of a trend that lives all these years later, revealed again with the 2011 Finals. If you have a winning streak snapped after 12 victories or more, you want it snapped by Milwaukee, according to the Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN Stats and Research from more than a year ago.

There might be a ring in it for you.

Consider: Two seasons after the Lakers’ gaudy streak, Boston starts strong and reels off 12 in a row. No threat to the Lakers’ mark, obviously, but impressive all the same. The Celtics roll into Milwaukee — and lose 117-93. Come the Finals, though, Boston is the team claiming the title in seven games over Costello, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and company.

In 1983, Philadelphia lugs a 14-game streak into Milwaukee Arena on Jan. 23 and suffers its only defeat in a span of 21 games. The 76ers blow through the playoffs with a 12-1 mark, suffering their only loss to, that’s right, Milwaukee in the East finals.

In 2007 San Antonio was the team that had a streak (13 victories) snapped at Milwaukee, 101-90. The Spurs didn’t meet that lottery-bound Bucks squad in the postseason but did win their most recent Larry O’Brien Trophy.

And then came last winter, when the fifth foe with a winning streak of 12 or more — the Mavericks, an even dozen — lost, this time in Dallas 103-99. We all know who popped champagne last June.

Eerie? Inexplicable? Or insurance for a championship?

The Miami Heat doesn’t have time to string together enough W’s before facing the Bucks on Jan. 22 — remember, it requires at least 12 — but Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and the rest do play at Milwaukee twice in February. We’re just sayin’…