The Young Bucks

[ewing6]

Lebron Breaks Buck's Heart Again

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We came out committed to get Giannis the ball and he went off. He scored our first 12 points on 6-6 from the field and we jumped out to a 19-6 lead. The Cavs adjusted by doubling him a lot. He kept finding open shooters but our guys struggled to hit the looks. JR hit a couple threes and Lebron scored 6 to cut our lead to 26-22 after one which was disappointing considering we outshot them 57% to 40%. Giannis finished the quarter with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists 2 steals and a block on 8-10 from the field.
The second quarter was back and forth, as they came out and opened up a small lead. We came back to take the lead on a nice run. They responded to go back up. We had a 6-0 run to go up 4. Near the end of the half they went on a 8-0 run to go up 6. Bledsoe’s three at the buzzer cut their lead to 3 at half. They out shot 57% to 41% in the quarter, both clubs hit four threes, but we went 7-7 from the line to stay in the game. Giannis(22) and Bledsoe(8 points 4 assists) were our best players while the Cavs were more balanced a Lebron scored 10 and 6 guys scored between 7 and 9 points.
The third quarter was a shoot out. We went 11-19 from the field. Bledsoe had a huge third quarter. He got two threes off passes from Giannis out of doubles earlier in the quarter. Then he started attacking and scored 15 in the quarter on 5-7. The Cavs shot 45% and were lead by 6 from Crowder. The fast pace of the quarter resulted in us leading 82-75 after three. While we are dominated by two scorers(26 from Giannis and 23 from Bledsoe) They have 6 guys between 9 and 15 points).
We come out and play well in the beginning of the fourth and opened the lead to 9. Lebron came back and the Cavs turned it up on defense. They cut it down to two on a Wade jumper with 4:36. Middleton responded by drilling a contested three. Lebron came down, drove and drew a foul. Then Lebron stripped Middleton, and ran down the court and dunked it to tie with 1:43 left. Bledsoe drove, got fouled and hit his free throws to give us the lead back. Lebron then isoed against Middleton on the elbow, overpowered him got a layup and a foul to put them up 1. Bledsoe drove and got a layup off a pick to give us the lead right back. Then we got a stop, and Middleton hit a cutting Giannis for a layup to put us up 3 with 47 seconds left. Lebron responded by finding Love for a layup in a pick and roll. Henson came over with a dumb foul(and fouled out), and they retied the game. Then our next time down, Maker hit Snell coming off a screen for what looked like a wide open three. Lebron came out of no where, blocked the three, grabbed the ball, fell, kept his dribble, got up and beat us down the floor for a dunk and a two point lead with 24 seconds left. Our next time down, Giannis was in the post, got doubled and hit a wide open Maker under the basket for an easy dunk to tie it again with 13 seconds left. They got the ball back and we played locked down defense. They had no where to go. JR finally got free with a second left. He got it to Lebron on the elbow. Lebron only had time to catch it, midturn, and throw it up. Middleton was in his face and got a handup, but it did not matter. Lebron drilled the shot with .5 seconds left for the lead. We got a look for Bledsoe at the end, but he missed and we lost a heart-breaker.

Player of the Game: Lebron 27 points 4 rebounds 5 assists 11-19 FG

Player Stats:
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Recap: We came out great. Giannis dominated early, but they adjusted so we could not get him shots by doubling. He did a good job finding guys, but we missed some shots off those plays. Bledsoe stepped up and took the stage in the second half and played great. In the end Lebron was too good for us to handle, and the turnovers gave us a lost from the face of victory. A heart breaker.

Around the League: ‘
24 from Blake and 20 from Williams leads the Clippers over the Spurs
25 from Harris and Jokic leads Denver over Brooklyn
16 from Mitchell leads Utah over Philly
27 from Gasol and 23 from Conley leads Memphis over Portland
Ball’s triple double and 22 each from KCP and Ingram leads the Lakers over the Celtics
30 from KD leads Golden State over Minnesota
Heat lose Derrick Walton for 6-8 weeks
Beal scored 51, Porter 31, and Wall put up 26 and 16 assists as the Wizards put up 156 points on the Lakers
28 from Lebron leads the Cavs over the Rockets
23 from Millsap over the Thunder despite the big three all scoring in the 20’s

Next up: @ Spurs(7-4)

[ewing6]

Balanced Bucks Best Spurs

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The Spurs locked us down on defense allowing us to shoot just 38% and 0-5 from three. They scored 26 points on 48% and 4-6 from deep. Mills hit a stepback three near half court at the buzzer to open up their lead to 26-16 after one. Mills and Giannis lead the way with 6 each.
8 early points from Gay helped them open their lead up to 14. We answered thanks to strong play from Maker(7 points) and Vaughn. Vaughn hit a three, but also went a stunning 8-8 from the line as he kept getting fouled attacking the rim. We eventually took a one point lead. Leonard came in and scored 5 quick points and dished out some nice dimes and they went back up 8. Giannis dominated the last few mintues putting up 8 of his own to cut their lead to 3 at half. We went 11-21 from the field, 4-9 from deep and 12-12 from the line. However they shot a stunning 74%(14-19) and went 3-6 from deep, as they scored every time they were not turning it over. Odd first half to say the least. Leonard(10), Gay(10), and Mills(9) lead the Spurs while Giannis(14) and Vaughn(13) lead us.
The third quarter was back and forth most of the way. The lead never got bigger than give for the first 10 mintues of the quarter. A 7-0 Spurs run opened their lead to 8 with 1:28 left. We responded with a 8-0 run to end the quarter lead by a Vaughn pass to Brogdon for three, and a Vaughn three that tied it to end the third. Both teams shot well(48% and 50%), but we did better from three and the line to give us the 3 point overall edge and lead to it being tied heading to the fourth. Leonard(11) and Vaughn(6) were the leading scorers for the quarter.
The fourth quarter went back and forth for much of it as both teams stepped up on defense. They took a 101-100 lead with 5:05 left. From that point we locked them down. We went on a 9-0 run and finished with a 11 point win. The Bledsoe/Brogdon/Middleton/Giannis/Maker lineup was so tough on defense, They were forcing turnovers and bad shots. They focused their energy on shutting down Giannis which left Mills on Middleton. We abused that matchup in the mid post as Middleton scored 11 in the quarter and Brogdon added 8.

Player of the Game: Giannis 24 points 7 rebounds 5 assists 4 steals 7-17 FG 10-10 FT

Stats:
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Recap: Our offense was good most of the game. Vaughn gave us a nice scoring bunch off the bench. Our defense was awful for three quarters, but stepped up in the fourth. Maker made a huge impact on both ends, and earned extra time as he had his best game of the year. We did a good job winning despite Giannis and Leonard taking each other out of the game in the fourth. Great win in a tough place to win.

Around the League:
23 from Jackson leads Detroit over Atlanta.
28 from Kemba is enough for the Hornets to beat Boston despite 39 from Kyrie
23 from Adams and 30 points 17 rebounds 8 assists from Westbrook leads OKC over the Clippers
21 from Ulis leads the Suns over the Magic
16 and 24 from Whiteside leads Miami over Utah
35 from CJ and 32 from Lillard leads Portland over Brooklyn
Fultz returns for Philly. Simmons will slide down to the four and Saric will come off the bench.

Next up: Vs Lakers(5-7)

[Jaiveer]

Like the forum great story, but do you know you can take screenshots on the ps4? that way stats could be a bit clearer

[ewing6]

Bucks Barely Hold on After Losing Bledsoe

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We dominated the early action. We started 8-10 from the field and opened up a 18-8 lead. Bledsoe seemed eager to prove himself against Ball and came out aggressive. We got turnovers and got Giannis easy looks. It was a good combination. We finished the quarter shooting 55% while holding them to only 32%. In our best first quarter of the season we finished with a 30-17 lead. The only reason it was even that close was the 8 offensive rebounds we gave up. Bledsoe was a beast scoring 13 points and dishing out 5 assists while limiting Ball to just 1-7 from the field. Giannis chipped in a dozen on 6-10 from the field thanks to the great looks Bledsoe was making for him.
The second quarter was a different story. Clarkson came out and got 10 points in the first half of the quarter. Combined with our second unit’s struggles on offense they cut the lead to 7 halfway through the quarter before we bought the starters back out. Our starters settled things down as Giannis and Henson got 6 each late I the quarter, but the Lakers hung around and were only down 10 at half despite getting outshot 49% to 37%. A key stat was that we were only 2-10 from deep.
We got bad news early in the third as Bledsoe hurt his ankle and had to leave the game. This did not seem to effect us, as Giannis took charge, scored 11 and we got up by as many as 20. However, the Lakers ended the quarter on a 10-0 run(8 of them by Clarkson) to cut our lead to 11 heading to the fourth.
We were horrific on offense in the fourth quarter going just 7-21 from the field. We played good defense, but our offense was so bad, they kept getting closer and closer. Thankfully time was on our side, as by the time they got it to 4, time was almost up. We held on, but barely. This would almost a heart breaker. Ingram(8) and Kuzma(7) tried to will the Lakers back in, but 7 points from Middleton were key to us holding them off.

Player of the Game: Giannis 32 points 8 rebounds 9 assists 15-27 FG

Stats:
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Recap:
We played great until Bledsoe went down. It does not seem to serious, so that is good. He should be good for our next game. Giannis was an animal, but without Bledsoe they focused on him, in the fourth, and the other guys did not step up. Beat a team we should have at home, but it was almost a disaster.

Around the League:
29 from Williams is enough for the Clippers to beat AD(40 points) and the Pelicans 118-117 in OT
30, 7, and 9 from Harden leads Houston to a blowout over Memphis
31 from KP leads the Knicks over the Kings
Love sores 37 and Lebron gets a triple double(15, 15, and 14) as the Cavs blowout Dallas
Warriors improve to 12-1 by beating Philly 136-113 behind 33 from Curry and 32 from Klay
16 from James leads the Suns over the Wolves
The Heat blowout the Pistons behind 24 from Whiteside and 20 from Dragic
Harden scores 49 as Houston beats Indiana
A huge game from Westbrook(44 points 11 rebounds 13 assists) leads OKC over Dallas

Next up: Vs Memphis(6-6)

[ewing6]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jaiveer

Like the forum great story, but do you know you can take screenshots on the ps4? that way stats could be a bit clearer

Thanks for reading, I'll look into it for future posts. Appreciate the feedback.

[ewing6]

Bucks Waive Liggins Sign Kilpatrick



Today, the Bucks made an interesting roster move. They waived Deandre Liggins who they claimed off waivers earlier this year, and signed Sean Kilpatrick to a 1 year minimum deal. Liggins is known for his defense, but given the presence of other wing defenders who can provide offense, his role was nonexistent. He only ever appeared in garbage time. Kilpatrick was waived by the Nets, after showing some potential as a bench scorer. He will add outside shooting and shot creation to the second unit. The 28 year old was disappointed to fall out of the Nets rotation and hopes to find his niche with the Bucks. This moves seems kind of curious as the Bucks have Vaughn who has been playing well as the backup shooting guard, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the rotation moving forward.

[ewing6]

Bucks Beat Memphis Easily

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Bledsoe did play despite his ankle injury from the last game, but we planned to limit his minutes. We locked them down on defense holding them to 15 points on 33% from the field. Our offense shot 49% and hit a stunning 7-12 from three. However, it was not our big three scoring. They had 4 each. Tony Snell had one of his better games of the season in the first quarter scoring 12 points on 5-7 from the field. Vaughn went 0-4 from deep and was not playing well, so coach gave Kilpatrick a few minutes time. His first time down the court he hit Brogdon on a great pass for a corner three. Then at the end of the corner, he stripped, a man, got a steal ran down the court, and found Brogdon for a corner three with 5 seconds left to give us a 29-15 lead after one. We went 7-12 from three, but 4-11 from two, in an odd first quarter.
Coach went with an interesting pace and space look running a unit of Bledsoe/Brogdon/Kilpatrick/Mirza/Maker. This lineup did it’s job hit some shots, and played pretty good defense as we opened up a 22 point lead at one point, and the starters came in to a 19 point lead. Giannis came in and scored 7 points and we ended the half up 57-36, we shot 48% from the field, and 11-23 from deep while we held them to 34% from the field and 4-16 from deep in our best half of the season.
Memphis was decent on offense in the third shooting 50% from the field. However we were better shooting 48%, but did much better from three. Middleton(12) and Giannis(8) dominated as we opened our lead up to 27 after three. We did get some bad news as Middleton injured his ankle in the third quarter and left the game.
We played a lineup of Delly/Terry/Kilpatrick/Mirza/Wilson lineup the entire fourth. Memphis made the score look respectable, as they left their starters in, but they never even made us think about brining back in our guys. Our best all-around game of the year. Not much to say, we played great, everyone played well.

Player of the Game: Middleton 20 points 6-13 FG 4-5 3PT

Player Stats:
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Recap: Gasol dominated us, but we held Conley and the others in check. We had strong balance up and down the roster as the box score shows. Kilpatrick scored 7, but more impressively picked up 4 rebounds and 7 assists, showing some talent as an al around player. Nice game.

Around the League:
Blazers lose Napier for a few weeks

Next up: Vs Pistons(5-8)

[ewing6]

Bucks, Suns Strike Another Deal



The Bucks and Suns hooked up on a deal for Eric Bledsoe earlier this season. The Bucks sent Greg Monroe to the Suns, and have been on the search for a center ever since. Henson has had some strong games, and Maker has shown some flashes, but the Bucks decided they'd need a stronger presence if they wanted to compete in the East. In particular, they were looking for someone who could hold their own against guys like Drummond and Dwight Howard who have dominated the Bucks this year. With Monroe, and Alex Len the veteran Chandler was not getting much time on the Suns. Additionally Alan Williams was rewarded a contract in the offseason, and will be a factor once his injury ends. The Suns also have Bender who can play five, who they need more time for. The final trade was:

Suns get: Mirza Teletovic, Rashard Vaughn, protections removed from 2018 Bucks second(was top 47 protected from Bledsoe trade)
Bucks get: Tyson Chandler, Troy Daniels

Chandler and Mirza have similar contracts, so the Suns do not take on any money to get rid of Chandler. They waived Mirza after the trade, and early reports have Boston and OKC as the front runners for his services. The important part for the Suns was getting a young piece in Vaughn. He has shown flashes of being a good scorer this year, and is still young. He has averaged 10 PPG and has emerged into the Bucks rotation early this year. The Suns get a chance to get a good at him behind and even along side Booker and try to resign him on a solid deal end of the year. They have the time in the backcourt and any chance to get a young player with upside is a positive for the Suns at this point. They also get the protections lifted from the 2nd from the Bledsoe trade, they would only get it if it was between picks 47-60. Now the Suns are guaranteed to get an additional young player for their rebuild. They lose Daniels, but on a rebuilding team the upside of Vaughn has more value.

Meanwhile, for the Bucks Chandler steps in to start at center and helps their defense and rebounding a lot. Henson slides into a more suitable backup center and energy guy off the bench. It takes a lot of pressure off Maker, and allows him to be a backup stretch 4/spot time center depending on matchups, rather than have to play 20 minutes per game at the five. It allows him to be put in spots where he can thrive, which is much needed for a young player. Daniels is on a reasonable two year contract, will provided some nice outside shooting around our stars. It hurts to lose Vaughn, but given our money situation and the beginning of a breakout, he might have priced himself out of the Bucks after the year. We would have to choose between him and Parker. Given our-depth at the spots and the players, that choice would have been easy. Daniels will compete with Kilpatrick for backup minutes. The Bucks bolster their chances in the East this year, while keeping their young guys in place, while the Suns picked up some assets, without taking on money.