Bucks Sundays – 1/1/12

Bucks Sundays – 1/1/12

Welcome to the New Year, and welcome to our new segment called “Bucks Sundays.”

(Once Green Bay’s season is over, this will provide some great weekend filler. It will be like Sunday is a really nice lake cottage owned by the Packers, and the Milwaukee Bucks are borrowing it, keeping the fridge stocked and making sure the pipes don’t freeze.)

 The Good

After blowing two solid leads in their first two games, a loss and a win, the Bucks finally maintained their double digit advantage on the way to a 21-point romping of the Washington Wizards.

The Bucks got Carlos Delfino back on the court, and he contributed to an offense that played big, quick and aggressive. Milwaukee has a physical advantage over a number of teams, but they need to consistently use it.

 The Bad

It has only been 3 games, but of the two close calls this year, the win was at home and the loss came on the road.

 Milwaukee did not play well on the road last season by any sort of measure. Sure, they took victories at both Finals teams Dallas and Miami, but they can’t afford another Jekyll and Hyde show depending on the city they are in.

 The Ugly

Speaking of “road trips”, the Bucks now play 5 Western Conference road games in the span of 7 days. Yes, a condensed NBA season will do that to you. Entering with a 2-1 record, will they avoid returning home 2-6? The first two opponents up, Denver and Utah, both traded away superstars mid season last year. The Bucks will face the Clippers on this trip, who acquired their own superstar a few weeks ago.

Stat of the Weekend

The Bucks, three games in, are ranked 2nd in the NBA in assists and 14th in field goal shooting. Last season those numbers were 30th in both categories. Taking the time to create good, high percentage shots just wasn’t common place last year, and they’ll need to keep up their improvement.

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