re:the Bucks

[opi@unesco.org]

    George Karl's Milwaukee Bucks are an excellent team that can light
it up from downtown (53-119 or .445 from Dale Ellis, Ray Allen and the
Big Dog). They are also an impressive free throw shooting club at .811
and shoot a very solid .473 from the field as a team (105.4 ppg). Sam
Cassell leads the attack with 8.2 assists and has become both a
legitimate point guard and serious All Star candidate.

    The Bucks are kind of a disaster at center and power forward,
although they have talent there. Tractor Traylor totally pummeled us
last season, and JR Reid, Ervin Johnson and Danny Manning provide a
veteran frontcourt rotation.

    Our recent wins against Indiana, the Knicks and Cleveland didn't
come as any surprise to me, but a win against the Bucks would be a very
pleasant surprise. I remember last season we played them with half their
starting lineup out and George Karl still destroyed us. Pitino needs a
better game plan than the one he tried on the Spurs. Antoine Walker is
also in a bona fide slump and the boo-birds could destroy him between
now and the New Year. If I knew nothing about his past performances and
only saw his 1999 stats, I'd say yank him from the starting lineup
already. He'll be the fifth leading rebounder when Fortson returns.
Since he didn't come through last night, this next one really needs to
be a wake up game for him.

    Happy Thanksgiving.