Milwaukee game

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

The Celtics have a shot at finishing November above .500 if they can win on
the road tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee has been a
surprisingly bad team so far at 5-9 after being picked by most observers as
one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They added several good
looking pieces to an explosive team from last year: Lindsey Hunter, Jason
Caffey, and Joel Pryzbilla. One of the excuses for their poor performance
so far is the absence of high energy role players Darvin Ham and Scott
Williams, leaving them with a load of heartless offense-only gunners.

The Bucks are led by the big three offensive weapons of Ray Allen, Glenn
Robinson, and Sam Cassell, which this year are acting like a version of the
post-lockout Walker, Pierce, and Mercer. Pretty good offensive stats but
they lose more than they win, and their coach hates the chemistry. Allen is
putting up an impressive 23.1 ppg on 45.5% shooting, 38.6% from 3-pt range,
and 90.5% from the free throw line. Glenn Robinson is the second weapon,
19.3 ppg on 47% shooting. Sam Cassell averages 16.0 ppg and 7.2 apg but
evidently resents his fellow co-stars for their All-Star recognition and
fat contracts. Tim Thomas has celebrated his new mega-contract by coming
off the bench for 11.8 ppg on 36.4% shooting and 4.4 rpg. Note that these
are similar to the numbers that McCarty, a similar longish tweener forward,
put up in 97-98. Lindsey Hunter gives them even more perimeter scoring,
recently pouring in a load of 3's against Miami.

After looking good scoring on dunks on our press during the preseason,
Pryzbilla has followed the example of just about every lottery pick by
stinking. He's scored a total of 8 points this season (still outperforming
Moiso who has 6 points). 

Milwaukee's been on a bit of a roll recently. In their last game, they came
back from 20 down in the fourth quarter against Miami, scoring 41 points in
the quarter and winning it on a buzzer beating long three pointer by Sam
Cassell. Right before that, Cassell beat Mason for a jump ball by illegally
grabbing his arm and preventing him from tapping it. I loved watching Riley
scream at the unfairness of it.

Milwaukee's a very dangerous team and seem almost unbeatable when their
jump shooters are on. They can really pour on the points. I'm really hoping
that Randy Brown is feeling good tonight because Cassell has a history of
dismantling us. If he can beat our point guard consistently, we're going to
be in big trouble. Bryant Stith probably will be responsible for guarding
Ray Allen while Paul Pierce will cover Glenn Robinson. Hopefully Pierce
will feel a rivalry with Allen since they are both up-and-coming Eastern
Conference shooting guards, with Allen getting much more publicity and
accolades so far. The Bucks' big weakness is in the middle. I hope that we
don't see Ervin Johnson getting double teamed and passing to Allen for
three pointers. If we're going to stop this team, we probably have to have
Randy Brown stop Cassell from burning us with penetration, good perimeter
ball-denial (which this team actually does pretty well if you ask me), and
sufficient man-to-man interior defense. If we're not stopping them well in
the halfcourt, the press will probably come out, which could be scary --
they dismantled it in the preseason. 

On offense: Milwaukee is 4th worst in the league in points allowed. None of
their players are considered strong defensive players. As usual, if we play
smart, look to penetrate, rotate the ball, etc., we shouldn't have a
problem scoring. I'm hoping that Paul Pierce snaps out of his recent funk.

Alex