Milwaukee Bucks Game Preview: Quenching a Drought

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Jan 8, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Phoenix Suns center Jermaine O

The last time the Bucks won a game in Phoenix, Steve Nash had been a teenager for exactly two weeks.

Oh wait, Steve Nash isn’t on the Suns any more.

After getting blistered in LA on Tuesday, the Bucks look to end a Phoenix winning drought that has endured for over 25 years. And for the first time in recent memory, the opposing point guard won’t be Steve Nash, who had a hand in the Lakers’ win two days ago.

So perhaps this game represents the Bucks’ best hope of winning in Phoenix in over a decade. They will face a Suns squad based around Goran Dragic, Luis Scola, and Marcin Gortat that dropped a game in Milwaukee earlier this month.

Projected Lineups:

Suns: Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, PJ Tucker, Luis Scola, Marcin Gortat
Bucks: Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis, Luc Mbah a Moute, Ersan Ilyasova, Larry Sanders

Injuries: Jared Dudley (wrist, probable), Jermaine O’Neal (back spasms, questionable) and Goran Dragic (ankle sprain, probable) all likely playing tonight.

Some Numbers

The Suns give up a lot of points. Scola, for example, isn’t much of an interior defender despite his offensive prowess. It should be noted though that Monta Ellis had a fair bit of trouble in the first meeting with Gortat. Every time Ellis drove the lane, Gortat was there altering his shot, or forcing Ellis into some rather ugly jump passes.

The Bucks have a clear advantage in a lot of areas, but it’s likely that the deciding factor in the game will be whether or not Milwaukee’s inefficient offense can make shots on Phoenix’s inefficient defense. Subpar showdown, rejoice!

						Offense Four Factors				Defense Four Factors
Rk	Team	SRS	ORtg	DRtg	Pace	eFG%	TOV%	ORB%	FT/FGA	eFG%	TOV%	DRB%	FT/FGA
17	Milwaukee Bucks	-1.45	102.3	103.6	93.6	.468	13.1	28.1	.186	.479	14.7	70.7	.213
25	Phoenix Suns	-4.11	103.1	107.9	91.8	.481	13.1	26.6	.170	.507	13.8	71.2	.201
	League Average	0.00	105.4	105.4	91.7	.491	13.7	27.0	.205	.491	13.7	73.0	.205

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/17/2013.

Another number

4 players shooting better than 50% from mid-range (min. 50 attempts): Udrih (54.7%), Bosh (54.1%), Hickson (52.7%) & Darrell Arthur (51.1%)

— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) January 17, 2013

Mad, mad ants

Doron Lamb made 4-of-14 shots in his D-League debut with the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants. He missed all three three-point shots that he took in 27 minutes off the bench.

The Mad Ants beat the Los Angeles D-Fenders, 104-102.