Call me an idiot (you won’t be the first, and most definitely not the last), but I’m beginning to think the Milwaukee Bucks can still make the playoffs.
Yes, Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut are out for the season. Yes, point guard Luke Ridnour was down for about a month. Yes, even freaking Bango the mascot tore an ACL.
But in this Sisyphus of a season, when everything seems to be working against the Bucks, Scott Skiles’ team keeps playing playoff-caliber basketball. OK, Eastern Conference playoff-caliber basketball, but still…
The basketball team featuring more injuries than the Pamplona Bull Run simply refuses to become irrelevant. The latest proof came Sunday at the Bradley Center, when Milwaukee took down Denver, a team that left town 18 games above .500. The Nuggets entered the week with the third-best record in the Western Conference. They outrebounded Milwaukee by about a thousand. And Milwaukee still beat ’em.
So color me convinced that the Bucks still have a chance. Nuggets coach George Karl sounds convinced, too, judging by what he told me after the game.
“I think coach Skiles is doing a great job,” said Karl, who happens to be the last coach to do a great job with the Bucks. “They play hard. They execute well. They kinda know who they are. They don’t beat themselves.”
That last bit was a not-so-veiled shot at his own team, which beat itself with 24 turnovers. Nice to know George hasn’t changed.
Still, how does any team survive the loss of its two best players and still play well? Conventional wisdom suggests that Milwaukee might endure the loss of either Redd or Bogut. But when they both went down, you had to be getting paid by the Bucks if you actually thought they still had a chance.
Check the standings, though, and Milwaukee still holds a playoff spot. Turns out, it’s the guys getting paid by the Bucks who were right.
“I’m sure a lot of people didn’t expect us to do what we’re doing,” says Charlie Bell. “But at the same time, we always had a lot of faith in ourselves. We thought it was a slap in the other players’ faces that nobody had faith in us.”
And apparently, sometimes a good slap can do wonders.
“They counted us out,” says Charlie Villanueva, who has stepped into the void, averaging seven rebounds and better than 20 points per game in 2009. “That’s the way we want it to be, though. Don’t pay too much mind to the Milwaukee Bucks.”
(Note to the ticket-buying public: Ignore that last sentence… it was surely intended for opponents. And do pay attention to his amazing 65-foot shot against Denver)
“But we’re still hanging,” Villanueva continues. “We’ll see where we stand at the end of the season.”
We know where Villanueva will stand at the end of the season – as one of the most coveted restricted free agents in the NBA. Young point guard Ramon Sessions, also on the cusp of free agency, is in that category as well. He’s averaging 21.5 points and 10.9 assists in February after inheriting the starting job from Ridnour.
It will be virtually impossible for the Bucks to afford to keep both of them. So enjoy them while they’re here. Because it’s the blossoming of those young players, along with the steadying influence of Richard Jefferson and contributions up and down the bench, that has kept the Bucks from imploding.
“Before, you’d throw the ball into Andrew and kind of let him create or throw the ball to Mike and let him create,” Bell says. “Now, everybody has to play off each other because we really don’t have those creators anymore.”
So maybe in losing their best players, the Bucks have become a better team.
“There are no ulterior motives. Nobody’s worried about contracts,” Bell says. “Everybody knows that if you win, everybody’s gonna get taken care of.”
And if the Bucks keep it up, everybody might include their fans, who haven’t seen a playoff game in Milwaukee since 2006.
Quote of Note
“UConn all the way. Guaranteed win.”
– Charlie Villanueva, former Connecticut Husky, when asked who would win Wednesday’s showdown between second-ranked UConn and eighth-ranked Marquette.
I’m sure Charlie will appreciate dissenting comments from Marquette fans on his blog.
And finally…
ESPN hopes to meet with Brett Favre to discuss an on-air position.
How long until Ted Thompson asks for equal time on Fox?
Tune in every Tuesday morning during the 6 o’clock hour when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AM for Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault. And don’t forget to check out our new fitness column, Training with Tim.
