Game #26

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So, this is what passes for an NBA Basketball game these days? I guess I should be grateful that I’m not a Bulls fan, and I didn’t have to watch this debacle.  However, at least those guys got to watch somebody put together a stunning 58-19 run.  Fans of the Pacers and Bucks were treated to a 48-minute turd.

Now, it’s possible that if the Pacers had won the game, I would be talking to you now about a win being a win.  There could be some commenting on the resilience necessary to pull out a win on a night where most of the team couldn’t hit the ocean if they were standing in a boat.  I could exclaim about what a big play so-and-so made, and so on.

And so on.

But, to steal a quote I recently read, “Let’s call a spade a bloody shovel.”

That game was just crap.  It was bad basketball, by both teams, and everybody came to the party on that one.

I suppose I’d feel better if I was a Bucks fan, right now.  Andrew Bogut was dominant, posting 31 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks.  Brandon Jennings hit two big shots in the final two minutes.  They’re a young team still exceeding expectations, even at 12-14.  Even so, an honest examination would show that Milwaukee’s performance last night would not be good enough to win any games without a whole bunch of help from the opponent.

The Pacers, perhaps in the Holiday spirit, were certainly willing to give as much help as the Bucks needed.

Even the rare moments of promise for the Pacers ultimately amounted to nothing.  Roy Hibbert, in an illustration of why he’s a guy we love to have on our team, completely sacrificed his body to dive for a loose ball in the middle of the fourth.  The possession saved, the team smartly ran a set to get Roy the ball isolated on the left block against Bogut.  Unfortunately, a sweet post move resulted only in a missed running hook, and the Pacers came away with nothing.

The Pacers outscored Milwaukee 27-17 in the second quarter, but 7 turnovers in the period prevented them from having any kind of substantial lead entering the half.  Then they opened the third by missing 11 of their first 12 shots.  However, despite the Pacers’ largesse, Milwaukee could not build a lead any larger than 7 points.  Neither team could grab hold of the game, and it had a lot more to do with their own incompetence than it did with tenacious play of the opponent.

This was the worst played basketball game I’ve seen in quite some time.  I wish I could say, “by far,” but the truth is that it was only marginally worse than the first Pacers-Nets game and either of the Pacers-Clippers games.  However,  this was worse.  Here are some vignettes:

• The Bucks offense was on a pace to score fewer than 86 points in 100 possessions, almost 21 points fewer than the league average.  I was going to try to go back and find out when the last time that happened, but it was too depressing.

• At 37.4%, the Pacers established a new season low in eFG%.  Their 3-for-17 mark from the three point line dropped their season-to-date 3-point accuracy to just over 31%, 23rd in the league.

• Mike Dunleavy managed to only connect on two of his 17 tries.  He wasn’t close on most of them.  It was the third game in four nights, and Junior was clearly gassed for almost all of this 30 minutes.  The skill is there, but the conditioning is not.  There’s way, way too much pressure being put on Dunleavy right now.  It will not end well.

• Down three with 18 seconds to go, the best the Pacers could do was burn 13-seconds  before seeing T.J. Ford miss his 26th three in 27 tries this season.  Then, in the same situation with 4 seconds, we got to see him miss his 27th three in 28 tries at the buzzer.  The second was a “no choice” thing, but the first was just mindless.  As Dunleavy was reported to say, we just didn’t need a three on that first possession.

• Falling under the “salvage a shred of dignity” category, it was fun to watch Buckaroo Banzai generally intimidate the hell out of Bogut for the last 120 seconds or so.  It started with Bogut trying to post Buck up.  After spending most of the game backing Hibbert all the way under the rim, he tried to do the same to Tyler.  His first shoulder made no headway, so he wound up and tried again.  The harder strike only forced him to bounce further off Buckaroo’s chest.  With a quizzical look, Bogut backed slowly away then threw the ball out to the top for a re-set.  Trailing by 5 with under 30 seconds to play, Hansbrough pretty much knocked Bogut out of the way to grab an O board, then ran over him on the way to a dunk.

• Milwaukee shot 45% (9-for-20) from the free throw line, including missing their final 6 attempts over the last 66 seconds.

• While the Pacers’ futility from beyond the arc has become an all too common event this season, the truly impressive display of their lack of shooting prowess came when they went 15-for-36 (42%) from inside 10 feet.  The league average is about 57%.

I don’t think the Pacers are going to be much help for anyone already suffering from Holiday depression.

As is evident from the tone of the recap, we’re fresh out of this.  Don’t worry, though.  We’ve ordered more – A lot more.

Related Topics: Andrew Bogut, Game #26, Game Recaps, Milwaukee Bucks

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