Tonight I have the pleasure of attending the Bucks v. Heat matchup at the Bradley Center.  Being a diehard Bucks fan, nothing irritates me more than seeing pockets of visiting team “fans” throughout the arena.  I put “fans” in quotations because I would venture to guess that the vast majority of those people aren’t natives of the visiting team’s city. Rather, I like to think of them as ESPN cult followers who are incapable of forming their own analysis or opinions, merely going along with what Stephen A. Smith or Stuart Scott tells them is “ON FIRE!”

Last season I asked two  people sitting near me at a Bucks v. Celtics game if they were from Boston (they were decked out in Celt’s gear).  They replied, “of course not” as if I was dumb enough to actually think they were from Boston or the greater Massachusetts area.  “So why are you such big Celtics fans?” I replied.  “We just like the way they play” was their pathetic answer, completely ignoring the fact that Boston played on cruise control all of last season up until the playoffs.

Which brings me to tonight’s game.  Besides the obvious love for Dwyane Wade, there will be a lot of “Heat fans” in house tonight.  The kids who were rocking Cleveland Lebron jerseys last season have forced their parents to buy them a brand new Heat jersey.  But I’m not so much picking on the kids; after all, I really liked Randy Moss on the Vikings in 1998, when I was in 7th grade.  Kids don’t understand loyalty to home teams, and the ones that do are much farther ahead of the curve than their peers.

WiscoSportsTalk columnist Adam “Big A” Maritato wrote an article last season questioning why there weren’t more Bucks fans packing the BC while the team was playing well.  I think it’s Milwaukee basketball apathy, and the only way to cure it is to string together convincing victories over much-ballyhooed teams like the Heat (and no, beating Orlando on Saturday with all their best players sidelined with a stomach virus doesn’t count).

Right now the Heat have won four in a row and appear to be coming together as a team.  But they are still vulnerable in the low post, where Zydrunas Ilgauskas is their best option.  If the Bucks can expose them in one area, it’d be down low where the Bucks can run their offense through Andrew Bogut.

Basically, the Heat are very beatable, and a win over them would actually show Milwaukee that this Bucks team wasn’t overachieving last year and that they can beat legit, big market opponents.  Sure, there will always be “fans” for other teams when a big market opponent comes to town.  I’m sure a column similar to this is written every time the Lakers go on the road.  So is life being a small market NBA franchise.

One last point: the Heat recently started a new campaign to get fans in their seats  when the game actually starts.  What a crazy idea!  Get to your seat before tip-off?!  Are you from Mars?!

Do you think that would ever happen in Milwaukee?  Absolutely not.  We might not be able to pack in fans like other cities, but at least we show up on time.  Clearly Miami only has a few hundred real fans who have the audacity to show up to home games on time, but I’d be honored to send some of the “fans” I see tonight down to South Beach to experience what truly apathetic fans the Heat have.

Bucks Rookie spark plug, Brandon Jennings stars in his second commercial alongside Michael Phelps, Dez Bryant (former Oklahoma State Wide Reciever) and Georges St. Pierre ( UFC fighter).

The Milwaukee Bucks could not continue the win streak Monday night in San Antonio.  Michael Redd looked like he hadn’t picked up a basketball since his injury against Detroit earlier in the season as he went 1-6 from the charity stripe.

While the Bucks looked flat in the first half,  Spurs fan favorite Matt Bonner ignited his team by sinking several three pointers on his way to a 23 point, 6 rebound night.  The Bucks ended the half up by two but couldn’t sustain the lead as Tim Duncan and George Hill hit several shots to expand the lead.

Rookie Brandon Jennings looked human as he converted on just 6 of his 21 shots and committed 5 turnovers.  Ersan Ilyasova and Hakim Warrick probably should have shot more often as they combined for 35 points while shooting 65% from the field.  The Power Forward tandem also converted on all of their combined 8 free throw attempts.

For the majority of the game, the Bucks lacked the energy and discipline on the defensive end that has carried them to their surprising start.  Next stop is New Orleans to take on the Chris Paul-less Hornets (6-9, Home 5-2, away 1-7).

Notes:

Andrew Bogut:  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Andrew Bogut is eyeing an early return and will be out anywhere from four to eleven games, depending on how his body responds during recovery.

(LRMaM) Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is still listed as day to day.

Bucks v.s Spurs Highlights:

In a heated affair last night, the Milwaukee Bucks edged the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum, 103-98.

Brandon Jennings led all scorers with 26 points, but he was hardly the top story.  Luke Ridnour and Ersan Ilyasova stole the spotlight.  Luke Ridnour came off the bench and had 13 points and 12 assists (8 in 1st half), while Ersan got the start at the 4-spot and finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Ersan hit the glass hard, boxed out bigger players all game long, and had some great passes on the offensive end.  He reminds me of a young but raw Dirk Nowitizki. Ilyasova is only 22 years old, and he seems to be buying into Skiles’ system because he is one of the most consistent defenders on the team.

Once again the team played short-handed without Andrew Bogut, Michael Redd, LRMaM (Luc Richard Mbah a Moute), and Joe Alexander (Potsie).

Memphis jumped out to a ten point lead at the end of the first half.  They had everything falling down-low with their big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.  In the second half the Grizzlies stopped going down-low and started going one on one and playing with tunnel vision.

When the Grizzlies stopped moving the ball effectively, the Bucks began getting after it.  Memphis was paced by Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol who each had a double-double in points and rebounds. Gay had 24 and 10;  Gasol had 14 and 14.

Charlie Bell started making jump shots for the first time this year, and he finished the game with a season high 19 points, including 5 three pointers.  He was big all night on both ends of the floor.

Milwaukee travels to San Antonio to play the Spurs on Monday night.  The Spurs may still be without Manu Ginobili, but Tony Parker-Longoria returned last night and helped the team beat the Wiz.

With the recent injuries to “Redd and Gimpy” (Guard Michael Redd and Center Andrew Bogut) many Milwaukee Bucks fans figured that the season was going to slowly fall back into the proverbial basement that they have seemed to get comfortable in the past few years.

Nuh Uh!!

Not anymore. Not with this bunch, and certainly not with rookie sensation, Brandon Jennings.  If there are still any doubts about how good he is, and even scarier, how good he can be, they should have been squashed with last night’s performance.

A Bucks team without Redd, Bogut and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute played well enough to win against an also short-handed Charlotte Bobcats team, 95-88.

Takin' Over.

The Bobcats began to key in on Jennings after his excellent first quarter, which allowed for Jennings to show his ability as a facilitator.

Jennings racked up 7 assists during the ball game while setting up teammates, Carlos Delfino (9 points, 6 rebs, 5 assists), Ersan Ilyasova (13 points, 7 rebs) and Hakim Warrick (16, 9 rebs).  Luke Ridnour also hit some big shots down the stretch when the Bobcats began to make a push late in the fourth quarter.

I’m choosing not to focus on the fact that the Bucks allowed their opponent to shoot a season-high 51 % from the field while they shot just 41%.

I’m choosing not to focus on the fact that the Bobcats attempted twice as many free throws as the Bucks did, but managed to convert only 60% of them.

I’m also choosing to overlook the fact that the Bucks turned the ball over more times than the Bobcats did, and when you add up all these mistakes, it’s astonishing that we won.

I’m going to focus on the fact that, despite all of that, The Bucks are adding another notch to the Win column.  Excellent. Now the Bucks need to forget about last game and focus on doing it again.

After last night’s win, the Bucks immediately boarded a plane headed to Memphis, TN to take on the Grizzles (4-8, 3-2 Home, 1-6 Away).

Don’t let the record fool you.  This team is capable of scoring in a variety of different ways and without Andrew Bogut, it’s going to be frustrating going against the likes of  6’11 Power Forward, Zach Randolph and 7’1 budding Center, Marc Gasol.

The Bucks will also have their hands full with scoring Gaurd OJ Mayo and high-flyng Forward Rudy Gay.

The Bucks schedule is starting to look a lot tougher and with the recent injuries to three key starters, the Bucks will need everybody every night to try to weather the storm.

We have Brandon jennings, therefore I Believe.  Do you?

Highlights from last night’s win at Home against the Bobcats:

Watch the highlights from the Bucks-Warriors game on Saturday night, in which Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings leads the Bucks to a 129-125 come from behind victory. Check out B. Jennings’ shot chart and see how he came to score 55 points (29 in the 3rd quarter alone didn’t hurt!) Timberwolves fans getting wet over Jonny Flynn should watch closely to see why the Bucks future looks MUCH brighter!