Don’t look now, but the Milwaukee Bucks are quietly returning to the form that got them to the NBA Playoffs a year ago.
After a 1-4 start to the season, the Bucks have turned it around and won four of their last five, including rattling off three in a row in the past week. Though wins over the lowly Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks may not seem very impressive, the Bucks also beat their first-round playoff foes from last year, the Atlanta Hawks, and an exciting Golden State Warriors team that had started off 6-2.
In the Bucks’ first win of their current hot streak, a 94-90 victory over the Pacers, unsung heroes Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and John Salmons led the team. Mbah a Moute, the second-year player from Cameroon, filled in for superstar center Andrew Bogut, who sat out with migraines, and tallied 10 points and 15 rebounds. Salmons, who was acquired just before last season’s trade deadline, had 22 points to lead the team in scoring.
The following night, the Bucks fell to the undefeated New Orleans Hornets at home by a score of 87-81. Bogut returned from his migraine issues with 19 points and 14 boards, but it was just not enough to beat the one-loss Hornets. New Orleans’ two young superstars, point guard Chris Paul and power forward David West, combined for 39 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists to triumph over the Bucks.
Milwaukee then thumped the defensively challenged New York Knicks in their next game, jumping out to a 22-point lead at the end of the first quarter. They went on to win 107-80, as point guard Brandon Jennings dominated the box score with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds. NBA journeyman Drew Gooden, playing for his ninth team in as many years, added a serviceable 17 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks.
Next, the Bucks dismantled the 6-2 Atlanta Hawks by a score of 108-91 to gain a minor sense of revenge for last season’s first round playoff series, which the Hawks won in seven games. This time around, Jennings and sixth man Corey Maggette led the Bucks’ offense. Jennings replicated his statistics from the Knicks game with another 19 points, six assists and five rebounds. But the pleasant surprise came from Maggette, who scored 20, and the rest of the Bucks’ reserves, as their bench players outscored the Hawks’ 35-6.
The Bucks’ next opponent was the Golden State Warriors, a team known for both their offensive prowess and their complete lack of defense. Jennings was certainly licking his chops before the game; the last time the Bucks and Warriors matched up in Milwaukee, he ended the night with 55 points, just three short of Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA rookie record. This time around he didn’t dominate quite as much, but still had excellent numbers. Jennings finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Salmons led the team with 26 points, and the Bucks won by a final score of 79-72.
Milwaukee sits at 5-5 after their recent surge, which is good for second place in the Central Division, just one game behind the division leaders, the Chicago Bulls. Over the past few years, all a team needs to do to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference is have a .500 record at the end of the season, so the Bucks look to have a shot at the playoffs so far. If they can stay in contention until former All-Star Michael Redd, who is expected to return from his offseason knee surgery in February, then Milwaukee will definitely be in the playoff race for the second season in a row.
Looking ahead, the Bucks host the 8-2 Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers and the Oklahoma City Thunder this weekend. The 76ers should be a cakewalk, but the Lakers and Thunder, led by MVP candidates Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, respectively, should pose much tougher tests. However, if the Bucks want to be respected as an Eastern Conference playoff contender, then they need to start scraping out wins against some of the top teams in the NBA.
