Bucks Buzz: Monday November 4th

Alright, I spent part of my weekend figuring out what we could do to feature Milwaukee's professional basketball team twice a week. Mitch Pratt and I talked about it multiple times and wanted something different than the other great Bucks blogs. Here is what I am starting with and I will tweak likely as the season continues because that's what happens in this blog life. It will be a post with short recaps, links, pictures, tweets and any other random stuff. This post will run Monday and Thursday with me handling Monday and Mitch taking most of Thursday.

Bucks split the weekend 

Friday: Milwaukee come back to beat Boston, 105-98 - Bucks found themselves in a similar predicament as they trailed by 22 points in the second half against the Celtics. Game 1 featured a 25-point deficit in a defeat to New York.  It appeared as they were headed for an 0-2 start to the season. They began to battle back with strong play from Zaza Pachuila who had 20 points and nine rebounds along with strong bench play from John Henson and Khris Middleton as the Bucks starters watched on in the fourth quarter. At least early on, it looks like Milwaukee has some true depth and sometimes the bench can pick up this team.

Appropriate YouTube video:  NOTHING EASY

Saturday: Bucks lose home opener to Raptors, 97-90 - Raptors 'star' players Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozen got it done on Saturday leading Toronto to victory with Gay having 18 points and 15 rebounds and DeRozen had 17 points with a PER of +17.  Just like the Brewers not scoring with Runners in Scoring Position, Packers struggling with 3rd and 1's, the Bucks struggled in the third quarter with only 19 points leading to their demise. O.J. Mayo's stat line looked nice off the bench with 16 points, eight assists and six rebounds yet he only had a PER of +2.  I expect November to be a struggle for Milwaukee as they work to find what combination work with eleven new players.

Appropriate YouTube video: Drake's Up All Night.

This is great work by Milwaukee Bucks marketing department. Once upon I thought they did not do enough, now I could not be more impressed with them. They always seem to be at the forefront of creative ideas. It seems like they are making an effort to be involved with not only the local fan base but the Internet fanbase as well. I love this one. (H/T @Bucks)  

Brian Phillips of Grantland had some great tweets about it as well and the Bucks continue to win the social media game. While this seems irrelevant to some, this is a very important thing for a team who might not be loved as much as they should in their home town. They have Internet credibility.

Links 

  Breaking News

ABC World News named Bango Buck, the Person of the Week. It is pretty awesome and how about living the life of a mascot while his wife is a neurosurgeon?   I would be about that life so so much. In related news, if the Bucks want me to come in and try that move from the rafters... I am 100 percent in. 

A good one from Brew Hoop from last week talking about managing expectations if a young player gets off to a fast start.  

If you missed Grantland's Zach Lowe's one on one with LARRY SANDERS is delightful. 

Another one that's a little behind schedule, but there is not much yet given the season is just fresh. On Milwaukee's Jim Owczarski wrote a great piece on Giannis Anetokounmpo's life.  Take the afternoon to read this one. Great work from Jim.  

Keep your eye on... 

Larry Sanders (No full caps because it is disappointing right now) - When can we push the Larry Sanders panic button?  Do we have to wait two weeks? Probably.  He did not see playing time in the fourth quarter in both Friday and Saturday's game. I was at a bar Friday and my group thought Larry had got kicked out of the game; we had no idea why he was not in the game. Personally, I feel like Sanders is playing tight right now given he just received a big contract from the team and now is trying to put on for them. He will be fine.

This week for Milwaukee

They play Cleveland on Wednesday at BMO Bradley Center in a matchup known as the Nolan Murphy Bowl. Game time is 7:00 pm Central Time and will be on FOX Sports Wisconsin. '

Let me know if there is anything I can do to make this post better seeing as it is a maiden voyage. Tweet me here or email: snotap12@gmail.com 

Charlie.  

NFL Liquor Cabinet Week 9

For the entire NFL season, we will be breaking down the rest of the NFL not named Green Bay by looking at it like a liquor cabinet. Why did we choose this method? I like to booze and it makes things really easy to determine what's great, average and poor. 

Top Shelf
Carolina is the real deal - They might have beaten up on the lesser teams in the NFL, but a playoff team is supposed to win football games such as the ones Carolina has been winning throughout the last month. Their schedule gets much harder with games against San Francisco, New England and two against New Orleans meaning they will be tested yet I still think they can win some of those games. Their front-seven is relentless and they played pretty well in the secondary against a competent quarterback in Matt Ryan. I would not want to face this team in the coming weeks and months.

Have a day Nick Foles - It seems like every week we are trying to find a new word to describe Philadelphia's offense and how to talk about Chip Kelly. This week will open some eyes with Nick Foles throwing for seven touchdowns dominating Oakland's defense in a 49-20 rout in the Bay Area. People can shit on Oakland all they want, but the fact of the matter is they play well at home and have been playing better of late. Foles came in and napalmed the field on Sunday. I have no idea if this will continue for Foles yet this has to encouraging for the Eagles as Michael Vick's hamstring remains in question and Matt Barkley is clearly not the answer right now. Foles might be Kelly's short-term and who knows maybe his long-term solution.  

Mike James does his best Tim Tebow - Sure Tampa Bay blew a 21 point lead on Sunday to Seattle, but at least they will always have rookie Mike James throwing a jump pass to former Green Bay Packer Tom Crabtree. I wish we could get a jump pass on every Sunday. (H/T GIF'd Sports)

Don't sleep on Washington - Hear me out, but Washington looks better and better each week. They are only 3-5 and definitely a player in the NFC East race possibly a Wild Card spot. Washington's secondary is a goddamn disaster, but the rest of the team is good enough to be a playoff team. Robert Griffin III looks like himself again and Alfred Morris rushed with purpose for the first time in what seems like forever. They played Minnesota on Thursday and a road game against Philadelphia before a home Monday Night showdown with San Francisco. If they can win the next two games, I love their chances, and I am glad Green Bay played them in Week 2.

Tony Romo saves Dallas from embarrassment - There were those times in college and in life that get called a 'sure thing' whether it be a test, an assignment, a person from the opposite sex, there are countless examples. Sometimes these 'sure things' turn into everything but and that's what Dallas faced against Minnesota on Sunday. Minnesota played inspired football and took the lead late in the fourth quarter with a big drive led by bruising runs by Adrian Peterson. The ball was in Tony Romo's hands with under two minutes left and as we all know, anything can happen with the Dallas quarterback in this situation. Romo led an inspired drive down the field with big passes to Dez Bryant and Cole Beasley leading to a seven yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Harris with only 35 seconds left.  Romo will probably not get the same amount of attention as he would have if Chad Greenway picked him off in the endzone, but still a nice Sunday for him.

Middle Shelf
Seattle comes back, but cause for concern? - This was definitely a weird week in the National Football League but nothing was weider than Seattle trailing by 21 points to Tampa Bay. Mike James rushed for over 150 yards and now this is the second straight game where a no-named rusher bullied them through the whole game. Russell Wilson also looked pedestrian with two interceptions including one in the end zone. Once again, the pressure on Wilson was heavy making him move from the pocket. Granted, they need to get some offensive linemen back, but this team is a paper tiger right now.

AFC Wild Card is a complete mess - Right now, New York Jets would be in the playoffs but there are seven teams with a chance at making the playoffs right now. The Jets.  Also alive in the playoff hunt are Tennessee, San Diego, Miami, all with four losses. Teams with five losses, Cleveland, Oakland and Baltimore, all have their heads barely above water. If you can predict who will be the final team in the AFC playoffs, I will give you some kind of award because it is hard to sort out the pile right now.

Kansas City keeps winning, but everyone is not impressed, why? - Kansas City is probably the most hated on 9-0 football team. People are expecting the bottom to fall out. While I agree maybe the Chiefs are playing above their heads, I still think this is a real solid team. They might not be number one at anything individually, but the Chiefs can find a way to win football games. Kansas City's defense is one of the best in the whole NFL and they very well might be the best. Chiefs defense tied the record for most games with  the opposing team scoring less than 17 points with their ninth consecutive game tying the 1977 Atlanta Falcons.

Bottom Shelf
Oh no Houston - We started to the hype machine early on Sunday Night as Case Keenum started gunslinging out there with big passes to Andre Johnson putting Houston up 24-6.  Rookie kicker Randy Bullock missed two field goals in the second half and Indianapolis starts creeping back in with a big second half from T.Y. Hilion.  Bullock had a chance to redeem himself in the final seconds of the game, but he completely missed a 55-yard field goal. Keenum seems like the short-term future of this team.

New Orleans' northeast struggles continue - Saints have two losses and those two losses are when they headed to northeast part of the United States.  One happened with a bad final drive against New England and then they got steamrolled by New York Jets' defense. The Jets defensive line became a terror squad again and Chris Ivory tore up his former team on the ground.  New Orleans has four games left on the road including trips to Carolina and Seattle. They need to play better on the road if they want a deep run in January unless they find their way into the one seed.

RIP LaDarius Webb's ankles - Baltimore suffered another lost this weekend as Cleveland's defense made Ray Rice and the Ravens offense obsolete. One of the best plays in the game was Davone Bess breaking LaDarius Webb's ankles like his name was Hot Sauce (H/T Black Sports Online) 

Pittsburgh and Atlanta are done for - Two teams who had playoff hopes at the beginning of the year and two teams we can forget about being playoff contenders as November begins. Although both of these teams have enough of a homefield advantage to win some games at home this year so do not be surprised when they beat a legitimate playoff contender in the weeks ahead.

Baltimore is trending downwards quickly - The defending Super Bowl champions are officially on the ropes. They are two games under .500 and have lost four of their last five games. Baltimore takes on Cincinnati at home this Sunday and this is a must-win. Even if the Ravens get a win here, they still have a lot of work to do moving forward with a schedule that is not easy with a finish that features a road Monday Night game against Detroit, home for Sunday Night against New England and travel to Cincinnati.

Charlie.

Badgers' Bullish Play Leads to Victory

In the first half, Wisconsin Badgers looked a lot like me on Saturday morning... Sluggish, tired and inability to really do anything productive. Wisconsin probably just had to feel out their opponent, Iowa, while I tried to watch the game with a debilitating hangover. Both the Badgers and I recovered nicely as Wisconsin imposed their will on Iowa winning 28-9 in a key Big Ten win to keep their hopes of alive for a BCS bowl and a Big Ten title appearance.

Many Badgers fans held their collective breath when the football team announced Chris Borland would not
play on Saturday. Borland is the heart and soul to the Badgers defense and while Iowa's offense is not Oregon, they are not the worst offense in the nation. Further, Iowa looked stronger on offense in the last couple of weeks meaning this could have been more of an offensive battle than it had been expected going into the game.

Iowa's offense remained stagnant as Borland's replacement, Marcus Trotter, showed Wisconsin will be just fine when Borland leaves this season.  He played great inside with nine tackles containing Iowa's rushing offense and played a large part in holding the Hawkeyes to only nine points. It also says a bunch about Wisconsin's defense and maybe proof they are right up there with some of the best defensive teams in the country. Even though Iowa's quarterbacks will not be making NFL rosters (Shoutout to Ricky Stanzi, the hardest working American outchea), the young Wisconsin cornerbacks played one of their best games of the year and it could be showing they are maturing as we head into the month of November.

There has not been a James White game in a long time. Melvin Gordon stole the show from him early on this season yet this was a game for White. Iowa is a bruising mean defense and that does not suit Gordon as well as it does White (Worth nothing, I think this hurts Gordon's draft stock but what the hell do I know). The senior running back went off for 132 yards on only 19 carries averaging 6.9 per carry. Only Carlos Hyde rushed for more yards yet he did it with five more carries against this Iowa's defense. White played a large part in wearing down the Iowa defense ensuring a victory for this Badgers team.

For the first time this season, Wisconsin really leaned on their rushing game. Joel Stave had his worst output of the season with only 144 yards of passing and 44 percent of the yardage came on two touchdown passes. The Badgers do rely Stave more than the national media will ever talked about because it is not as sexy as White and Gordon.  He looked horrible in the first half minus the 44 yard strike to Jacob Pedersen and the Badgers offense did as well. Stave is still an inconsistent quarterback in his second year at quarterback and that's perfectly fine yet against a better offense, it might come back to bite the Badgers in the ass.

It might not be another Rose Bowl but CBS Sports' Jerry Palm has Wisconsin slotted into the Sugar Bowl against South Carolina. This is interesting given how impressive Michigan State played this week and given the Badgers are still at number 24 in the BCS Standings. Wisconsin has three games to continue to impressive the computers and voters yet it does seem like they should garner more respect.

Charlie.

DOY: Johnathan Burroughs-Cook

DOY IS BACK. YES!!!!  For those unfamiliar with this post, DOY is an acronym for Dunked On You and we showcase dunks from NBA, college and high school basketball games. Our first one comes from an unlikely source, College of Charleston.  They were playing an exhibition Sunday night where Johnathan Burroughs-Cook, a 6'1 guard,  climbed the ladder and gave some poor victim a nasty facial.  On a related note, how about College of Charleston having jerseys that say 'The College'?  Like what is that exactly about?  Do people go around and call it 'The College' like they would with Minnesota where they stupidly call it 'The U'? God I hope not. (H/T College Basketball Talk) 

Charlie.

Tap's Trailers: That Awkward Moment

1000 percent in on this movie. I do not care that this movie comes out in January (For those who are not familiar with the move business, usually movies in the Jan-March time frame tend to be worse than others) and I will go see it, possibly by myself.  It reminds me of "Going The Distance" a romantic comedy that appealed to all audiences. It stars Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan as three roommates agreeing to stay single after Jordan's character gets out of a relationship. And as what tends to happen when roommates or friends make these kind of promises, Efron and Teller's characters get in relationships. I laughed pretty hard in those two and a half minutes.

Charlie.

First Taste: I Kill Giants - The Naked & Famous

The Naked & Famous are one of those bands I want to spend more time with, but they tend to get lost in the shuffle from time to time. They have a new album out that I need to check out and one of the songs just added a music video the other day. The video itself is pretty cool as it features two ballerinas putting on a performance in what looks to be a church and the audience acts like zombies as these girls are doing all sorts of crazy shit all over the place. The song itself I might need a little more time to marinate with as I am a little unsure about it although I do like the video, it is pretty rad.

Charlie.

SnoTap's Comprehensive Way Through the NBA

It took us almost a week into the NBA season, but all the previews are finally done. I just want to thank
Mitch Pratt, Andrew Kasmarek and Nolan Murphy whom all helped out with this one. They do some great work and I linked their Twitter accounts so you can follow them. We have the podcast and all the previews below linked and ready for you. Enjoy.

Atlantic                                                        
Brooklyn
New York 
Boston
Toronto
Philadelphia 

Central 
Chicago
Indiana
Milwaukee
Detroit 
Cleveland 

Southeast
Miami
Washington
Charlotte
Atlanta
Orlando 

Northwest
Oklahoma City
Portland 
Utah 
Minnesota 
Denver

Pacific
Los Angeles Clippers
Golden State
Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix
Sacramento 

Southwest
Houston
Memphis 
San Antonio
New Orleans
Dallas