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THAT's a continuation, eh? Ok ok refs...

GREAT MAN D, DEVIN!!!

YYYEEEAAAHHH!!! D TO O LET'S GO!!!!!!!

4TH Q: SPURS 102

BUCKS 93

Well that feels really good. We came through with stellar D, and kept our composure during their late runs to get stops AND make our shots when they counted.

A full team win on both ends. I LOVE how different guys stepped up on O throughout the game, how we played solid man and help D from start to finish and how we turned our 4TH Q woes around to pull through together.

There was a stat shown at one point during the game of our D per Q and in the 4TH of games it being the worst for us. Well we did a great job of getting into driving and passing lanes, of reading the plays and rotating for help D, of sticking to the game plan of timely doubling of Giannis to force passes, and doubling of Khris every time he touched the ball to force someone other than these two to beat us. Terrific discipline.

We gave up some O rebounds - long shot, long rebound - through not boxing out enough and not really hustling after the balls, but we sealed it up in the 4TH Q. I thought Devin, Thad, DJ and Diop did a terrific job on the boards when contested in tight spaces. Great fight.

The DJ-Derrick back court defensive presence was all around terrific. Tre did a great pesky job, too, in limited minutes.

Jakob wasn't as used on O as he had been through the first few games, but he was still ever efficient connecting on 50% of his attempts. You know it's a good night when he makes both FTs. It was very smart to sub him out late in the game on O possessions with Thad because they were fouling every inbounds pass.

Thad was all around wonderful. SUCH a smart player. When Derrick didn't score through two Qs, Bryn stepped up in the 2ND and 3RD and Thad in the 3RD with stellar scoring support. Full credit to Bryn who fought over screens, made good D stops, drove well inside after being forced off the arc. Thad's vet presence was an important anchor for us with his finishing inside, his passing and his rebounding (team high 5 on O in only 16 minutes!).

We had only one player in double figures scoring at the half (Derrick) to five by the end of the game, a balance of three starters and two bench players. Everyone who played, scored (in fairness to Jock, he went in in the final two possessions when both teams held the ball).

We were 5-9 in the 1ST Q from 3 and then proceeded to miss everything from the arc in the next two Qs: 0-17. OOF. But we made 10-16FTs in the first three Qs. In the final Q, we made two clutch 3s - one from Keldon in the left corner, his only make from beyond the arc, one from DJ on a step back upon recognizing that the defender went under the screen, also his only make from the arc. Timely clutch shots along with a more concerted effort to keep driving rewarded us with 8FTAs, making 7! Devin clutch 4-4; DJ clutch 4-5. All five starters got to the FT line with only Derrick struggling (2-6) and three bench players got to the FT line.

Keldon struggled but after getting chewed up by Pop to his credit he kept on hustling. His tremendous help D block, Jakob's quick outlet pass, Lonnie great bounce pass between two defenders, DJ's wonderful running ahead and finishing off the glass was textbook D to O. He's still not recognizing the right reads and missing open teammates on drives, but at least he drove more and finally connected on a 3. He tends to get beaten on drives because he makes a two foot stop too hard and can't recover a driver's quick first step. Something to amend. He led us with 11 boards. He found ways to contribute even when his shot wasn't falling.

Thank you, Pop, for not playing Drew, Diop, and Bryn together this game. Drew struggled once again scoring 2 points and got beaten on drives. With Jakob doing yeoman's work on D but having only 6 FGAs, we needed more from our bigs. Enter Thad and Diop. Thad is a true PF and his experience in the position was evident. He and Diop were the two rotating bench players who got good minutes tonight and switching Drew out for them was big for us on both ends. Thad scored a crafty 10 points and Diop was only 1-1 on a great drive off a steal and made both FTs, but he was a +12 (second highest on the team beside Devin's team-high +14), made smart plays, ran well in transition and was a strong D presence - 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist.

Another solid rotation decision was to keep struggling Lonnie out of the game late in the 4TH. His lone make was in the 1ST Q, and he never found his shot again as he got fewer chances to score with each Q. For the best, really. Hard to explain his hit and miss games. He did have four assists, but also 4 TOs. Devin was the steadier defensive choice and proved it.

Devin struggled to score but was very solid on D and stepped up big to make four clutch FTs in the 4TH Q. He and Bryn led the team in bench minutes and Bryn was surprisingly helpful on D and excellent on O, whereas Devin had just about the best 0-6 game you could have with his FTs and 8 rebounds - these were strongly contested on the D end and he has a terrific knack and timing for snatching them away from opponents' busy hands, keeping his hands on the ball (no TOs) and making smart, quick outlet passes.

So, despite some woeful O streaks like the drought from 3 in the middle two Qs, and some early FT scoring struggles that had Pop hanging his head in bewilderment (and likely trying to keep cool), we forced the issue with key rotation changes, with steady D throughout the game, and with solid O execution late in the game.

At the core of it was DJ. He's been all around terrific and but for efficiency, has brought it in just about every aspect of the game. I used to think that if he was our leading scorer for the season then we'd be in trouble. And though he and Jakob have been our D anchors and Jakob has been noticeably better on O, it's really DJ that provides a steadying presence for us in clutch situations. He has a knack for the big moment - full credit where it's due. So whether or not he leads us in scoring is actually secondary to his experience in such situations, and coming through for us. If he's the fulcrum around which we rally and raise our collective game, I'm all for it. He scored 16 of our game-high 33 4TH Q points, and best of all, on excellent decisions. I've criticized him for going mano-a-mano when it took us out of the flow of our O, but tonight we really needed a strong, steady scoring presence and he provided it with an array of scoring that carved up their D. He drove and finished well in transition, he made FTs, he got to his mid-range J spots and connected, he made a huge 3, and he read the situations very well going right at Giannis who had five fouls. Just an excellent performance. He also led us with 9 assists (all by the 3RD Q), and 3 steals (two in the final Q).

Bryn got his ring and was a strong two-way contributor for our win; DJ was the two-way leader we needed; the rotations helped raise and maintain the level of play; we figured out how to close out a championship team; Pop got the win against bitter Bud who hasn't shaken Pop's hand at center court after the game in something like at least two seasons, if not this being the third. So yeah, screw him.

This was a very solid team effort. When one guys struggled, another stepped up; when one way of scoring dried up, we ran other plays to find other openings. A solid 9 TOs (which cost us 10 points while converting their 21 TOs for 19 points) and 28 assists (we are now second in the league in assists per game) along with SIXTY points in the paint (to offset the poor 3 shooting; still we made two timely ones late), 12 steals, and 17-24 FTs showed the team effort it took to win.

We're figuring who we can rely on to be the cog around which we confidently roll and it looks like DJ is stepping up. I'm happy to be wrong about him. And if he rubs off on others to step up, the more dangerous on O we will be. I still think we're but scratching the surface of what we can do on O and I think the release of tension of a win will help guys just play and make their shots more. We're growing on both ends, with our D being ever more impressive and our O solidifying. We have some work to do in efficiency, but that will come with more reps. We generated good chances from our D and movement tonight. It's a good foundation for the upcoming games.

Bryn's boys are getting so big! This is so endearing...

We played ok IMO. Murray is definitely trying to be the guy which is fine. I hope he turns into it.

The spewing out of numbers is annoying to me because he is getting those numbers only because he is has the opportunity to have them. Therefore he should be having numbers similar to this nightly because of the situation he is in and what the team is asking of him. So basically IMO he is doing what is being asked of him. Lets stop with the "Taken a giant leap" BS until he actually does.
(I'm not talking about you, Grey. But the Twitter fanbois)

Vassell is becoming more dependable by the game.

Walker is still a roller coaster and needs more consistency.

Games like this are what Thad Young does. He will do more of that if both sides decide to stick together this year.

But lets be brutally honest and not look at this game through Spurs colored glasses. This was one of the biggest examples of early season, mailing it in performances, that the Bucks could have. It didn't seem like most of them were really interested of being there until the last few minutes where they tried to bully their way back. Good for us to hold on and win it and use it as a learning tool but I'm not looking at this as some big win or anything.