Game 50: Milwaukee Bucks (25-22) @ Utah Jazz (27-22)

[slcjosh]

My thoughts from the game last night:

The Bucks bigs couldnt handle the physicality of the Jazz last night. They might have been a little warn out after playing in Denver the previous night and choking up a 17 point lead, but they were completely outmatched.

Kanter looked fantastic tonight. He overpowered every match-up they gave him. He showed off his nice touch by burying 17 footer assisted by favors. In 17 minutes tonight he had 17 points, 9 rebounds (5 offensive) 2 assists and a career high 5 block shots. He also hit a great sky hook as he attacked the paint by jab stepping his man to the baseline side and exploding to the middle of the paint. he lifted off and put up a hook shot. Its a completely unblockable shot. If he masters that, he will have defenders on their heels at all times, whether its his hook shot, the ability to fake the shot and go up and under, or sheer force he will just over power his defender. His defense is coming along well, he just needs to remain focused on rotating a bit sooner.

Favors was solid, slightly over shadowed by Enes, but still really solid. in 21 minutes he had 9 points, 11 rebounds (8 defensive), 2 assists , 3 steals and 3 blocks. Faves Jumper looked good, you can tell he has leanred a ton from Big Al when you watch his face up game in the post. He will turn and face his defneder, work him with jab steps and shot fakes then either rise up and shoot over him or crash the basket. He has a better knack for attacking the rim then jefferson has shown and i love it.

Combined, Enes and Derrick had 8 blocked shots. Who called the Swat team?

Burks Looked really good again. We will see how he handles the Bulls on friday, but i like what im seeing so far.
The bucks like to pressure the wings and the point and he handled it well. A few turnovers, but they didnt bite us too badly. Hitting his first two shots from deep was nice too, you could see his confidence swell. Burks is an above average rebounder and he rebounds well for a guard or pg.

Millsap and Jefferson were good, both scored 19.

The bucks tandem of Monta and Brandon is really not that impressive. Both have great ability, but Milwaukee needs to find a better long term solution. Its not a real recipe for success or playoff wins.

Ilyasova is a pretty good player, but physically he is not strong enough to hang with guys like millsap. any team with a solid post guy could beat up on him on the block and put up good numbers.

Good win by the jazz, did what they had to do to a bucks team in a back to back from denver. I hope they do the same to chicago tomorrow.