Three-pointer: Kidd back with Bucks
By Tony Mejia
Milwaukee will get its leader back on Tuesday, which means the next few weeks prior to the All-Star break are going to be vital for perhaps the Eastern Conference’s biggest underachievers.
The Bucks, considered to be a team on the rise after finishing last season at .500 and taking a couple of games off the Bulls in the playoffs, opened the season 0-3 and were 11-18 when Jason Kidd took his leave on Dec. 21 to undergo hip surgery, getting a metal prosthesis inserted to ease his stiffness and pain.
"I think people from the outside thought it was just going to be automatic and we'd pick up from last year," Kidd told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Expectations were a lot higher. But also, we had new pieces, with Jabari (Parker) being one of them, and Moose (Greg Monroe). Our defense did take a step back. Sometimes, you have to get games under your belt and see the good and bad and hopefully make the adjustments. As you can see, the guys are starting to play as a team."
Assistant Joe Prunty fared slightly better than Kidd upon taking over on an interim basis, but Saturday night’s 116-89 loss in New Orleans dropped the Bucks to 8-9 (10-7 ATS) under his guidance. Once again, the Bucks failed to defend the 3-point line and went into lulls offensively. Kidd has expressed his displeasure with the team’s defense and will look to place more of an emphasis on that end of the floor upon his return against Orlando. The under prevailed in six of Milwaukee’s 11 wins when Kidd was at the helm, so look for his return to be a major catalyst in the team picking up its attention to detail at that end of the floor.
Milwaukee gave up 100 or more points in 13 of the 17 games where Prunty filled in. The situation has been so poor that 116 scored by the Pelicans over the weekend ranked as only the fourth-highest total given up during his stint. Houston and New Orleans combined for 32 3-pointers in handing the Bucks their last two loss.
Michael Carter-Williams was expected to lead the charge in taking a step forward in his own development, but he’s been wildly inconsistent. Having Kidd back can only aid his development. He’s averaged 11.3 points in January, but comes off his best shooting game of the season, going 9-for-12 in New Orleans. If the Bucks can get him going, they will have a decent shot at righting the ship and coming through on their short-term goal.
"We would like to finish on a high note before the (All-Star) break and then come back after the break ready to make a push," Kidd said.
Following Tuesday’s home date with Orlando, Milwaukee faces a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday, visiting Memphis and returning home to face injury-riddled Miami. The Bucks open February on the West Coast for games at Sacramento, Portland and Utah, a stretch that will be followed up by a few days off and home dates with the Celtics and Wizards.
Clips taking cautious approach with Griffin
L.A. power forward Blake Grifffin was expected to be back in action this past weekend, or at the very least, ready to go as the Clips closed out a five-game Eastern road swing. Neither happened.
Griffin was sent home to L.A. despite the organization stressing that the change in plans was not setback-related. He won’t play in stops at Indiana and Atlanta and was considered doubtful for a meeting with the Lakers on Jan. 29. After a fight with a member of the team's equipment staff, he's now expected to be out another 4-6 weeks.
Griffin hasn’t played since posting a Christmas night double-double in helping rout the Lakers, suffering a partially torn tendon in his left quad. The Clippers won the first nine games without him, but enter the week with losses in three of their last five as his absence has begun to catch up to them. Sunday’s 112-94 loss in Toronto was the team’s worst of the season, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Doc Rivers prepares his team to bounce back as they wrap up the road trip with a Tuesday-Wednesday back-to-back against the Pacers and Hawks. Both teams have winning records, which is of importance since the Clippers haven’t seen many teams with more wins than losses throughout Griffin’s absence. L.A. is just 2-2 against teams over .500 without their star power forward.
Given the stiff competition for reserve spots in the West, Griffin’s run of five consecutive All-Star nods will certainly end on Thursday despite averages of 23.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists over 30 games.
Warriors/Spurs blowout fallout
When it was all over, Gregg Popovich had jokes.
"We almost got them," said the Spurs coach following a 120-90 blowout loss at Golden State. "My opening comment here will be, I'm just glad my general manager wasn't in the locker room, because it might have gotten me fired."
San Antonio fields the team least likely to let a loss like the one suffered on Monday night fester. The 30-point deficit was the largest the Spurs have lost by since 2012, when they fell in Portland by 40. The Warriors shot over 50 percent, won every quarter and out-rebounded San Antonio.
Since the Spurs had won 13 consecutive games prior to the demolition in Oakland, they’ve already been installed as a double-digit favorite against Houston on Wednesday. They’re 17-6-1 at home against the spread and are 24-0 overall, so you can expect they’ll be at their best against the Rockets. San Antonio hasn’t lost consecutive games all season and has covered the spread after every setback, winning by double-digits each time.
The Warriors, now 21-0 at home, have won four straight and are a whopping 15.5-point favorite against Dallas. The Mavericks handed Golden State its worst loss of the season by a 114-91 count on Dec. 30. The teams will play twice more in March, which will give us an opportunity to see whether the lopsided setback was a fluke or the beginning of an interesting trend. The over is 7-3 in the Warriors last 10 games. It’s also 4-0 of late for the Mavs.
