"Cause when push comes to shove,
You taste what you're made of.
You might bend 'til you break,
Cause that's all you can take.
On your knees, you look up,
Decide you've had enough --
You get mad, you get strong,
Wipe your hand, shake it off --
Then you stand."
-- "Stand" by Rascal Flatts.
I'll admit it.
When Josh Smith hit his 16 footer to put Atlanta up 82-73 with 4:09 to go, I thought "ballgame".
Indeed it was. For the opposite squad you would have thought.
Let's go "Inside the Numbers" to review the epic Bucks comeback!
4:09 4th Quarter: Bucks timeout. The Bucks also subbed out Ridnour for Ilyasova at this point. In hindsight, this might have been THE move that stole game five. Ridnour was solid, almost spectacular, on Wednesday night (5-7 shooting, 1-1 from three land, 4-4 at the line, 2 boards, 1 assist, 4 steals, 15 points in 17 minutes of play). But Ilyasova saved the season down the stretch with two spectacular baseline saves. Its the little moves that separate the good from the great. Don't underestimate this substitution at this point.
Because it changed the Bucks style. The Bucks had been playing a perimeter game to this point. Now, with Ilyasova, Thomas, and Salmons in the lineup, they were looking to go inside. A key to what was to come. (And even more key, in the first of about ten mind-blowing brain-fart mistakes, Mike Woodson did NOTHING to counter this. No substitution, no defensive shifts, nothing. It would bite him in the ass big time).
3:54 4th Quarter: Foul on Marvin Williams. Salmons had position, used it, and drew the bailout call. Which begs the question, what is a guard doing on John Salmons in the post? The answer: go back to the previous paragraph. Skiles went big. Woodson didn't adjust. Salmons hit both free throws, and the lead was down to seven. Always a good thing to score with no time moving off the clock when you're trailing by 9.
3:38 4th Quarter: Josh Smith missed layup. He bricked it. No other way to put it. The size advantage kicking in again. Kurt Thomas got the board. The Bucks pushed it down the floor, and after a pass to the top of the key ...
3:29 4th Quarter: John Salmons three pointer. Good! This was huge. I made this comparison to Gregg yesterday, and it fits here. Remember back in the KU / Memphis national title game? Everyone remembers Mario Chalmers three to force overtime. Sure, huge bucket. Had me literally crying on the floor in the fetal position for four minutes.
What everyone overlooks ... is the ONIONS! three pointer Sherron Collins had 1:30 earlier, to cut the lead from seven to four. Its frightening, the parallels between that Memphis collapse, and the Hawks collapse last night. Both blew 9 point leads against teams I love. Both blew said lead in barely 2 minutes. And the key moment, the key shot, you could argue, in each game, was a three pointer to cut the lead from 7 to 4. Once you get it to four, its a ballgame. Especially with 3:29 on the clock.
3:07 4th Quarter: Jamal Crawford missed layup. To pull an upset like the Bucks did on Wednesday night, it takes a lot of little things. And one of the most underrated little things of the night, was how awful Atlanta's interior game was. Horford got 25 ... but easily should have had 40. He missed a ton of short jumpers and off-hand hooks. And here, in the span of 30 seconds, you have Kurt Thomas altering two easy layups for the Hawks, they miss both, and the tide is really starting to turn at this point, as Kurt gets the board, and starts the break.
2:44 4th Quarter: Foul on Joe Johnson. His fifth. Look at the time that elapsed. Thomas got the board at 3:05. BJ drew the foul at 2:44. 21 seconds. The Hawks played solid defense, bled the shot clock (as you want to do when you're up four) ... and then a bone-head foul on a desperation jumper by BJ. Again, its the little things that separate good from great. Taking stupid fouls on a shot with (at best) a 30% likelihood of going in, is a stupid decision.
2:44 4th Quarter: BJ hits the first. The lead is down to three. Mike Woodson calls timeout for Atlanta. Why he calls it between free throws, which gives him team no appreciable advantage, versus after the free throws, when he can move the ball to midcourt, call a set play, and possibly get a cheap foul and/or cheap bucket on a quick mismatch, is ... well, that's why he's Mike Woodson.
I should note, I feel kind of bad for Mike. He's improved the Hawks win total every year he's been at the helm. He's taken them from (arguably) the worst team in the league, to a 50 win, top three in the conference squad. He's done it with a front office in chaos, ownership that is literally suing each other over who controls the team, and an apathetic fan base that rarely if ever shows up to support the team.
And yet ... you saw it Wednesday. You saw it all weekend in Milwaukee. You even saw it in game one after the first quarter. The guy simply has NO clue how to adjust once the game begins. He's like the Bizarro Gregg Popovich. And its killing his team.
2:44 4th Quarter: BJ misses the second. Ilyasova with the offensive rebound. The first of two clutch baseline saves for "Cut" Ersan Ilyasova, as he used to be known. Go back 90 seconds ago. When Skiles subbed out a point guard, for a big man. I hate to sound like a broken record, but its the little moves that separate good from great. Would Mike Woodson have made that substitution? (Probably not).
2:35 4th Quarter: Foul on Marvin Williams. There's dumb fouls ... and then there are smart fouls. This was a smart foul. Salmons had an open look at the bucket. Williams mugged him to make him earn the two points. Good decision.
Honestly, the only Hawk that's impressed me in this series is Marvin Williams. Its taken five years, but perhaps he's finally starting to play like the number two pick of the draft. He's been Atlanta's shining star so far. So long as that keeps up, I like the Bucks chances.
2:35 4th Quarter: John Salmons hits both free throws. The lead is down to one. 82-81. At this point, its an 8-0 run in 90 seconds. The Hawks have missed both shots they've tried, two layups that Kurt Thomas successfully defended. Their defense is clearly breaking down, as 5 of the 8 points are on free throws, and two of those were second chance points thanks to Ilyasova's board of BJ's missed free throw. If you were coaching this game, what would you do?
I know what I'd do.
TIME! OUT!
At the very least, you call TO to get the ball to midcourt, set up a called play, and hopefully re-establish order. Again, your nine point lead is down to one. There's still two and a half minutes to go. You're in a dogfight now. Why wouldn't you try to land the next punch, by getting a set play called that might catch the Bucks by surprise?
Thankfully, its the Mike Woodson coached Hawks. They don't call timeout. Instead, the push the ball up the court, and after a few passes ...
2:15 4th Quarter: Offensive Foul on Joe Johnson. Their best player fouls out on a stupid, idiotic charge that 9,999,999 out of 10,000,000 refs would call a charge. (Amazingly, the 1 I would have bet would call "block" was Dick Bavetta. Bavetta called this one, as a charge. Even the blind squirrel finds an acord every once in a while ...)
This was the height of idiocy. You still had four on the shot clock. There was simply no reason to be driving out-of-control ten feet from the hoop into Kurt Thomas. No reason, other than idiocy. Atlanta's best player gone, with 2:15 to go in a one point game. Even better, the "my better days are clearly behind me" Mike Bibby was the only logical substitution for Atlanta. Bibby can still direct an offense, and he's still good enough on defense to make things interesting. But at this point, he's a tremendous liability when being asked to shoot. The Hawks basically are now playing 4 on 5 on offense. This doesn't bode well for things to come.
1:58 4th Quarter: Ersan Ilyasova Turnaround Jumper. Bucks lead 83-82. Comeback complete. That's a 10-0 run for Milwaukee in barely two minutes. In that span, the Hawks have only attempted two shots. They've fouled out their best player. And yet still, even after this, even after now officially whizzing away the lead ... Mike Woodson STILL doesn't call a timeout to stop the bleeding! What was he waiting for?
1:40 4th Quarter: Josh Smith missed three pointer. A "what the hell was he thinking" shot. A bad three point shooter trying a three with eight left on the shot clock. Yes, some of this, if not most of this, falls on the player ... but if Mike Woodson had called the timeout, and set up a half-court play, would this misguided shot have been tried? (Nope). Don't tell me coaching doesn't matter in sports. It does. More in some sports than others, but it definitely matters in crunch time.
Horford gets the board, then misses a two foot hook. Unbelievable. How this guy scores 25 a night is beyond me.
Here's Al's tag line from Wednesday: 11-21 shooting, 1-1 from three land, 2-2 at the line. 11 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 25 total points. Solid line. Except for one thing -- you're a center / power forward, depending on the matchup. And you go 11-21? You miss as many shots as you attempt? That's inexcusable.
BJ gets the board after Horford's miss, and leads the charge down the floor. And then, the play of the game happens.
1:21 4th Quarter: BJ missed running jumper. As I noted yesterday, some teams wait for things to happen, others force the issue. Go back almost three minutes ago, to the Ilyasova substitution. Here's where it really pays off. Bucks up one. BJ just attempted (and missed) an awful running jumper. Bad decision, there was still 10 on the shot clock, Bibby had him well defended, just a stupid decision that should -- repeat, SHOULD -- have led to Horford board and a Hawks fast break.
Instead, Ilyasova splits the defense, saves the ball on the baseline, whips it cross-court to a wide open Carlos Delfino in the corner ...
1:16 4th Quarter: Carlos Delfino made three pointer. Bango! 86-82 Bucks. Turn out the light, the party's over. No, the game wasn't officially over, but THIS was the play that all but ended it. Not even three minutes earlier, everyone assumed Josh Smith's jumper was the dagger. Think again -- it was Delfino's arena-emptying three that did it. In the library. With the candlestick.
A three minute clinic on coaching. Scotty Skiles started it with his brilliant substitution of Ilyasova. It took the Bucks from a smaller jump-shooting team, to a bigger interior looking squad. Mike Woodson did nothing to counter-act. The Bucks then used the size advantage to get to the line six times in the next two minutes, making five, and rebounding the one miss and converting that into points. Again, Mike Woodson did NOTHING to counter the size advantage.
And on the opposite end, because the Hawks now were mismatched, they couldn't run their offense. They drove inside, and Thomas caused them to miss layups. They can't shoot the jumper to begin with, but without an inside presence, they had no choice and went outside, with disasterous results.
And at this point, FINALLY, Mike Woodson calls timeout.
He blew his chances to stem the tide. Twice, after Bucks made shots, he should have called timeout, set up a half-court set play, and tried to take momentum back. Both times he did nothing. Only AFTER every ounce of emotion and momentum was drained from his team and its fans, did he bother to think "wow, things are getting out of control here, might want to call a TO just to calm the guys down".
Game five was fun. Epic comeback, for all the right reasons (more intensity, better coaching, better execution down the stretch). Let's hope game six isn't nearly as nerve wracking.
Now for a few other quick hits floating around in this vodka-saturated brain of mine ...
* I can't believe its IRL weekend at the Speedway ... and I honestly don't care all that much. Well, I do care, I plan on being there tomorrow for the race. But its almost like there's no enthusiasm. Even from most of my friends who usually go to this race -- none of them are going. Mostly due to scheduling issues. Which is why having this thing in July made more sense. People are always busy in late April / early May. Between the onslaught of spring and the yard and garden work that entails, to finally hitting the golf course, to weddings, to kids end-of-school year stuff, it just kills the weekend. Whereas in July, you always had this thing around the 4th, so people were off of work, and what else is there to do in Kansas in early July other than sit around all day, drink in a grassy field, and then head in for 90 minutes of racing, before resuming said drinking in said grassy field afterwards?
* Plus, I miss the "Gregg and Steve Blow Up the Backyard BeerBQ Bonanza" that was the midpoint of race weekend. You'd spend all day Saturday drinking and watching the truck race, then come home ... to multiple kegs, ridiculous amounts of liquor, and hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of fireworks.
The last one was the best. The first one was nothing special, it started out as just me, Gregg and Julie drinking in the garage, then wind up having to fish her brother and a buddy out of the river when they missed their canoe stop. That led to the "hey, if five people drinking in the garage and lighting fireworks is cool, even more people and being outside might be cooler!" line of thought.
I tried to find the pics from the last Bonanza, but they aren't up on the Kodak site anymore. But yeah ... as pretty much I remember the scene (emphasis on "remember", don't forget I spent the day drinking at the Speedway with Brett, the only guy I know who can match me shot for shot on vodka:
(steve, chris, random person) (on back deck, drinking, smoking, watching nascar)
(everyone else) (blowing up fireworks in the backyard)
(gregg) oh sh*t! Get the hose! Get the damned hose!
(steve) (turns around)
(back yard) (literally on fire)
Hell yes we burned up the back yard! Who says a bottle rocked war can't get ugly and out of control!
* And I really miss Matchette Liquors. Jennifer was the best. She always hooked us up for that event. (Probably because between me and our old neighbor Chris, we kept their business afloat).
* Not much to say on Survivor last night. Russell made his first mistake in playing the Idol, but I don't think it'll hurt him. Its obvious the Heroes side views Parvati as the bigger threat, and they'll target her first. They probably made the right play in booting Amanda. But overall, a kind of filler episode that really didn't resonate a whole lot. Nothing like last week's epic JT brain-fart.
* Solid comeback attempt by Dallas last night, but it just wasn't meant to be. I'm fired up for a Phoenix / San Antonio round two matchup, honestly. This might be the best series of the postseason. Its not like these two squads have a history of hate between them or anything.
How weird would it be though, for THIS Suns team to finally break the glass ceiling and reach the Finals? They were so loaded for so long, and just couldn't get over the hump. For the last-gasp remnant squad to be the one to break through? That'd be something you don't see every day.
* My former favorite columnist is back! How I didn't see this six months ago, I have no idea, but yes folks, Greg Hall is back posting his "Off The Couch" columns again! (kazoo voice) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I always loved his columns, because he mixes a rational line of thinking in with smart ass commentary. My kind of guy.
Check out his new stuff here.
* Finally ... since most everything has been Milwaukee heavy the last few days, I just want to send my best wishes, warmest thoughts, and most heart-felt prayers out to the greatest baseball announcer ever, Mr. Milwaukee, Bob Eucker. The Euck will be sidelined for a couple months recovering from heart surgery. Here's believing the best, and that the funniest guy in sports returns to the mic sooner, rather than later.
Until next time, let's hope we hear this chant constantly in the fourth quarter tonight.
"We Want Howard!"
Or better yet, my second favorite "you know its over when you hear this chant" moment in sports ... na na na na ... na na na na ... hey hey hey ... goodbye ... na na na na ... na na na na ... hey hey hey ... goodbye ... close it out guys. Finish them off! Fear the Deer!
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