With his fifth straight double-double in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 103-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks Monday night, center Andrew Bogut continued to state the obvious: If he fills up the stat sheet, the Bucks’ chances of winning skyrocket.
By Jake McCormick
Obviously, Monday’s win had much to do with coach Scott Skiles managing his bench to a 54 point output, Brandon Jennings recording his first out his first 10 assist game since his October 30 triple double, and the Bucks’ impressive ball movement and 69% three point shooting.
But at the core of those successes was Andrew Bogut, ripping down 14 rebounds (four offensive, and two blocks), and scoring 21 points while missing more free throws (1-6) than shots (10-12). As a result, the Dallas defense was forced to keep one eye on Bogut, while his domino effect allowed Bucks’ back court drained three pointers and 10-14 shots within 10 feet and at the rim.
Consider Andrew Bogut’s win/loss splits in 2009-10:
In 40 wins: 7.6-13.6 fgs, 56.3% fg, 17.7 pts, 10.4 rbs, 2.5-3.8 ft, .63 stl, 2.7 blk
In 29 losses: 5.8-12.7 fgs, 45.7% fg, 13.3 pts, 9.8 rbs, 1.7-2.9 ft, .48 stl, 2.31 blk
And this season:
In last 5 games: 8.6-15.6 fgs, 55.1% fg, 20.8 pts, 15.6 rbs, 3.6-8 ft, 3.4 blk, 1.2 stl
In 9 losses: 5-11 fgs, 45.5% fg, 12.2 pts, 12.2 rbs, 2.2-4.6 ft, 2.33 blk, .11 stl
If Bogut has anything or anyone to thank for his resurgent performances over the past five games, the leading candidate has to be his back spasms. Bogut’s surgically repaired elbow was the indirect beneficiary of that rest, and it seems to have sparked his return to All-Star caliber production.
The Bucks are also 3-1 this season when Bogut scores at least 20 points and pulls down 10+ rebounds, continuing a trend from a season ago when Milwaukee went 12-1 with the same scenario. It’s a safe bet that the Bucks will be looking to continue this trend when they travel to south Texas tonight.
While the win in Dallas was definitely worth a tip of the cap, Bogut and the rest of the Bucks will face their biggest road test of the season tonight against the owner’s of the NBA’s best record, the 20-3 San Antonio Spurs. On the bright side, two of those losses have come at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs’ defense is one of the best in the NBA at limiting high percentage shots and forcing opponents to take the majority of their shots from between 16-23 feet. They allow the sixth least amount of attempts at the rim (20.4) and third lowest percentage of shots within 10 feet (16.4%) and at the rim (24.7%).
Bogut’s performances against the Spurs have been a mixed bag over the past two years (12 pts/8 rbs last year in one game, 15 pts/15.5 rbs in two 2008-09 games), but he should be leaned on heavily on both ends of the floor.
The Spurs are so good right now, that even a close loss would still be a sign that the Bucks are starting to figure things out just in the nick of time. A win certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing, either.
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