Tonight is another Live In-Game Blog done by yours truly, JB.  Not only will I be recapping the game, it will be done on a quarter-to-quarter basis through my eyes.  I apologize in advance if in game blog seems random.  I have nothing against the Atlanta Hawks, nor am I a Milwaukee Bucks fan, but with the Hawks leading the series 2-0, I am hoping the Bucks can make it interesting with a win tonight.  Let’s see how this game unfolds.

Bucks 36, Hawks 19 (End of 1st Quarter)

Here we are the first home game for the series for the Milwaukee Bucks.  Things have been hard for the Bucks since Andrew Bogut has been lost due to injury.  Let’s see if the home crowd can get them pumped for this game.  Both teams started off by trading baskets but Brandon Jennings hitting a three early to give the Bucks a 7-3 lead.  John Salmons’ lay-up gave the Bucks their biggest lead of the series so far at 9-5.

Brandon Jennings (6 points) hit another three pointer off a pick and roll!  If my boy gets hot it is going to be a fun night.  Time out taken by Atlanta.  The Bucks start off six of eight from the floor as they open up to a 14-5 lead.  I am almost starting to get as excited as the I was during the Thunder against the Lakers game.  There is definitely intensity in the building tonight as the Bucks are feeding off of it and the Hawks are succumbing to it early.  The Hawks continue to switch the pick and rolls allowing Jennings to drive and dish.  John Salmon seems to have it going tonight as his tough fade away jumper puts the Bucks up 19 to 9.

Up 21 to 9 and a chance to build on that lead, Josh Smith makes a huge block on a semi-breakaway dunk by Carlos Delfino.  Brandon Jennings answers that monster block with his third three pointer of the game.  This boy is ready to play!  Jerry Stackhouse, leaving his cane in the locker room (just kidding), hits a three right after Jennings to put the Bucks up 29 to 11.  Jennings quick decisions off the Hawks trying to trap and switch the pick and rolls are giving the Hawks fits.

Bucks 52, Hawks 39 (End of the 2nd Quarter)

Brandon Jennings remains on the bench to start the second quarter as the Hawks start off the quarter with two baskets to cut the lead thirteen.  I am starting to get nervous because Bucks offense seems stagnant with Ridnour running the point.  Ersan Ilyasova’s lay-up gave the Bucks their first basket of the quarter.  On a side note, how good has Ilyasova been for the Bucks this year.  I feel that he will be a bright spot of the Bucks along with Jennings for years to come.

Joe Johnson has been the only player who has came to play for the Hawks.  Down 42-25, he has 12 points on five of eight from the field.  Brandon Jennings needs to come back into this game.  He is too exciting to be sitting right now.  I know the Hawks are a terrible team on the road in the playoffs, but this is bad.  They are playing too much one on one and forcing everything that they are getting.  Carlos Defino cannot guard Josh Smith.  Case in point as Josh Smith backed him down, spun, and then two handed slammed it for two points.

With six minutes left in the first half Salmons and Jennings both re-entered game.  At this point together they have 24 points on ten of eleven shooting.  As the second quarter is starting to slow down, Mike Bibby’s jumper cut the Bucks lead down to thirteen points at 46 to 33.  Jennings answers back with a reverse lay-up, giving him thirteen points for the game.  Oh no!  Trying to prevent a break away drunk, Brandon Jennings gave a hard foul on Marvin Williams, and was slow to get up.  Whew.  Jennings got up and looks like he is okay.  Old man Kurt Thomas has stepped up his game tonight with six points and eight rebounds in this 1st half.  At the end of the first half the energy and hot shooting of the Bucks gave them a 52 to 39 point lead.

Bucks 78, Hawks (End of 3rd Quarter)

Carlos Defino FINALLY!!!  After starting 0 for 5, Delfino hit a corner three coming from a Jennings assists to halt a Hawks run.  Oh man!  Jennings hit Mbah a Moute with a beautiful pass as Mbah a Moute was able to put in a lay-up right past Josh Smith’s reach.  A few plays later Delfino hits his second three of the quarter to give the Bucks a 64 to 47 lead!  I do not think Salmon’s shots have even hit the rim as he now has 17 points on eight of ten from the field.  My boy (Jennings) is right behind him with 13 points.

Joe Johnson is still the only person playing for the Hawks with 21 points.  Although the Bucks have been leading all game, they need to push this lead out to eighteen to twenty points soon.  The Hawks are too dangerous of a team to only have a thirteen point lead (68-55), especially since they are not playing well.  John Salmons heard me typing as his three hits nothing but net to push the lead out to sixteen.  I hope the fans at the Bradley Center brought their umbrellas because the Bucks are raining threes!  Stackhouse’s three pushed the lead to seventeen and then a steal and a nifty behind the back pass from Jennings to Stackhouse for the dunk gave them the biggest game (76-57).

The Hawks have nothing going this game as they clank three after three at the moment.  For some reason they have decided to get away from pounding the ball inside.  My thinking is even if you cannot buy a bucket inside, you have to start drawing fouls at some point.

Bucks 107, Hawks 89 (Final)

Here we go, the last stanza in this game and the Hawks are still shooting threes!  Is Mike Woodson coaching at all?  Joe Johnson finally hits a jumper to cut Milwakee’s lead to 21.  With ten minutes to go in the game the Hawks are running out of time, which is great for NBA basketball.  Unless you are a die hard Hawks fan, you should want each series to be a nail biting six or seven game series.  That is what makes basketball so exciting.  But back to this game, it is safe to say, unless Joe Johnson hit fifteen threes in a row, that the Bucks are coming away with their first win in the series up twenty-five points (86-61) with nine minutes in the game.  Dan Gadzuric hit a jump shot, which automatically means game over for the Hawks.  With 5:30 left in the game the Bucks have their biggest lead 93-65.  I have not talked about him as much but Kurt Thomas deserves a shout out for the game he played tonight.  Thomas was the Bucks presence inside finishing with 8 points and 13 rebounds.  He had 11 defensive rebounds which prevented the Hawks from scoring on second chance opportunities.  Game Over.  Bucks win!  They trail the Hawks 2-1, and hopefully they will come out playing like this on Monday.  Thanks for following along with me!

In case you missed it here is what you need to know about tonight’s game:

1.  Brandon Jennings and John Salmons came out gunning. Jennings and Salmons fed of the energy at the Bradley Center to help the Bucks jump out to a 36-19 lead and never looked back.  Jennings had 11 in the first quarter and finished with 13 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.  John Salmons played like it was NBA Jam and he was on fire finishing with 22 points on nine of eleven shooting.

2.  The Hawks are awful on the road. Talk about Jekyll and Hyde.  The past three postseasons the Hawks are 1-8 on the road and losing by more than twenty points.  They came out flat and went away from everything that worked for them the first two games of the series.  They shot jumper after jumper and missed them all.

3.  Joe Johnson will make another team very good next year. If Joe Johnson choses to leave Atlanta, he will make another team very good.  During a game where everyone else on his team did not show up, he did his best to keep his team in the game (25 points) until the game was out of reach.

Here’s a wrap-up of the early game between the Magic and the Bobcats from Charlotte from Shooter:

Magic 90, Bobcats 86 (Magic lead 3-0)

Down 0-2 in the series, the Charlotte Bobcats arrived home to the biggest crowd in their arena’s five year history for the first playoff game in their franchise history. Michael Jordan, their new majority owner, was sitting in the front row watching his team, who had only lost 10 home games all year. Orlando’s superstar, Dwight Howard, was in foul trouble all game.

You’d think they’d rise to the occasion right? ———– Wrong. 19,596 people went home down.

The Orlando Magic overcame all of this to hold on to a 90-86 win and a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. I will give the Magic a lot of credit for this win, because they have to be pretty focused to not let a young team and a loud crowd take advantage of them (i.e. – Lakers vs. OKC, Cavs vs. CHI).

Dwight Howard was in foul trouble the whole game, and he even fouled out late in the fourth. The biggest problem for Da-wight though is that they were bad fouls. He has two in 11 seconds. Come on now – you’re a beast of a human, you have to control that, man! Howard only played 26 minutes totaling 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 blocks. Still not bad stats, but he is capable of much, much more.

If the Magic have any intention of going as far as they did last year, Howard must stay out of foul trouble. Orlando can get away with Howard out half the game in foul trouble against Charlotte, but not against other teams, not even in the East. The Bobcats just don’t have the inside presence that other playoff teams have, which makes Howard going into foul trouble that much worse.

The real hero for the Magic on Saturday (and throughout this whole series) was Jameer Nelson. He has been completely taking Raymond Felton to school. He had 19 first quarter points! He finished the game with 32 points on 12-21 shooting, including five three-pointers. Who knew on a team with shooters like Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, JJ Redick (and the list goes on) that Nelson would take 10 more shots than anyone else on the team.

As for the Bobcats, they were playing the first playoff game in the city of Charlotte since the Hornets hosted the Nets in 2002. Therefore, this loss is a letdown, even if they are overachieving. Stephen Jackson may be Captain Jack, but he is not built to carry a team in the playoffs on his own. Also, Gerald Wallace is great, but he is not a big time scoring threat. MJ has to be proud of his team making the playoffs (despite being in the East), but they are not ready for a playoff run, let alone beating the Magic.

Oh, and don’t think I forgot about The Ref predicting a 22-point win by Charlotte. Maybe next game (nah, I’m just being nice).

-Shooter