Central Division

Milwaukee Bucks Power Rankings - 2012-13

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 2437-4320Jim Boylan will be trying to sell his guys on the idea that all the rest Miami's main men have been getting since the end of 27 In A Row will somehow throw off their rhythm. But how many Bucks will be buying when they're in a 3-11 funk ... in a city that last celebrated a playoff series win in 2001.
Week 2337-3919In this 5-10 funk that has essentially locked Milwaukee into the No. 8 slot in the East, its only wins were recorded against bottom-feeding Orlando and Charlotte, slumping Toronto and Portland ... and those officially desperate Lakers. But it is Milwaukee's first playoff berth in three seasons.
Week 2235-3719Folks outside of Boston (and Miami) might be pining for a Heat vs. Celtics/Riley vs. Ainge matchup in Round 1, but the Bucks have to leapfrog Boston to make that happen. And Kevin Garnett's injury hasn't exactly inspired them, judging by Milwaukee's 3-8 funk. And/or Brandon Jennings' funk.
Week 2134-3519Will we ever learn? Bumped the Bucks up to No. 12, giving them another chance to prove they could handle prosperity, then promptly watched them drop six of the next eight games ... with Larry Sanders getting tossed three times in a six-game span. Maybe they do want Miami in Round 1.
Week 2033-3217How do the Bucks pull out a much-needed victory in only the third game all season that Larry Sanders fails to register a single blocked shot? Simple: Monta Ellis rumbles for 25 points in a 45-point fourth quarter to help Milwaukee escape with a home win over the playing-out-the-string Magic.
Week 1932-2912By not trading Monta Ellis, Milwaukee actually acquired a new Monta Ellis. They Bucks have won six of seven, starting with an unexpected back-to-back sweep of Dallas and Houston, in the wake of a 1-7 skid leading up to the trade deadline. And Ellis is at 26.1 PPG and 7.1 APG during the surge.
Week 1829-2816The Bucks had all of two wins in February -- over Orlando and Philly -- when they got to Texas last week. The fight they showed to sweep a Dallas-Houston back-to-back and then hold off Toronto in OT suggests that all of last month's trade speculation was messing with these guys' heads.
Week 1726-2820The Bucks, desperate to make the playoffs and mired in a 2-9 skid, might well be hard to guard when J.J. Redick slots in next to Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis and Ersan Ilyasova. Just not quite sure who'll they'll be stopping. Larry Sanders will earn every DPOY vote he gets covering for that quartet.
Week 1626-2519Trade rumors swirl around the Bucks, but perhaps no pickup would be as important as the return of Larry Sanders. With Sanders, Milwaukee looks like a candidate to move up a seed or two. Without him and his bad back? Lottery candidate. (Jeremy Schmidt, Bucksketball)
Week 1525-2417The Bucks aren't just tied with Sacramento, as noted here recently, for the new longest All-Star drought (dating to Michael Redd in 2004). More bad streak news: Milwaukee inherits the longest run of losing seasons against the West (14 in a row) if the Knicks beat four more West foes.
Week 1425-2113The hubbub about Ersan Ilyasova's resurrection and Jim Boylan's corresponding pursuit of Brooklyn's P.J. Carlesimo in the Interim Coach of the Year race has obscured the fact The Larry Sanders Show has actually widened his lead on Serge Ibaka on the blocked-shots leaderboard.
Week 1323-1914Don't send the Interim Coach of the Year trophy to the engravers just yet. Brooklyn's P.J. Carlesimo is still in the lead, but the Bucks' Jim Boylan has Milwaukee playing at a faster pace, scoring more freely ... and he's managed to pull Ersan Ilyasova out of his funk while posting a 7-3 record.
Week 1221-1813Now that the Bucks have finally halted a desert drought of 26 years without a win in Phoenix, on to the next: Did you know they haven't had an All-Star since our man Michael Redd in 2004? That'll tie Sacramento for the new league lead if Golden State, as expected, gets an All-Star this week.
Week 1119-1717The Bucks' response to Jim Boylan -- quality road wins over surging Chicago and Toronto -- means we've got another name to monitor in what's shaping up to be an Interim Coach of the Year race for the ages. Bernie Bickerstaff with the Lakers. The Nets' P.J. Carlesimo. And now Boylan.
Week 1016-1619The Larry Sanders Show has quietly regained the league lead in blocked shots from OKC's Serge Ibaka, but the slumping Bucks have been shredded by everyone they've seen (San Antonio, Houston, even offensively challenged Indiana) since that disappointing Dec. 30 loss at Detroit.
Week 916-1314Perhaps nothing sums up the hard-to-assess Bucks like the week they just submitted. Losses to the Cavs and the Pistons sandwiched home wins over Brooklyn and Miami -- Miami! -- that bumped Milwaukee to a seemingly promising 9-4 against the rest of the East's current top eight.
Week 814-1216Before his weekend eruption against Boston and Cleveland, Monta Ellis shot 13-for-51 over four games to drag his shooting percentage below 40 percent, just like backcourt mate Brandon Jennings. Which certainly dulls the shine off their standing as the league's highest-scoring guard duo.
Week 712-1012Who projected The Larry Sanders Show to be swatting three shots a game just like Serge Ibaka? Who forecast the Bucks to have a better record than Boston, Indy or Philly as the NBA made its quarter-turn? Can't quite call 'em Christmas miracles, but no one predicted any of that.
Week 610-911The shared struggles of the Lakers and Celtics have made filling the 8-to-15 slots our biggest struggle every Monday. The Bucks haven't made it any easier, either, stumbling every time we nudge 'em upward to fill the void ... then winning in Brooklyn after we promised ourselves not to do it again.
Week 58-78You'd think Larry Sanders Show references would have been a committee staple by now. It's long overdue, obviously, but the best part is that it's not even a reach after what Sanders just did, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only Buck ever with a points/rebounds/blocks triple-double.
Week 46-513The split between Brandon Jennings' home and road shooting -- .391 at the Bradley Center, .444 in all other arenas -- is finally starting to even out a bit. But the Bucks, sadly, seem intent on being this season's team that nosedives every time we show a little rankings faith in them.
Week 36-28Did our blatant overreaction to a season-starting win in Boston and that audacious one-week catapult to the No. 4 spot inspire B-Jennings and Monta and the unheralded frontcourt combo of Mike Dunleavy and Larry Sanders to the best start in Brewtown in a decade? We'd like to think so.
Week 23-214We repeat: Milwaukee was never supposed to rise as high as No. 4 last week. Purely circumstantial. The Bucks are back closer to the range where they belong thanks to the Clippers, Grizzlies and Thunder quickly making up for the bind they put the committee (of one) in last Monday.
Week 12-04Can't quibble too much if Melo wins it, but I'd say a lefty sweep of the league's Player of the Week honors is in order. First Brandon Jennings rumbled for a Harden-esque 21 points and 13 assists in a stunning win at Boston, then he dropped that buzzer-beating bomb on Cleveland.
Preseason0-018Ninth in the conference for two successive seasons, Milwaukee finds itself almost universally regarded as a bubble team in the East again. It's the sort of unwanted consistency that makes this a make-or-break season for not only Skiles but B-Jennings and Monta, too.
Training Camp31-3519En route to the Hall of Fame, reflecting on the monster trade two of his old teams swung, Don Nelson said: "Something you just never do in the NBA, you don't trade a 6-3 player for a talented 7-footer." Put Nellie down, then, in the camp saying Milwaukee lost the Bogut-for-Monta swap.

Milwaukee Bucks