Bucks 99, Bobcats 91

Well, it finally happened: I missed my first Bobcats game of the year. News14 didn’t cover the game, and NBA League Pass didn’t either. In fact I’m not sure if anyone did, because even the highlight package on NBA TV Daily looked like a bootleg copy of someone’s home video. But if you’re going to have to miss a game, this would be the one to do it. Failing to defeat a Bucks team that doesn’t even have Michael Redd, Mo Williams, Charlie Villanueva, and Bobby Simmons (not to mention Lew Alcindor) playing is no way to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hmm, I see from the box score we only had 13 turnovers, shot 22/28 from the line, and out-rebounded them 46-44, so what happened? Is this just one of those things that nobody can explain, like Nickelback selling 20 million albums? Well, we did only shoot 39.5%, which obviously isn’t anything to write home about, but still…And, well, apparently Earl Boykins scored 30 on us, and that’s kind of pathetic, not to mention hard to fathom—how was he getting that many shots off in the first place? You’d think with all those injuries, he’d be practically the only one you’d have to focus on, so shutting him down wouldn’t be a problem. Was he hiding in Ruben Patterson’s shorts and jumping out at the last minute or something? Okay, and I see Andrew Bogut had 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists and must have played inspired ball (perhaps this was Paul Hogan Day in Australia?). And, good lord, Brian Skinner played 31 minutes—that right there is an embarrassing stat if you’re the losing team. So there you have it, I guess.

And it looks like the Bobcats thought the holiday extended to them as well. "You're supposed to produce, and when you don't produce, someone else gets the chance,'' coach Bernie Bickerstaff said of sitting Emeka Okafor for extended amounts of time. The problem is, I’m not sure who that someone who got the chance was, as Melvin Ely continues to stay home and collect unemployment, while Sean May and Jake Voskuhl only played 16 minutes and 13 minutes, respectively.

Anyway, I’m pretty depressed about this. 4 straight wins would have been special, it would have brought a smile to my face during these troubled times. Glancing at CNN.com, I see the headline “Bush: Congress can't stop troop increase.” Though I don’t know if the President later added, “They can only hope to contain it,” I worry that we can’t rely on anyone to get the job done anymore. It's not just that the Bucks are a bad team riddled with injuries, it's that name: "Bucks." I’d argue it's the worst name in all of sports. Let’s face it, they’re named after an animal whose sole point of existence is to be shot and killed for sport or accidentally run over by trucks. Their symbol is literally a deer in the headlights. And we blew what might be our only chance at a 4-game win streak against these guys—ugh!!