Join the journey with me, Trage, as we tackle the unpredictable world of Wisconsin sports, from the diamond to the hardwood! Strap in for a wild recap of the Milwaukee Brewers' latest face-off with the Minnesota Twins, as we dissect every thrilling victory, heartbreaking loss, and those edge-of-your-seat moments. Discover how players like Christian Yelich and rookie Oliver Dunn are shaping the Brewers' destiny, and whether the bullpen can hold the fort without the likes of Devin Williams. Don't miss my analysis on the strategic shuffling of the Brewer’s lineup and how it's setting the stage for the season to come.
Shift gears with us to the basketball court where the Milwaukee Bucks' season is nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. We're talking high stakes and high stress as we ponder if the Bucks can find their rhythm in time for a playoff surge. Feel the tension as we scrutinize the impact of Damian Lillard’s arrival and the team's synergy, or lack thereof, on their journey to postseason glory. And with Doc Rivers' recent comments stirring the pot, we question if this is the spark the Bucks need to ignite a winning streak.
Wrap up your sports fix with our no-holds-barred discussion on both the Brewers' strategic plays and the Bucks’ fluctuating form. From Oliver Dunn’s surprising emergence to the Brewers' defensive wizardry, and the Bucks' confrontation with their own inconsistencies - it's all laid out in this episode. Keep up with me, Trage, your guide to the most passionate sports debates and in-depth analyses. If you crave the inside scoop on Wisconsin's sports scene, you've found your home plate and your slam dunk right here.
Join the journey with me, Trage, as we tackle the unpredictable world of Wisconsin sports, from the diamond to the hardwood! Strap in for a wild recap of the Milwaukee Brewers' latest face-off with the Minnesota Twins, as we dissect every thrilling victory, heartbreaking loss, and those edge-of-your-seat moments. Discover how players like Christian Yelich and rookie Oliver Dunn are shaping the Brewers' destiny, and whether the bullpen can hold the fort without the likes of Devin Williams. Don't miss my analysis on the strategic shuffling of the Brewer’s lineup and how it's setting the stage for the season to come.
Shift gears with us to the basketball court where the Milwaukee Bucks' season is nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. We're talking high stakes and high stress as we ponder if the Bucks can find their rhythm in time for a playoff surge. Feel the tension as we scrutinize the impact of Damian Lillard’s arrival and the team's synergy, or lack thereof, on their journey to postseason glory. And with Doc Rivers' recent comments stirring the pot, we question if this is the spark the Bucks need to ignite a winning streak.
Wrap up your sports fix with our no-holds-barred discussion on both the Brewers' strategic plays and the Bucks’ fluctuating form. From Oliver Dunn’s surprising emergence to the Brewers' defensive wizardry, and the Bucks' confrontation with their own inconsistencies - it's all laid out in this episode. Keep up with me, Trage, your guide to the most passionate sports debates and in-depth analyses. If you crave the inside scoop on Wisconsin's sports scene, you've found your home plate and your slam dunk right here.
Thank you all right, what are you doing everybody? And welcome to wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host, trage. It is a a fantastic Thursday here in the great state of Wisconsin. Weather well, the weather's there. A lot of snow going on around. Yesterday the roads were just miserable. I mean it was windy as all get out here in central Wisconsin. If you were heading east to west you were screwed, that's all I got to say. East to west was not there. North to south, you were fine. But if you had to go east to west the roads were just nasty, drifting all over the place. But that didn't stop a lot of action yesterday in Wisconsin sports.
Speaker 1:We got lots to get into today. Lots of new stuff. Well, not lots of new stuff, just one new thing I wanted to get into today. But other than that, I mean I got just a couple of things we want to get into today and see where the day leads us. So right away I want to look at the Brewers Brewers coming off this series with the Twins, a tie with the Twins here in that series, split it 1-1 there, and just looking at this, I want to look at both games as a whole and then just kind of go over the games, see what we saw and see what we liked and didn't like coming out of those that series there. So Brewers take game one of the series, three to two there. Brewers in that one, seven hits out. Hit the Twins seven to three in that game. One air by the Brewers in there and early runs right, they scored that one run there in the second and two runs in the third and that was it all the Brewers needed. They were able to hold off the twins. Twins got runs in the fourth and seventh but the brewers were able to hang on in that one win, that one three to two.
Speaker 1:Looking at the brewers lineup in that game frelix started and he let off another offer for frelix to start the day there. Looking down the line there we had yelich. He had a one for four a day there with one RBI and a run scored. He had one strikeout on the game there. Contreras had two walks on the day and then looking down the line, adamas with a hit, hoskins one for three with two runs scored there.
Speaker 1:Oliver Dunn, this guy just continues to mash. This guy can hit the baseball. He was robbed of a hit late, so late. So I mean he could have been two over three on the day, ended up one for three. A great play by Santana over there at first that took away another hit from Dunn Terang. It continues to stay hot. Two for three in that ball game there. A couple more stolen bases by Terang. I believe this guy is up to six. I believe he's at now six. Yeah, after that, after that one there, he was at six stolen bases. He had two in that game there against the Twins. Churrio batted in that nine spot. He was one for four on the day there with an RBI. So Brewers get the job done in that one.
Speaker 1:Looking at the pitching for the Brewers, jacob Junis did start Four innings for Junis in that one he had one run on three hits, one of them earned, and he had one walk for strikeouts in that outing. Not a long outing out of Junis, but a solid outing out of Junis, right, I mean, would you have loved to see him go a little bit more Probably in that one, but solid outing all the way around. Junis, he had 47 pitches in that game, 34 of them for strikes. So not a bad day out of Junis, probably working him into, maybe extending him a little bit Looking out on the line there. For the Brewers, elvis Paguero did get the win. He's sitting at 2-0 on the year.
Speaker 1:For the Brewers Two innings, one run none of them earned there and then one walk on three strikeouts. So a solid day out of Elvis Paguero. Hobie Milner then came in for an inning. He had a walk and a strikeout. Pajams came in for an inning. Nothing across the board and Uribe got the save for the Brewers in that one. One inning, one walk, and that was it for Uribe. So a solid day for the Brewers. For the Twins, not a whole lot happening. A little bit of hits here and there, three hits in total, like I said earlier. And then pitching-wise, varlin gave up three runs for the Twins in that one in four innings. Outside of that, the pitching was pretty good for the Twins in that one.
Speaker 1:Looking at game two of the series, this is where the Brewers ran into a little bit of trouble and it was late. In this oneers got off to the lead, three to one lead. They're heading into that top of the seventh inning and that's when the Twins exploded for five runs and then added a run in the top of the night that really separated them. 11 hits for the Twins in that one, seven for the Brewers. Looking out of box good day out of Jackson Churio saw his first major league home run. That was great stuff there. Out of Chio Contreras and Yellich both had a hit in that one, hoskins with a hit. Frelick a good day out of Sal Frelick there, moved him down in the lineup and he had a two-for-three day there for Frelick. Outside of that, ortiz had a hit for the Brewers and that was about it for notables there. Terang did have a sack fly in that game there, 0-2, with one RBI on the day.
Speaker 1:Joe Ross solid day. I mean we were talking about the four, five in the Brewers rotation, what we're going to get out of them and if it was going to be anything good. And I mean out of these two Junis and Ross solid days. Solid days. Not a whole lot of innings picked up, but in those short little outings there they did solid. Joe Ross three and two-thirds innings pitched, two hits, five walks and three strikeouts. Colby Milner two-thirds of an inning there, two hits and one earned run. Buckus came in then for an inning and two-thirds, one walk and one strikeout. Piams Piams had a rough day. Rough day out of you all Piam's a third of an inning, four hits, four runs on four of them earned. Bryce Wilson an inning and two thirds, two hits, one run, one earned and one home run. Give it up there. And then Vieira came in for an inning. He had one hit, one run and one of them earned and one walk on the day there. So brewers get a little roughed up there.
Speaker 1:The bullpen, the back end of the bullpen there with pie umps was that's your biggest worry, right? Pie umps getting a little, uh, beat up there by this twins team, it's gonna happen. I mean, you're gonna have outings like that. Doesn't matter who your closer is, whatever it is, they're gonna struggle at times. Pieions isn't really the closer of this team, but even your setup guy he's gonna struggle at times. He's gonna go Bruins. It's just a matter if it becomes a trend, right? So far, I mean, we look back-to-back days for Pions, yesterday or two days ago, solid day out of Pions, yesterday, a little bit of a struggle. So we'll see once. I mean, is it going to be a trend for Pions or will we see him start to flourish there a little bit in that bullpen? That's just a wait and see kind of thing coming up here.
Speaker 1:So the Brewers get a serious tie I mean a 1-1 series tie here with the Twins and that will lead them up into their off day, which is today here before they start a three-game set with the Seattle Mariners who are coming to Milwaukee for that series. Freddy Peralta will get the start in game one. He will see Gilbert for the Mariners. We'll get more into that game tomorrow here on the show as we get into the weekend there and talk about a little bit of what to expect from this series here. Brewers and Mariners coming up from American Family Field there. But with that I mean just going over this Brewers team a little bit here.
Speaker 1:And I saw, you know, I saw somebody coming out, I can't remember. I saw the comments, a couple of different comments out there, and they were talking about Sal Frelick and somebody stated in there that Frelick I mean he's off to a rough start, right, yeah, we, we've all seen it, he's off to a rough start. And they said that they believe that Sal Frelick should be, is going to be, in AAA pretty soon at this rate. That's, that's pretty quick thinking. I mean that's pretty quick thinking there. I mean this season just started here. We're five games in now. Sal is. I mean I think he got his average up a little bit there over the in this last game against the twins with that two for outing there. Uh, just looking at it he was 188 heading in after yesterday there. So I mean you don't want to jump to conclusions with a guy like that. I mean we've seen Sal Frelick Last year. He started out hot. He kind of cooled off a little bit towards the end. Now we're kind of getting that to start the year here.
Speaker 1:But settling into the lineup right and maybe moving him down in the order is going to be the key right. Pat had been putting him in that leadoff spot. Maybe that isn't the spot for Sal Frelick. Maybe the pressure of the leadoff spot isn't where he's going to flourish right now. Maybe it's towards the bottom. Now Pat moves him I mean he was leading off there for a while Pat moves him down in the lineup, two for three day, I mean.
Speaker 1:So you look at it in both ways there and you say, okay, maybe he's more comfortable near the bottom batting after guys in that kind of situation versus the leadoff spot. That could very well be, and if that's the case, that's fine. That's perfectly okay. We can find somebody to lead off. I mean you got Jackson Shurow. That guy can lead off for you. Bryce Terang, I mean if Bryce Terang keeps hitting like he is watching him yesterday there, I mean he had a 12-pitch at-bat. Yeah, it ended in a called third strike, but he had a 12-pitch at-bat. I mean Bryce Terang, the rate he's going right now, maybe he's a guy who could sit at the top of the order. We know Yellich can bat in that leadoff spot for you. So you have a lot of guys who could potentially work their way up to a top of the order spot for a little bit here and there.
Speaker 1:Whatever you want to say, I mean I'm not too worried if Sal Frelick can't be my leadoff guy. That wasn't. I mean, if you think about it, if Garrett Mitchell was ready to go opening day, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, because I believe Garrett Mitchell would have been in the leadoff spot because that seems like a perfect spot for him. That's a spot where he was thriving in, and I don't know if Sal's just not comfortable in the leadoff spot. You see guys like that where it just depends on the spot in the order, right? Jelich is a prime guy for that. Everybody wants to go about where he struggled down in that third, fourth area in the lineup there, but you moved him up to the leadoff spot and everything seemed to go a lot better. So I mean, maybe Sal's that same way. We keep him down here. I believe he was in the sixth spot there for the Brewers. Maybe you keep him in that sixth hole, maybe you move him up to five at the max and he excels right there and that's where you want to leave him.
Speaker 1:So I'm not jumping on this gun here to say South Relic needs to get sent down pretty darn soon if he doesn't hit. Because who are you going to bring up? Are you going to bring up Joey Weimer like that's, that's your guy, right? Joey Weimer's the next viable candidate for the outfield. Are you going to bring Joey, joey Weimer up? No way, you're not going to bring him up yet, at least. Because we haven't seen much out of Joey Weimer yet at the AAA level. Nobody trusted him to get on the opening day roster. Now you want to jump on him to move up for sale. No way, not a chance. I mean you're talking about fifth game of the season right now and we're already jumping on the bus of sending a guy down to the minors.
Speaker 1:I thought that was a ridiculous comment right there. So not a fan, not a fan of that comment. I get it. You want to jump the gun, you want to that kind of thing there? And I've jumped the gun before. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've jumped the gun. But I am not worried about Sal yet. I mean Sal, he's going to work his way out. I mean Sal, he's going to work his way out. Guy's a contact hitter, he's a put the ball in play kind of guy. If he sticks with that, just like the rest of this Brewers lineup, if they stick with that, the hits will start to come. I mean the ball's going to start to fall. Everything will work its way out. So not worried about Sal Frelick in that aspect right now.
Speaker 1:But before I move on here with the Brewer talk, I just right now. But before I move on here with the brewer talk, I just wanted to get to a couple of our sponsors here. First, game day supply in on alaska. Do you have a sports club or team? Are you looking for some sweet custom uniforms or apparel. Check out the awesome crew at game day supply in on alaska to help your team get the sweetest gear. Find them on facebook at game day supply or online at gamedaysupplynet. Also, pittsville Farm and Home Center. At the store they serve you anything from hydraulic hoses to red roses. Stop in and see the awesome crew at Pittsville Farm and Home Center in Pittsville, wisconsin. And also Marshfield Motor Speedways, located just three miles outside of Marshfield on County Road H. You got to get down there this summer. Tons of family fun, summer days, summer nights you can spend them down there at the racetrack. Check them out there on facebook or online. There search marshville motor speedways, you can find them there and find the schedule plan out some great, fantastic summer days and nights down at the track there. But with that, continue with the brewers.
Speaker 1:Here I want to talk about the play of done. I mean I mean Dunn. So far, for the Brewers has been playing fantastic. This guy, he came out of nowhere. I mean nobody really expected crazy things out of Oliver Dunn. He's one of the Brewers. What a pretty good prospect, right, coming up through the rankings there. But now you look at this guy, he's got a 250 average on the year one RBI, 12 at-bats there and solid glove work at third base. You know, going into years you always have those guys who just come out of nowhere, right, you're going to have the occasional guy like that, the guy you don't expect, and this is mine right here.
Speaker 1:I didn't know what to think of Oliver Dunn. When I was making up my projected roster for the Brewers, I had Eric Hayes on there. I didn't have Oliver Dunn and the Brewers surprised a lot of people when they designated Eric Hayes for assignment and they kept Oliver Dunn on the roster. Now we all got it. We all understood it for the fact of you needed that extra infielder on there. That made complete sense.
Speaker 1:But it was one of those things where it's like, okay, haven't seen much of this guy. He's we know from spring there that he's a solid. I mean he's a solid hitter, right, we know he can hit the baseball around. Looking at his spring stats they're 282 in spring there for the Brewers I mean we know this guy can put the ball in play. We just didn't know what to expect. So far impressed. Saw that play at third, the dive out. I mean putting the body on the line for that line drive there from. Buxton, made that play, a couple other fantastic plays so far, and then you look at him at the plate. This guy is constantly putting the ball in play. That's one of the things that I think I love most about the Brewers this season is their ability to put the ball in play. Five strikeouts on the year for this guy. Outside of that, I mean he's putting the ball in play just like a majority of this Brewers team is is putting that ball in play, and that's what you want to see right, especially with the speed of the Brewers, is the ability to put the ball in play to make things happen. A lot of teams lack that. Brewers excelling at that so far. So I think from my standpoint, that has been fantastic so far to watch. So love what I've seen out of Oliver Dunn so far.
Speaker 1:First starts for Jacob Junis and Joe Ross. I didn't know what to expect out of Joe Ross coming into the Brewers here. I mean, we've watched, we've seen some of his past stats right from his days with the Nationals, and it wasn't like it was eye-popping by any means. You look at his stuff there. 2021 was the last time he really pitched with the Nationals there 4.17 ERA. Before that in 2019, he had a 5.48, 5.06 ERA in 2018. 2017, 5. 2016 and 15, he had three ERAs there. So I mean you look at this guy and you say I don't know if we're getting good. You know, right, I mean you're getting this guy. He's going to be the bottom of your rotation. He's a project pitcher Been there, done that guy but never a dominant. You know we're going to get you a lot of outs kind of guy. So seeing him in the rotation was like I don't know how I'm going to feel about this. I got to see it, I got to experience it.
Speaker 1:First outing for Ross, the stuff was working. I mean three strikeouts for him, the five walks is a little bit alarming. I don't like a lot of walks there, especially getting yourself into bad situations, right, but he got himself out of those situations. Three and two thirds innings, two hits only two hits given up there. No home runs, solid day, it's a solid day. That's what you want. I mean, that's what you're asking for out of your number five in your rotation. Now, can he get you five innings? That's going to be the big question, right?
Speaker 1:You look at these guys, even Jacob Junis day before that. Jacob Junis, four innings. Joe Ross three and two and two thirds. Can these guys get you a little bit more than that? Joe Ross, he had 73 pitches in this game. Junis, a lot last day before, but they didn't work. Junis too much.
Speaker 1:So how does this Brewers team work that then? Are they going to get to the point where we can trust these guys to go five? Because if you can trust these guys to go five, that sets yourself up great, because otherwise you're going to start taxing this bullpen, right. I mean, we've seen guys on back-to-back benders now that we shouldn't have to see them out there. I mean, now you're talking Trevor McGill. I did see he is on the concussion protocol right now. I believe he fainted. I don't know what happened there, but Trevor McGill is on the concussion protocol right now. So you have that issue there. So the bullpen gets a little bit thinner it.
Speaker 1:It really makes you nervous that if these guys cannot get extended starts, especially at the I'm not talking like seven innings, I'm not talking they have to go six innings, right, I mean that'd be great, fantastic, but can these guys get you five? That's what I want to know, because that's going to be the big difference maker. If you ask me for this Brewers rotation, for even the Brewers bullpen, like I was just saying there, with those guys getting taxed in the bullpen, can these starters get this thing? Five, six innings and then you can bring the bullpen in in the sixth or the seventh and then you don't have to work these guys as much. That's going to be a big thing for me. But outside of that, junis Ross, good first starts out of them. Hopefully we see a little bit more moving forward. But other than that, solid opening starts for the both of them there.
Speaker 1:Bullpen I mean I'm not too worried about the bullpen. I think Pye Oomps will figure it out. Pye Oomps has had a couple of bad outings last year too. A couple of blowups comes back. He's perfectly fine. So I'm thinking Pye Oomps will be fine there. Bryce Wilson struggling a little bit here to start. I believe Wilson will be fine and Milner too. Milner's a guy where it's all location right. He's got to get the confidence with his stuff. I believe Milner will be fine too.
Speaker 1:The Brewers just got to survive right now. Right, we're just getting started here in the season. You lost your number one, your closer in Devin Williams. This is a moment where the Brewers just have to buckle down and everything's going to be okay. You know they did that early on this year within that, mets series, even opening series again, or this opening game against the Twins here, second game, different story we finally, the bullpen finally kind of gave up a little bit. Right, they started to get beat up there and I think, moving forward here, the Brewers bullpen's fine. I'm just you got to watch those things and maybe that has to do with the. We've seen these guys a lot now, right, they've been taxed a little bit. I don't know if that it shouldn't be this early in the season, right, but I don't know if that's the issue or what the heck happened with pie-ups there in the game against the Twins. But he got roughed up there. I mean, you're talking four, talking four hits, four runs there, four pie ups Now, not all of them were when he was out there, right, a lot of a couple of those runs came on the Bryce Wilson gave up that home run to Jeffers there. So that was a big contribution to that. But outside of that bullpen, second game of this series, fifth game of the year you take it and leave it right. Right, you're gonna have some issues there in the bullpen every once in a while and the Brewers had theirs in this one.
Speaker 1:The defense for the Brewers I think that's been my biggest story throughout these. First, I mean five games for the Brewers. Here is how well this defense plays. Looking at the outfield there, yelich has made some plays, along with Jackson Churro. Frelich's just an anchor in center field. I mean the fantastic plays he makes are fantastic, simply because lots of guys can't get to those spots right and the plays that he makes that look routine to him would be fantastic plays for other players. He is just. I mean Sal Frelek is a very good outfielder, 100%. This guy gets good reads on the baseball, he's got the speed to get after it and I don't think he actually cares about his body. If he hurts himself, he hurts himself. I mean I love that about sal out there, but the uh, the outfield defense has been solid. Then you look at the infield oliver dunn out there. Willie adame is making plays. You also have reese hoskins at first base who, I mean he's scooped out a couple balls so far that have been very impressive. And then you look at Bryce Terang, the plays that he makes.
Speaker 1:He's another guy, just like Sal Frelick, just like I was talking about there. He's another guy who makes this simple. He makes the hardest plays look simple and that is crazy because you watch that play. He had one where he was running across the diamond, got onto the shortstop side of it charging in and made the throw to first and he made it. I mean, he made it look like it was so easy and yet nine out of ten people couldn't do it. I mean that's that's the crazy part, is this guy just makes the easiest, the hardest things look easy. And that's what I love so much about this brewer's defense is it's not just terrain, it's guys like freling. It's guys like even churro out there willie adames, reese hoskins making plays over at first base even when bowers has been in there.
Speaker 1:Uh contraris that back pick that he had. I mean we're talking about a guy who didn't have any back picks last year. He's already got one this year. I mean, with the new uh base running rules and everything like that, you know a certain amount of times you can throw over first, you have the pitch clock, everything like that. That is something that's instrumental to a team is to have a catcher who can back pick like that. And to see Contreras do that early on here, I thought that was fantastic. He was working on it all spring, from what I heard. And now to see it out on the baseball field, I mean that's great stuff. Great stuff all the way around there by the Brewers. So Brewers, like I said, off today, they're going to be back in action, coming up tomorrow here. That'll be a 7-10 start against the Mariners. We'll get more into that game tomorrow here on the show.
Speaker 1:But right now, before we move on, I want to mention a couple more of the sponsors of the show here quick, before we move on. First your hometown team, century 21 Gold Key Realty. Call Peggy Sue or Anna to find your dream home. Or, if you're looking to sell, find them on Facebook at your hometown team, century 21 Gold Key Realty, or stop in and see them at their location in Marshfield. Also, sports Scene, sports Cards and Memorabilia. Stop in there in the Marshfield Mall and see Al. He has everything you need, from sporting cards to memorabilia, to jerseys, everything you need sporting-wise model stock cars. He's got it all down there at Sports Scene in Marshfield, located in the Marshfield Mall and also Sport and Spine Clinic in Greenwood, wisconsin.
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Speaker 1:With that, though, we got to talk about bucks. I don't want I this isn't the uh conversation I wanted to have about bucks, but we got to talk about this bucks team. So right now I'm watching this bucks team going up against the grizzlies here, and currently it is 70 to 67 here in the third quarter. The Bucs I mean it's taken a pretty a heck of a third quarter for them to. They're up seven points here in the third to actually take this lead in this one. You're talking about a team in the Grizzlies without John Morant. I mean, you're talking about a team in the Grizzlies who are down to the bare minimum of guys on their roster.
Speaker 1:I'm watching this Bucs team right now and I don't know what to make of it anymore. I mean, you're coming off a loss to the Wizards. Wizards are one of the most, arguably the worst team in the NBA, right, and the Bucs made the Wizards look like they were something. That's my biggest Okay. So when I look at this Bucs team and people ask, can this Bucs team make a run? Right, can they make a run to the Eastern Conference Finals? Can they make a run to the Finals? Right, it's the biggest question. And when I look at this Bucs team, I say to myself they're too inconsistent. It's a roller coaster of a season right now. They get their highs and then it's back down. Then they get their highs again, then it's back down.
Speaker 1:You want to see if you're a Buck fan, if you're a fan of the NBA who wants to see the Bucks excel, right, you're looking at this Bucks team and you're saying at some point this season, I wanted to see the Bucks put together a week or two of just dominant basketball All the way around. Dominant basketball, controlling the glass, controlling this, controlling that. The big three Middleton, giannis, dame all going at it, each giving everything in each game here and the Bucs were just rolling teams. I didn't care who it was in that stretch, from the Knicks to the Magic to the Grizzlies to the Wizards, I don't care who it was. What we wanted to see was this Bucs team, for a week straight or two weeks straight, look like the team that we thought we were getting Right, because when this season started, I mean everybody was surprised.
Speaker 1:When this whole thing broke right Damian Lillard's coming to the Bucs Everybody was ecstatic. They were like, oh my, what is going on? The Bucs are making a move. This is, I mean, you look at Vegas. Vegas was like it's Nuggets-Bucs. That's what's going to happen. It's Nuggets-Bucs now. Nobody's going to stand in between them. The Bucks now, with Dame, they have Middleton, they have Yadis, they have Brooke Lopez I mean nobody's counting Brooke Lopez. They were counting the big three for the Bucks and they were saying this is the team. You can't stop them. You can't stop them Off everybody else. What happened? I mean what happened? You look at that. You get the headlines, you get what you get on the court. Now that's when I see this Bucs team.
Speaker 1:It's just like night in and night out. I don't know what I'm going to get right. One night I'm going to tell you this we could play a seven game series against the Celtics One night. We are going to tell you this we could play a seven-game series against the Celtics One night. We are going to just run the Celtics, right, it might be the craziest thing you can think of, but we're just going to run them. The next night. The Celtics are just going to blow us out of the water. The next night after that, they're going to blow us out of the water and we won't know what happened right From game one to game three. Now we're down two to one in the series and we've been blown out twice. What happened? What happened? But then game four all of a sudden we come back, we light it up. It's tied 2-2.
Speaker 1:Now, you know what I mean? It's one of those things for the Bucs right now where it's just so inconsistent. One night they could go on the road, they could play OKC and they could beat OKC. When OKC's healthy, right? Che Gildress out there and Chet Holgrim and Diddy and everybody else on that team, that's a pretty good team in OKC, right? They're young yet, but they're good. That team is good. I'm watching them.
Speaker 1:Right now they're playing the Celtics without Che, so kind of kicking their butt. Right now 105-90, now 108-90. I mean three-pointer, right, as I was talking there. But I mean you look at a team like OKC Bucs can go and they can beat a team like OKC, right, beat a team like the Thunder 118-93. But then they can lose to a team like the Lakers without LeBron at home 126-124. And then they can lose a game on the road to the Pelicans. And then they can go on the road to one of the worst teams in the NBA, in the Washington Wizards, and lose that game. That's where the problem lies is how inconsistent this team is. If you play consistently like, say, the Celtics, where this team I mean win or lose, you're still getting great performances out of the Celtics.
Speaker 1:The thing with the Celtics versus the Bucs is you have to beat the Celtics when they're playing their best game, because I'm going to give them nine times out of 10, they're going to play pretty darn well. I mean, they have a lot of scorers on that team, so one guy can struggle and somebody else is going to pick them up. Right, jalen Brown can have a bad night, but Derek White can pick it up, right. You look at a team like that. You look at a team like the Nuggets who find ways to win. It doesn't matter, they find ways to win. They can have a cold night, but they're still going to find a way to win other ways.
Speaker 1:The Bucs can't do that. The Bucs cannot do that. Simply, giannis had a triple-double against the Wizards. You would think if Giannis has a triple-double against the Wizards, the Bucs are winning. If you would have told me, if I wasn't sadly watching that game against the Wizards, and you were to have told me Giannis has a triple-double tonight against the Wizards, no score, nothing, just Giannis has a triple-double I would have immediately assumed the Bucs were winning, just simple. I would immediately assume the Bucs were winning. That's not the case. The Bucs lost that game.
Speaker 1:Transition defense for this Bucs team Defensive lapses. I mean you look at this game late in that one, a couple of transition buckets for the Bucs where they had five guys standing at half court and the ball's already passed them. How does that happen? I really, I mean, I am, I am. I had it up to the roof with Doc Rivers telling me that his guys are in Cabo. Why is that? Why are your guys not mentally? If you're telling me your guys aren't mentally there, with what? Is there five games left in the year? Six, five, six, six after the game against the Grizzlies. So you have six games left and you're telling me in the eighth to last game of the year your team is not mentally there?
Speaker 1:I get everybody's argument of oh, you know, they'll be fine, they're just. You know it doesn't really matter. Right now, they're just, they're kind of sandbagging it for the playoffs. Right, they're not really worried about now. They're built for the playoffs. Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 1:What my biggest worry is, then, is when we get into the first round of the playoffs. Right, because Joel Embiid's back for the Sixers Right now. They're a play-in team. So with them as a play-in team, you give me the Bucs against the 76ers with a healthy Joel Embiid in round one. Right, because if they win that game, they end up playing the seventh seed you give me, or playing the two seed. They beat the seventh seed. You give me a healthy 76ers team. I'm worried. I get it. Joel Embiid's just coming back, but when I saw him play last night there or two nights ago, whatever that was there for the Sixers his first game back. He didn't look bad. He looked like he was getting there. They have some games left here. He can get right by the playoffs and the 76ers become a scary team.
Speaker 1:Now do I believe the Bucs are not. I believe still the Bucs are the biggest competition to the Celtics. They're a roller coaster of a team, but I still believe they are the number one competition to the Celtics. You have Dam, you have Middleton back, now you have Giannis. That's a big three. There isn't a big three in the East that is better than either. I mean you could say Brown, tatum and Porzingis for the Celtics, but other than that, I mean I don't know if that even is. You look at Dame, you look at Giannis and you look at Chris Middleton. You keep them healthy. That's a solid big three then too. So outside of those two you can't name a better big three in the Eastern Conference. So I still believe the Bucs are the biggest competition.
Speaker 1:But what worries me is the inconsistent play of the Bucs. Now you get yourself going on the home stretch here towards the playoffs. If you don't get it right, if this team is still mentally not there and we have eight games left, how are you going to get there. How are you going to get mentally prepared for that playoff game with, let's just say, the Miami Heat, let's just say the 76ers, right? Two teams that the Bucs struggle with? When they're right, the Heat have the Bucs number. We know that Spolstra knows how to beat Milwaukee. I mean, I'm looking at this Bucs team and I'm thinking to myself okay, what's the problem, what's causing this downfall from a team who was? I mean, if you were a betting man, start the year, you took the odds on the Bucs to win in Vegas. Right, you took the odds on the Bucs to the title game. I hope you got a refund off of that real fast after you saw the start, because the Bucs are struggling Now.
Speaker 1:Is it effort? You could say that because this transition defense like I was just talking there for the box, you have five guys at half court the ball ahead of you. That's effort, that's getting back on defense, that's knowing your role and getting back there. Who do you blame? Do you blame doc, or do you blame somebody on this team, right? Do you blame the supporting cast around Giannis, right? Do you want to blame Beasley? Do you blame guys like Cunnington? I mean, I don't know. I don't know at this point, because if we know what we know, giannis runs this team. So is Giannis the leader in that locker room right now? Are guys listening to Giannis? Is he telling them, hey, because Giannis is doing? I mean, I hate to hate on Giannis because this guy triple-doubled against the Wizards there. You can't really say that Giannis was the reason why they lost. But what I'm saying is it comes down to, sometimes, leadership in the locker room. Are the Bucs getting the right leadership underneath of Giannis? That's my question.
Speaker 1:What is it going to take for this team to give me the? I mean, I'm watching this Grizzlies game right now 9-20 to go. Bucs are down four. Giannis has got 14 points in 23 minutes of play right now. That ain't going to win you many ballgames because outside of that, brooke Lopez has got 20 in there and Bobby Portis was 17. But outside of that, bucs are struggling. They're struggling mightily right now with a really bad Grizzlies team.
Speaker 1:Now you don't have Middleton. I can say that you don't have Middleton. You don't have Dame. He's still out, so you're missing two pieces there. But this is a bad Grizzlies team. You got to be able to find ways to win games like this. I mean, you got Wizards even without Dame. You got to find a way to beat the Wizards, right? This is still, I mean, end of the day. You still got. You got to have some pieces on the roster that can compete with a team like the Wizards. The Wizards are at the point where I mean I love Johnny Davis, but Johnny Davis is up in the NBA right now. Kyle Kuzma's out.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're talking about a team who's got Jordan Poole and that's about it. This team's a dumpster fire and yet they stuck it to the box. When is that? When is enough enough? When is enough enough? When is enough enough? Where these guys say to themselves we're a little bit better than what we're playing right now and we got to step it up. We have to do a little bit more? That's my question. When does that happen for milwaukee? How does that come out of there? How do the bucks? How do the bucks get out of this trouble that they're in right now? The effort problem Is it going to change? Are the Bucs in trouble? That's my biggest question. Are the Bucs in trouble right now?
Speaker 1:Because when I'm watching this team right now, I say to myself they are in trouble. I mean you look at skill-wise, you wouldn't want to say they're in trouble, right, they have some of the most skill in the East, right, they have some of the better players, right. And you want to say that Doc Rivers is a good coach, but we're not seeing it and you can give me the excuses of, well, this guy's out and this guy's out, but you played the Wizards, the worst team in the NBA. Now, if this was, if you played the Wizards back in November, december and you lost, okay, that's fine, you're supposed to be fine tooling your team for the playoffs right now. Right At some point down the stretch in a year you start to get yourself ready for the playoffs. You know your games become more meaningful along the way because you're preparing everything for the playoffs. That final stretch run, a loss to the Wizards, doesn't look like a prepare for the playoffs. That looks like a downhill spiral.
Speaker 1:And now I mean, like I was just talking there watching this game as I'm talking here, the Bucs and the Grizzlies 89-87 here, with seven to go. You're playing a team like the Grizzlies right now who are down to the bare minimum of players. I mean I'm talking Jackson's, about the best guy they got. They got Pippen Jr's out there, they have Luke Kennard out there. I mean, this team is down to about the bottom of what they can throw at you for roster wise right now and you're struggling mightily with that team.
Speaker 1:I I'm at a loss. I'm at a loss. I'm at a loss for what I'm thinking here with the bucks. They gotta get going. They gotta get going here. They got to get going here. And I'm worried but at the same time I'm optimistic. Right, I'm worried about this Bucs team because of the effort problem, but I think that's something that can be fixed, and I think that's something that can be fixed sooner rather than later for the Bucs here.
Speaker 1:And last time Doc Rivers called out the Bucs, they rattled off a winning streak coming out of the all-star break. Maybe this calling them out one more time will get them over the hump. I don't know. We're going to find out here over the upcoming days. So with that, that's about all I got for today. I mean, we've gotten to the Bucs, gotten to the Brewers today. Lots more to get into tomorrow there, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, i're going to talk more Bucs. We're going to talk more Brewers. We got lots to get into tomorrow here. So with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trach. Thank you guys for listening. We'll catch you guys back here tomorrow, but until then, deuces, thank you.