Helping Milwaukee pick up the 122-114 overtime victory was the solid play of Monta Ellis and LARRY SANDERS! Ellis finished with 23 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. His best assist of the night came on a sweet, behind-the-head pass to SANDERS! for 2 of SANDERS!’ 13 points. SANDERS! also grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 5 shots.

While everyone had their attention turned to that game, (and rightly so) Monta Ellis hit one of the craziest buzzer beaters in recent memory to knock off the Rockets 110-107.

Ellis’ finished with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 13 assists and 6 steals for probably his best game of the season. Maybe Monta Ellis really does have it all.

April 18, 2012; Washington, D.C., USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Monta Ellis (11) drives past Washington Wizards guard Jordan Crawford (15) at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-US PRESSWIRE

Monta Ellis
Resume: 20.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.5 steals, 36.6 minutes, 43% FG, 31% 3PT, and 80% FT… Team record in games played: 29-29 (0-1 without in Golden State, 0-2 without in Milwaukee)

As we get to the Monta Ellis section, you readers are in for a monumental treat. For years, my cousin/fellow die hard basketball fan Paul Clark and I have assembled a collection of names that make up the Brian Cook All-Stars. No, this is not a collection of former Big Ten players. It is also not a list of players who were irrelevant 10^th men in the mid 00’s. This is a collection of guys who come in the game and have nothing on their mind besides getting as many shots up as humanly possible. Maybe it’s a good thing that they are shooting; maybe it makes you smash your head against a wall if he plays for your favorite team. All you need to do to qualify for this hypothetical All-Star team is have a singular focus, and that is shoot the basketball like it’s going out of style. Since the list is named after Brian Cook, he is permanently retired and now a part of the Brian Cook All-Stars Hall of Fame. Since we have so many guys looking for shots on this hypothetical team, they couldn’t possibly play all 12 guys on their team because a number of fist fights would likely ensue. Let’s stick with a 7 man roster. That should be safe.

Eddie House – During a 2011 NBA Finals running diary I joked that Eddie House “looks like a crack addict who desperately needed his fix.” That’s a totally legitimate statement in my eyes. The funny thing is, the 2010-11 season with Miami was one of House’s most tame seasons. In 2010-11, House averaged 11.8 field goal attempts per 36 minutes, which pales in comparison to his 2005-06 season with Phoenix where House was getting up 19.2 shots per 36 minutes and an incredible 8.0 three-point attempts. Incredible!

JR “Earl” Smith – Hard to believe that on multiple teams with Carmelo Anthony, JR Smith could seemingly steal shots from Melo, who is known to get quite a few shots up himself.

Jamal Crawford – Crawford doesn’t have the outstanding shots per 36 minutes numbers that some of the other guys on the list will have, but if you’ve seen Jamal Crawford play, you know that he isn’t exactly a pass first guy. If this hypothetical team played a close game you’d need the Jaws of Life to get the ball out of Jamal Crawford’s hands.

Quincy Douby – Douby makes the list basically because of his college career, where he was the only scoring option on a relatively mediocre Rutgers team. Basically, he locked up a spot on the team when Pauley and I saw him shoot a 3 from inside the center court “R” on at Rutgers, with oodles of time on the shot clock.

Michael Redd – At one point you could make the argument that Michael Redd was a top 25 player in the league, and that’s when he was in his Brian Cook All-Stars prime.

Channing Frye – Maybe over the last three years Frye has just been a product of the system in Phoenix, but it seems apparent that no matter what team he is playing for he is more than willing shoot an abundance of pick and pop 3’s. It seems like he badly misses more often than not.

Monta Ellis – I have to be completely honest, I personally am not the biggest fan of Monta Ellis. It has nothing to do with him personally, I just didn’t like that he took away shots from Stephen Curry in Golden State. I guess I look at Stephen Curry the way I’m going to someday look at my son when he plays basketball. If he isn’t getting enough shots, I’m most likely going to get irritated. Now that Ellis has left Golden State, it’s allowed me to evaluate him with more of a level head, and come to some interesting conclusion… I think Ellis might just be the poor man’s Allen Iverson. Here is why:

• Ellis and Iverson both are small guards who attack the basket relentlessly and play bigger than their size.
• Off the court each guy has some issues. Ellis’s buzzwords are “Motorized scooter” and “Cell phone pictures” while Iverson’s are “Casino’s” and “Practice”.
• Even though I believe an injury free Stephen Curry is a better overall player than Monta Ellis, Ellis gets the edge because he, like Iverson, is durable and plays an incredible amount of minutes. Last season Ellis played 32 more games than Curry, and over the last 3 years Ellis has logged a crazy amount of minutes (1^st in the league in 2010 and 2011, 11^th in the league last season) in the process.
• Monta Ellis and Iverson both have an absolutely insane amount of tattoos. Well actually, it may just be one large “family tree” that covers Ellis’s whole body, but the guy is seriously inked up. I thought the two tattoos that I have are a lot.
• Neither Iverson nor Ellis shoots a high percentage, but both guys could absolutely fill it up. And maybe it’s just the fact that my memory is a little foggy, but it seems like no one has more 20 plus point first halves over the last 3 years or so than Monta Ellis. The Mississippi Missile lights it up early like people who buy their Christmas trees before Thanksgiving.

If Ellis and Brandon Jennings can figure out how to play together and share the ball (those are Gheorghe Muresan sized if’s), the Bucks could potentially sneak into the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. If not, Ellis will likely be traded since he nor Milwaukee will really have much interest in keeping him there at season’s end if he can’t play with Brandon Jennings. No matter where he is, there is a Monta Ellis jump shot coming to a basketball court near you.

Brandon Jennings. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Take: That these two have struggled to coexist since Milwaukee acquired Ellis at the trade deadline is hardly a surprise.  It was assumed by most that there was so much redundancy in the games of these two – score-first, shot-happy, inefficient, undersized, hyper-quick, inconsistent, and countless other similar adjectives/phrases – that Milwaukee would be lost on offense and exploited on defense.  And all that’s been true for the most part when they have taken the floor together.

Jennings, in particular, is negatively affected by the presence of his new backcourt mate.  The stats tell the whole story.  Playing with Monta, Jennings averages 17.4 points, 16.1 FGA, 2.2 FTA, and shoots 44% from the field.  When Ellis is on the bench? Jennings has healthy splits of 24.3/18.6/4.1/51% to go along with that huge +17.3 differential in plus/minus.  Clearly the freewheeling lefty prefers when his taller, older doppelgänger rides the pine.

But does Ellis? That’s where it gets interesting for Milwaukee, because the numbers tell two very different tales.

Monta’s splits when paired with Jennings in the Bucks backcourt: 19.9 PTS/17.0 FGA/4.6 FTA/46% FG.  With Jennings on the bench: 12.4/14.2/2.4/38%.  Obviously, Ellis is much more successful individually when he’s on the floor with Jennings even if the opposite is far from true.  But what’s confounding on the surface are the +/- marks of Ellis.  You’d think his -1.0 number with Jennings would plummet fo farther depths without the latter on the bench given the numbers, but it actually rises to a stellar +13.3.

This is all very confusing, so a quick recap is in order before we expound.

• Jennings fares far better without Ellis on the floor both individually and in plus/minus.
• Ellis fares far better playing with Jennings individually, but despite that his plus/minus rises drastically with Jennings on the bench.
• Jennings-Ellis plus/minus: -1.0
• Only Jennings: +16.3
• Only Ellis: +13.3

There are too many factors at play to glean much from these backwards +/- stats of Ellis, but one assumes they’re heavily influenced by the presence of awesome bench performers Beno Udrih and Ersan Ilyasova.  Each has a stellar +/- minus mark for the year overall and passes the eye-test with flying colors.  The latter in particular has been one of the better stories of this NBA year, all of a sudden capable of stringing several double-doubles on top of one another due to his vast improvement as a long range shooter and rebounder.

Monta Ellis.Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Back on topic, the Ellis trade was one that didn’t make sense to a lot of folks from the Milwaukee perspective for the very reason discussed here.  Bringing in a player like him was bound to handicap the development – if there’s any more left, that is – of Jennings if the lefty wasn’t able to change his game, and thus far he’s been unwilling.

This will no doubt be a situation to watch closely as Jennings enters the final year of his contract next season.  Though it appears unlikely the Jennings/Ellis backcourt duo will be able to thrive based on these numbers, coach Scott Skiles had success with a relatively similar pairing in Chicago (Hinrich/Gordon) and will get a full offseason to figure things out.  But if these guys can’t make major adjustments or Skiles can’t overhaul the Bucks playing rotation, this pairing seems doomed to fail, just like so many thought it would from the beginning.

Mar 02, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis (8) wipes the sweat off his face during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers defeated the Warriors 105-83. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Understanding where you are, where you’re going, and the heights you could ultimately reach is as influential in the decisions made by NBA front offices at the trade deadline, for example, as it is a man or woman making a definitive choice when a relationship arrives at its crossroads.  There’s really no difference.  GMs, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, and wives all ask themselves three things when it’s time to make a choice one way or another: (1) Am I happy where we are?, (2) Are we treading water or moving forward?, and (3) How good could we ultimately be? And just like the questions are the same, so are the answers.

The trade deadline, then, is the NBA’s Valentine’s Day, the ultimate barometer and measuring stick for the viability and longevity of a current team or relationship.  And like the effects of that mid-February day on a newly-minted single or happily engaged couple linger for days, weeks, or even years, so do the sometimes heart-breaking and gut-wrenching moves made by organizations of that day in mid-March.

Just look at the Golden State Warriors.

Golden State’s been immersed in one of the league’s most volatile and confounding love stories for years.  Since the days of Baron Davis ended in 2008, the organization and its fans have clung to Monta Ellis as their franchise player.  The dashing, undersized guard, with his unmatched quickness and home-grown story, was adored by a rabid Oakland crowd as he racked up points at a rate this team hadn’t seen in decades.  The only problem? They weren’t winning.  The Warriors won just 111 games since Baron departed and Ellis became GS’s leading man.

Coming into this season, a sentiment grew among outsiders – girlfriends, parents, other men, let’s say  – that Golden State would be better off dumping Ellis and finding someone better suited to their needs.  But as the season wore on and games were played it was clear the fans weren’t ready.  (1) They were stupidly happy where the team was, (2) GS was winning more games than last season, and (3) They had an irrational belief they could eventually become a contender with Monta leading the way.

Perspective – theirs was irrational.  Direction – they didn’t have one.

These fans were blind to Ellis’ flaws.  Damned how clearly the rest of the world saw them.  It didn’t matter because he was theirs, and they just knew he could get this team tured around.  And even if he couldn’t, what could Golden State realistically find to replace him that would be so much better?

Then March’s NBA Valentine’s Day came, and their world came crashing down upon them.  Ellis, Ekpe Udoh, and Kwame Brown were dealt to Milwaukee for the injured Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson, and Warriors fans went from a defiant to jilted lover.  And worse, it wasn’t even Monta’s choice.  This permanent breakup was orchestrated by management.

No matter that Golden State’s playoff chances were dwindling by the day when the trade was made.  Or that Ellis’ departure would undoubtedly benefit Stephen Curry and free up playing time for rookie first round pick Klay Thompson.  Or even that next season – once Bogut is healthy – Golden State seems primed for a postseason run.  Who cared? Monta was gone and everything they’d known and loved since those 2007 Warriors was gone, too.

Perspective – theirs was colored black by an urelenting, blind love for Monta.  Direction – ditto.

Better times.

And it all culminated in this, one of the ugliest and most uncomfortable fan-related moments the NBA has seen since Malice in the Palace.  Yikes.

In A River Runs Through It Norman Maclean wrote, “We can love completely without complete understanding.”  He likely never thought this would apply so aptly to fans of a professional basketball franchise and how they they feel about a certain player, and not even I thought I’d ever think of it that way, despite my constant NBA-focused stream of consciousness.  But it works.

Because Warriors fans do love Monta completely but they don’t even come close to understanding the flawed player he is.  That his scoring numbers don’t match his efficiency.  That his steal numbers don’t match his effectiveness on defense.  That the Warriors, simply and most importantly, were a better team when he was on the bench.

It will take time, but things will get better for the Warriors.  The players, management, and even the fans.  Their grass is greener on this side with Bogut than it was on the other with Ellis, and next fall they’ll see that in the form of marks in the win column, and appreciate that Golden State’s front office brass was not happy (1) Losing, (2) Treading water, and (3) With how far an Ellis-led team could take them.

For those who follow the league, rumors regarding a possible trade of Andre Iguodala are nothing new; due to the size of this contract—$13.5 million next season, $ 14.7 the following season and a player option for $15.9 in the final season—it is widely held that the Sixers are looking to move him in order to save some cash and help facilitate the growth of their young team; but obviously, they are looking for a little more than a salary dump, which, given the fragile nature of team chemistry, could prove to be a difficult task. (more…)

There are five teams that are within 4 games of the eighth seed. The eighth seed is currently occupied by the Portland Trail Blazers, but the Memphis Grizzlies are within sniffing distance, at half a game back. Two games behind the Grizzlies, are the Phoenix Suns, who are trailed by the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors, at one game and one and a half games behind the Suns, respectively.  If any of these teams catch fire at the right time, they could end up in the playoffs. (more…)

(Source: Yardbarker.com)

There’s only four games on the schedule for tonight, and it’ll be hard to top what turned out to be a fantastic night of games last night. You had Rudy Gay‘s buzzer beater. You had Blake Griffin scoring 44. And you had Stephen Jackson recording the first triple-double in Bobcats’ history. It was quite a night in the Association, and we’ll see if any of these games can bring us that same kind of entertainment. (more…)