Bucks starting to realize potential

In the wake of backto-back beatdowns of the Chicago Bulls — games in which the Milwaukee Bucks made the overmatched Bulls look like a D-League team — it should be obvious that the Bucks have figured out what it takes to be a winning team in the NBA.

When they defend with their hair on fire, move without the ball and pass it as if their salaries were tied to their assist averages, they are a very, very good team. A playoff team, for sure, maybe even a fourth or fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

The question is whether they can play that way consistently.

The Bucks have had some problems closing games, and they’ve given away a few they should have won. Sometimes, in winnable games, the ball stops moving on one end and the feet stop moving on the other.

“Man, that’s kind of been the problem, playing up to our competition,” said center John Henson. “It’s also match-ups, too. I think that’s a big part of it. We’ve just got to figure out how to beat every kind of team. That’s what’s going to get us to the playoffs.”

One thing is clear: these aren’t the “same old Bucks,” a refrain I have heard from fans in the early going this season. You don’t have to be John Wooden to recognize the talent and potential. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who just turned 22, is on the

verge of becoming a perennial all-star and 21-year-old Jabari Parker isn’t far behind. They have nice complementary pieces around them.

Clearly, this is a team that should win more games than it loses. That the Bucks are hanging around .500 is at least mildly disappointing but the season isn’t even one-third over yet and the players appear to be figuring things out.

“I think we are on the border of being that good, almost great, team,” said veteran guard Jason Terry. “With the talent that we have and the coaching that we have, we are a playoff team. Now, does that

mean we’re going to be in the playoffs? We’re going to have to be more consistent on a night-in, night-out basis on the defensive end of the court.”

Though the Bucks’ franchise players are young chronologically, it’s time to shelve the youth excuse. Antetokounmpo and Parker have played nearly 400 combined games and the average age of the nine players who get substantial minutes is 26.7, though that number is skewed by the 39-year-old Terry.

“I heard a great quote the other day in the coaches meeting,” Terry said. “Somebody said, ‘Young gets old quick.’ And that’s very true in this league. If you’re 18 when you came in and now it’s your third year, now you’re 21. That’s a lot of games, a lot of experience. And so young gets old quick.

“You can only use the excuse of being young for so long and then people are going to look for expectations. Now the bar has been set and it’s been raised here. I think though we’re young, we’re talented and with that youth has come experience.”

It’s definitely time to hold the Bucks to a higher standard. They have throttled the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, nearly beat Golden State and got the Bulls booed off the United Center court Friday night.

“We’ve shown we can do it and I think that’s the most exciting thing,” said guard Matthew Dellavedova. “From where we were at the start of the season I think we’ve improved a lot and we want to continue that throughout the season.

“If you stay the same team that you are in December when you get to March and April, you’re not going to be a playoff team.”

I subscribe to the theory that most NBA teams will win 15-20 games over the course of a season, regardless of opponent, because everything goes right on those nights; conversely, most teams will lose 15-20 games because they’re playing on tired legs or they just don’t have it those nights.

It’s what they do in the other 45-50 games that determines their fate.

“There are scheduling losses and nights when the ball just ain’t going in for you,” Terry said. “And then there’s going to be some games that, hey, I don’t know how we won this one. At the end of the day, though, it’s all about is your

team playing the right way at the right time?”

Lately, the Bucks have been playing the right way. Terry, who has seen just about everything in the league, thinks the team is on the right track after taking a few lumps.

“Through your failure you realize your greatest successes,” he said. “I think that’s part of the learning curve that this team has to be patient with. Get our lumps early, which we’ve taken, and realize, OK, December and January now, we’re going to be in those same situations and how we respond and come through is going to be the sign of where we’re at in our progression.

“Once we have that mind-set and that mentality that every single night is Cleveland, every night is Golden State, then we’ll become a great team.”