Michael Redd and the Bucks are struggling to find a consistent rhythm this season. (Getty)

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March 11, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The unsolved mystery continues.

Sixty three games into the 2007-08 season, the Milwaukee Bucks have just 23 wins. Their latest loss, which came by a 22-point margin March 9, was inflicted by the Philadelphia 76ers, who own seven more victories than they do.

A week earlier, they fell by the same margin to the Indiana Pacers, who are only one game ahead of the Bucks in the win column.

These facts, by themselves, are hardly puzzling.

The stumper is how the Bucks, a mere week after bolstering their resume with victories over the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers – the Central Division’s top two teams – and the high-powered Denver Nuggets, could lose to New Jersey and Indiana within a four-day span by a combined 36 points, then fall by 22 to Philly.

Throw in the fact that the Bucks pushed the defending National Basketball Association champion San Antonio Spurs to the limit in a 96-94 loss in-between being bounced by the Nets and Pacers. That only makes the head-scratching more intense.

The Bucks’ woes against New Jersey, Indiana and Philly weren’t difficult to diagnose.

The Nets lit them up for a season-high 120 points. Of those, 68 came in the first half, when New Jersey blistered the nets at better than 63 percent.

The Pacers lapped them for 128 more points, clearing the 30-point plateau in every quarter except the first, when they netted 29.

The Sixers put 119 on the board and owned a 30-4 advantage in fast-break points.

A further analysis would be to rewind to the wins over Detroit, Cleveland and Denver and the near-miss against San Antonio and see what the Bucks did differently.

One Buck who has played his best basketball of the season throughout the recent highs and lows is “The Cowboy,” Desmond Mason.

The high-flying forward revved up Milwaukee with 16 points and four rebounds against the Pistons and jingled the keys to the victory afterward.

"We had a good start,” Mason said. “We know they're going to come out throwing punches right off the top, so we have to come out and match their intensity and play our game.

“I thought our big guys really made an effort to stop them on the boards in the second half. Once we did that, it gave us the opportunity to get out on the break and get some easy baskets. That's a good thing. If you get stops and you get rebounds, you can get easy baskets. We've struggled to get stops and we've struggled to get rebounds at times, so in turn we've struggled at getting easy baskets."

Guard Michael Redd knew the Pistons would inflict their share of pain before leaving town with an “L.” Like Mason, though, he didn’t mind paying the price.

"They're a physical team, a veteran team,” Redd said of the Pistons. “They're a bunch of guys who've been around the block, and they know how to win games; how to win championships, man. You know what to expect from them. It was a great game for us.

“They're as physical as it gets. Chicago gave us a physical game the last time they were up here, but this Detroit team is physical, too. There's no doubt about it."

The Bucks mounted an 18-point lead before the Pistons came surging back in the fourth quarter behind a Rasheed Wallace 3-point barrage. Detroit narrowed the gap to three points, but Milwaukee wouldn’t be denied.

"We don't worry about what the other team's doing,” Mason said. “We knocked down shots, we got stops, we had guys make plays. We minimized our turnovers.

“That's a credit to us."

Three nights after sending the Pistons packing, the Bucks were the ones on the comeback trail. They spotted Denver a 23-point lead at the Bradley Center, but never threw in the towel. Instead, they rang up 96 points over the last three quarters and turned their fans’ boos to cheers with a 115-109 victory.

Redd and fellow backcourt bombardier Mo Williams combined for 68 points.

Defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland tried to burst Milwaukee’s bubble when the Cavaliers came to town Feb. 26, but the Bucks had more drama in store for their fans.

Williams scorched the Cavs for a season-high 37 points, and Redd, who added 25 points, drained a pull-up, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put Milwaukee over the top for the third time in four games, 105-102.

“This league is very much about momentum,” Bucks Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak said afterward. “Post-All-Star Break, I was real pleased, obviously, with the win at home against Detroit, and then to beat Denver in the capacity that we did.

“Tonight was big. Winning in the league is good medicine. It gives you some confidence. Certainly playing the Cavs, one of the better teams in the league at this point and LeBron (James) having the night he had, it was tremendous (to win). He had a terrific game, but it was just a fantastic shot by Mike (Redd). That was big-time. We’re riding a little mini-wave here and we need to try to keep it rolling.”

Mason noted a common denominator in the three big wins: The Bucks, who were playing primarily half-court basketball during a lackluster midseason, picked up the tempo with successful results. Their fast break returned after what seemed like a long hiatus.

“It was good and it was fun,” Mason said. “We were just getting up and down the court and running and the guys were making plays. We were moving the ball well and sharing the ball and being very unselfish.

“I got the opportunity to get out in transition and get some dunks and get the crowd into it a little bit.”

Mason saw more consistency in his team, too.

“We’re playing consistently on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor,” he said. “Mo (Williams) and Michael (Redd) are having big games. Andrew (Bogut) is doing a great job with interior defense.

“Overall, I think everybody is contributing to the game, and we just have a little bit of a rhythm going.”

Redd knows, though, that the Bucks can’t rest on these accomplishments, as satisfying as they were.

“We still have to feel like we haven't accomplished anything,” he said. “We have to stay humble, keep working hard and be respectful.

“At the same time, we have to believe in ourselves and keep going out every night and proving what we’re capable of if we play together.”