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Bucks continue win one, lose one mode

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Photo by AP Photo/Morry Gash

Miami Heat's Joel Anthony (50) goes up to block a shot of Milwaukee Bucks' Luke Ridnour (13) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009, in Milwaukee. The Heat won 102-99.

MILWAUKEE — Getting back to the .500 mark is becoming the elusive dream for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Once again the Bucks had a chance to crawl within one victory of the break-even point only to fall to the Miami Heat, 102-99, on Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

The Bucks, who have been stuck in a win-one, lose-one mode for the last 12 games, saw their record fall to 19-22, with a three-game Western trip about to begin.

“It seems like we’ve been two games under about 20 times now,” said guard Luke Ridnour, who led the Bucks with 25 points and nine rebounds. “We’ve got to make a move. It’s frustrating for us. We play so good for stretches and then . . . guys have been hitting shots on us. We’ve got to keep trying to get over the hump. Once we get over the hump, I think we’ll be good.”

Said coach Scott Skiles, “We were just slow tonight. Slow in a lot of different areas.”

Beyond the loss, the game might have even more dire consequences for the Bucks as afterward center Andrew Bogut expressed some genuine concern about the condition of his back. Bogut, who has been bothered by back spasms, finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds but labored through 37 minutes.

“It’s still bothering me,” said Bogut. “Tonight was a struggle just to get through the game. We have to try and figure out what it is because it’s kind of scary. I thought I was over it, but it’s come back quicker than a freight train.”

Some of the Bucks players questioned their own motivation after this one and wondered aloud whether they came to play.

The Bucks had to survive a three-point barrage by Miami and rallied late in the second quarter to gain a tie at halftime, 55-55. But then they came out flat at the start of the third quarter as Miami scored the first nine points The Bucks took a run at Miami—which led by 10 early in the fourth quarter—in the final two minutes only to come up short.

Michael Redd scored 16 points for the Bucks, and Richard Jefferson added 15. Rookie Joe Alexander played the best game of his young career, sparking the second-quarter rally and finishing with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Reserves Daequon Cook and Michael Beasley led Miami with 24 and 21 points, respectively.

“We (frittered) this one away,” said Bogut. “There’s no doubt about it. I don’t think anybody really came to play tonight. We didn’t do the things we needed to do to win. We made our run early on and I guess we thought the game was going to be easy, but Miami came back and stuck it to us.

“We’ve still got a lot to learn, especially learning how to be a winning team. When you win two of three games and everyone says you’re going to be a playoff team, we don’t handle that very well. Every time we win two or three games and people start talking about us, we lose the game to a team we should beat.”

Miami which rained down eight three-pointers in the first half, led by 11 in the second quarter, 10 in the third and took an 80-73 lead into the fourth.

A floater by Ridnour cut Miami’s lead to 97-93 with 2 minutes left, and a rebound basket by Redd drew the Bucks to within two with 1:28 left. Wade missed a jumper, but Jefferson got hung in the air and threw ball away with 51.8 seconds left.

After a Miami turnover, Jefferson drove the lane only to have his shot blocked by forward Shawn Marion with 21.3 seconds remaining. Four free throws by Cook after that helped seal it for Miami.

“We got out to an early lead (18-8), but we could tell we were a little slow-footed out there,” said Skiles. “We gave up the threes but then we fought our way back. Then we came out totally flat (to start the second half). Except for the early moments of the game we were playing catch-up all night.”