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Uneven effort confounds Bucks: Skiles still bothered by defensive lapses

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Milwaukee Bucks are having serious problems with consistency.

The Bucks haven’t been consistently good, as indicated by their pedestrian 20-23 record. But, on the other hand, they win just enough so that they’re not consistently bad, either.

“At least if we were consistently losing, then we’d know what the problem is,” forward Richard Jefferson said. “We’re not even doing that.”

By losing Saturday night, 101-92, to the lowly and injury-depleted Los Angeles Clippers they let a guarantee for a winning three-game western trip slide through their grasp. After having split the first two games, they will face the Portland Trail Blazers—the only opponent on the trip with a winning record—tonight at the Rose Garden.

Coach Scott Skiles was asked what it would take for the team to develop some consistency.

“You hope each player becomes more consistent,” he said. “That’s what you’re hoping for.

”We’re on a terrible defensive tear in the last 10 or 12 games. And we had been playing very solid defense. It’s gotten away from us. We appear to be out there thinking that we can outscore people now. So let’s see if that works.“

Skiles paused.

”I doubt it will,“ he said.

The Bucks have yielded at least 100 points to seven of their last nine opponents. On Friday night, Sacramento scored 18 points in the first quarter but then lit up the Bucks for 104 in the final three quarters.

The Clippers went into the game Saturday averaging 93.0 points per game, ahead of only Charlotte’s 91.1 average. Yet the Clippers were able to hit the 100-point mark against Milwaukee.

Brian Skinner, averaging 2.5 points going into the game, scored a season-high 18. Marcus Camby also scored 18 points before departing with 8 minutes 53 seconds left with a sprained ankle.

The Bucks are even inconsistent in their defensive shortcomings. After getting hurt from the three-point line in several recent games, they were bullied inside by the Clippers, who outscored them in the paint, 48-22.

”We just got owned in the paint,“ Skiles said. ”Skinner and Camby just had their way with us. They were just going right to the basket and we couldn’t even make them shoot from the perimeter. They were killing us down low. We were real soft down there.“

Said guard Luke Ridnour: ”That first quarter set the tone for the game. I think they shot 90% or something. Anytime you let a team do that, get out of the gates like that, it puts you in for a long night.“

By losing to the Clippers, the Bucks continued their maddening win-one, lose-one trend that has been going on for 14 games, the longest such streak in the Bucks’ 41-year history.

The Bucks have not been pleased even with the way they have played in some of their recent victories, the most recent being in Sacramento.

”It’s not like we’ve been playing great,“ Jefferson said. ”(In Sacramento), we didn’t play great. . . . We played like crap. We gave up 100 points in three quarters. We can’t look at this like when we win, we play good.“

And so, for the time being anyway, the Bucks are being defined by their inconsistency.