Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles was frustrated by the effort from his team in their last game, but he has little reason to complain about their play against the high-scoring New York Knicks this season.
The Bucks look to win their fourth straight against the Knicks when they meet on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.Milwaukee (11-16) has won both its games against New York (11-14) this season, and three in a row going back to 2007-08. In the two matchups so far under Skiles, the Bucks held the Knicks below 90 points each time.
The Knicks have one of the NBA's best offenses, averaging 105.3 points per game, and they've scored fewer than 90 points only five times this season.
Milwaukee, though, is coming off its fourth loss in six games after dropping a 93-88 decision to Philadelphia on Wednesday. Luke Ridnour and Charlie Bell each scored 14 points, but the Bucks missed their first eight field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter and were held to 15 points in the period.
The game also was the fifth in eight days for the Bucks, who will finish a stretch of six road games in the last seven with this matchup.
"We had a bunch of guys who looked like they didn't feel like playing from the opening tip," Skiles said. "We were just heavy-legged, slow-footed. We couldn't get up and down the floor and had tremendous trouble guarding them. We got exactly what we deserved."
Michael Redd, averaging a team-high 19.2 points in 13 games this season, went 2-of-13 from the field and finished with six points. Redd was averaging 24.5 points in the previous four games.
The Knicks, meanwhile, return home after dropping the final two games of a five-game road trip. After losing to Phoenix in coach Mike D'Antoni's return there, New York fell 116-114 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday despite a season-high 33 points from Nate Robinson.
Robinson connected on all 12 free-throw attempts, and David Lee added 18 points and 14 rebounds for his 13th double-double in the last 14 games.
Robinson has averaged 26.3 points in his last three games after missing seven of the previous eight with a strained groin.
The Knicks' three losses on the road trip were by an average of five points, giving D'Antoni reason to feel optimistic as the team will play three of its next four at MSG.
"We worry about the losses, but I think we're playing better," he said. "We said that this was going to be a measuring stick. We need to learn how to finish games and play a little better together and cut down on some bad shots. But we'll get there."
The last time the Bucks won four in a row over the Knicks was when it won the final game of the 1996-97 season then the first three meetings in 1997-98.
