[JournalSentinel] Bucks still in control
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/buck/apr04/222109.asp
Bucks still in control
They have another shot at fourth spot in East
By TOM ENLUND
tenlund@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 13, 2004
Life suddenly took a dramatic turn for the better for the Milwaukee
Bucks as they settled into their charter airplane for the flight
home after a disheartening loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday
night.
The Bucks took to the cell phones upon boarding the plane to get
updates on the game between the New York Knicks and the New Orleans
Hornets, and the mood brightened quickly when word swept through the
plane that the Knicks had rallied in the fourth quarter to win in
New Orleans.
The Bucks had departed Gund Arena thinking they had just suffered a
major setback in their race with Miami and New Orleans for the fourth
spot in the NBA's Eastern Conference playoffs. If the Hornets had won,
all three teams would have been tied at 41-40 heading into the final
game of the season.
The Bucks do not own the tie-breaker against New Orleans and would
end up sixth if there was a three-way tie.
"Everybody was on the phone to people who were watching the game so
the whole plane knew," said forward Keith Van Horn. "From the last
couple minutes on, we were getting updates, up-to-date information
on what was going on."
Said guard Brevin Knight: "That's all we did was stay on the phone
when our game was over. Everybody has somebody to talk to and find
out what the score was (in New Orleans). We just needed another
chance to breathe some life into us. You could see the whole mood
of the plane was entirely different when we found that out."
Bucks forward Joe Smith agreed that the atmosphere on the plane
changed considerably after the players heard about the Hornets'
loss.
"It was like getting a call from the governor right before you were
supposed to get executed, saying he changed his mind about it," said
Smith.
The Bucks do own the tie-breaker over the Heat so they can wrap up
the No. 4 spot - where have we heard that before? - with a victory
over the Toronto Raptors at the Bradley Center tonight.
It will be the Bucks' third straight opportunity to clinch home-court
advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They could have seized
the fourth position by either beating New Orleans at home last
Saturday or winning in Cleveland, but they came up short both times.
Miami will take a 41-40 record into tonight's regular-season finale
at home against New Jersey, while the Hornets (40-41) play at
Washington.
The Bucks (41-40) are 3-0 against Toronto this season, the Raptors
are going nowhere except home after tonight, and they are playing
the second game of a back-to-back situation.
But Smith and Knight have both played for teams that are just playing
out the schedule and warn that it could be a dangerous game for
Milwaukee.
"I've been in that situation where Cleveland was last night and
Toronto will be in, where you're not really playing for anything,"
said Smith. "Those are the toughest games for a team that's really
working for something because those teams can come out (relaxed),
and have fun out there because regardless of the result, they
already know what their place is. That's why we can't take anything
for granted."
Knight said the Bucks must put Toronto away early.
"(They've) got nothing to play for except to be a spoiler," he said.
"So for us, if we can go out and put these teams away early, it's to
our advantage because they don't have as much drive to try and come
back. That'll be our main thing to try and come out strong from the
beginning."
In the last two games, Milwaukee led by two points heading into the
final period and then faded both times.
The Bucks shot 36% and let the Hornets shoot 61.5% in the fourth
quarter; and Milwaukee shot 19% in the final quarter in Cleveland.
The Bucks committed three fourth-quarter turnovers in both games.
"We're living very dangerously," said Bucks coach Terry Porter. "New
York did us a huge favor last night, and we've got a chance again to
really go and finish the job that we started two games ago. We haven't
done it yet."
From the April 14, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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