The Milwaukee Bucks are playing their best basketball of the season and the Charlotte Bobcats saw that first-hand.
The surging Bucks look to move closer to the .500 mark while trying to sweep the season series from the struggling Bobcats on Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C. to conclude a home-and-home set.Milwaukee (16-18) continued its dominance over Charlotte with a 103-75 home victory on Friday. It was the seventh victory in 10 games for the Bucks and fifth in a row over Charlotte (11-22), which has lost three consecutive games overall.
"We played like a team of total strangers," Bobcats coach Larry Brown said. "And they played like a good team."
The Bucks have scored more than 100 points in each of their last two games versus the Bobcats, while holding Charlotte to 81.7 points in three contests, well below its NBA-low 90.8 points per game. The Bucks also held the Bobcats to fewer than 80 points in a 79-74 road victory on Nov. 22.
Michael Redd scored 31 points and Charlie Villanueva added 27 for Milwaukee, which averages 96.9 points per game but topped the 100-point mark for the fourth time in seven games.
"You have nights like this sometimes where everything feels good," said Redd, who's averaging 25.3 points in his last three games and 28.0 in two versus the Bobcats this season. "My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball and I was able to hit some shots and get in a good rhythm."
While the Bucks' offense has been revitalized of late, their defense has been the difference during a winning stretch that has them currently holding down the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. In their last nine games, Milwaukee is allowing 10 fewer points than the 95.9 it's giving up this season.
"It was another good defensive game for us," said Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles, whose team held the Bobcats to 13 third-quarter points on Friday.
Boris Diaw scored 16 points, Emeka Okafor had 11 and 12 rebounds, and Gerald Wallace added 11 points and 10 boards for Charlotte, which shot 37.7 in being held to fewer than 80 points for the sixth time this season.
The Bobcats didn't help themselves by turning the ball over a season-high 25 times.
"It was just a lack of focus and not being prepared to play I guess," said Wallace, who had four turnovers.
Wallace, the Bobcats' leading scorer at 16.8 points per game, has been held to 11.7 on 37.9 percent shooting versus Milwaukee this season.
Diaw, meanwhile, is averaging 15.1 points in 10 games since coming to Charlotte in a trade from Phoenix last month that sent Jason Richardson to the Suns.
