But now, Milwaukee heads right back out on the road to play the improving Atlanta Hawks, the type of young and athletic team that typically gives the Bucks fits.

"We have to keep it up," said forward Charlie Villanueva, who led the Bucks with a season-high 32 points against Dallas. "We've got one now in Atlanta and hopefully we can play like this on the road."

Wednesday's game was a difficult one for the Bucks, and not just because it was against Dallas, which is a respected, veteran team.

It was also another one of the several one-game "home stands" that the Bucks encounter on their schedule this season. The first game at home after a trip such as the one the Bucks were on is generally viewed as a road game because of the travel involved to get back home. The Bucks spent little time at home as they were back in the air and off to Atlanta Thursday afternoon.

Due to scheduling quirks, it's the 10th time this season that the Bucks came home off the road to play only one game and then headed back on the road again. That's the most one-game home stands in the league at this point and is more than 22 of the league's teams will face over the entire season.

The Bucks have 12 such "one and done" home games on their schedule this season and the only teams that will have more by the end of the season are Indiana (15), and Cleveland, Detroit and New Jersey with 14 each. Some teams, such as Portland (four), Phoenix (five), the Lakers (six) and New York (six), play far fewer one-game home stands.

Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles thought that the schedule took its toll early in the game against Dallas as the Bucks trailed by 11 in the second quarter before going on their offensive rampage.

"I thought we started the game a little sluggish, which is understandable, considering that we just came off a trip and got in at 4 in the morning," said Skiles. "Sometimes that happens. But 8 or 9 minutes into the game, we were able to regroup a little bit. The ball still wasn't going in for us, but you could see us kind of picking up the defense and continuing to stay active . . . we were able to carry it through."

Said forward Richard Jefferson: "We were disappointed with the way our road trip went, especially coming home against Dallas, and then going back on the road against an Atlanta team that is playing well. So we wanted to give it a good effort, knowing that the way we played on the road wasn't really the way we feel about ourselves."

After shooting 29.2% in the first quarter against Dallas, the Bucks got their legs and shot 83.3% in the second quarter and 73.7% in the third.

"As professionals, you can't think like, just because you shoot the ball well - or bad - in the first quarter, that that's going to carry over the entire game," said Jefferson. "We didn't shoot the ball well in that first quarter, but the confidence level of this team is increasing to the point where we started playing a little better defense and started getting some stops and that opened up things for us in the second half.

"More than anything, it was against a quality (Dallas) team. You know you have tough games ahead of you and we want to start establishing ourselves as a quality team at home and an improving team on the road."

Now, a big challenge awaits them in Atlanta.

"Coming off the road against three West-coast teams, we felt like we let a couple slip away from us," said guard Ramon Sessions. "So (beating Dallas) is big for us going into Atlanta and hopefully we can carry the momentum."

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