WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday.

WHERE: Bradley Center.

BROADCASTS: TV - FSN cable. Radio - AM-620.

NOTEBOOK

DEFENSIVE WOES: While not pleased with the Bucks' defensive play on its four-game trip, coach Scott Skiles did not go so far as to say they had regressed defensively.

"Typically what happens is there's other slippage during parts of the year and you're able to get into the practice gym and work on some things and get back to basics a little bit," he said. "We've had virtually zero practice time. This is not unexpected. We're trying to turn around the defense for this season. But the numbers don't lie. We're not going to win games when we allow our opponent to shoot 50% and score over 100 points. Historically in the league, that's a recipe for disaster."

INJURY WOES: The Bucks have been consistent in refusing to use injuries as an excuse for the way they have played.

"(Against Atlanta), they were missing Josh Smith," said forward Richard Jefferson. "He's one of the best small-slash-power forwards in the NBA . So we can't make excuses for being short-handed. They were short-handed, also. We lost to Utah without Deron Williams. And Carlos Boozer missed the last 5 minutes of the game. So there's no excuses if you're playing short-handed. No one cares."

STARTING FIVE? When center Andrew Bogut went down with a knee injury, it left Jefferson as the only Bucks player to start in every game. The opening night starting lineup of Jefferson, Bogut, Michael Redd, Luke Ridnour and Charlie Villanueva has appeared in the same game only twice so far.

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