
After using coach Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo offense to register consecutive victories last week, the New York Knicks have struggled shooting the ball in dropping their last two games.
On Friday night, they'll visit a Milwaukee Bucks team that held them to one of their lowest point totals of the season.New York tries to avoid a season-high third straight loss and Milwaukee looks to halt a season high-tying three-game skid when they meet for the second time in 2008-09.
The Bucks (5-8) limited the Knicks (6-5) to 86 points and 37.0 percent shooting in a Nov. 2 victory at Madison Square Garden. Following that game, New York went on to win five of its next six, averaging 108.3 points and shooting 47.6 percent from the field.
The Knicks played particularly well in back-to-back wins over Memphis and Oklahoma City last week. They averaged 124.0 points and made 52.0 percent of their shots - 42.6 from 3-point range.
New York, though, combined to shoot 43.4 percent in its last two games, losing them both while giving up an average of 117.0 points.
The Knicks lead the NBA in scoring (105.3), but are last with 105.9 points allowed.
"There's nights like this," Knicks forward Zach Randolph said Sunday after Dallas went on a 19-2 run over the final 7:26 to force overtime and beat New York 124-114 at home. "We've just got to keep our head up and keep going."
Randolph had 27 points and 18 rebounds against the Mavericks for his eighth straight double-double, but that streak came to an end in Tuesday's 110-101 loss at Boston when he had 18 points and eight boards.
Randolph started his run of double-doubles in the 94-86 loss to Milwaukee earlier this month. He's averaging a team-leading 20.5 points and is third in the NBA with 12.5 rebounds per game.
The Bucks lost Michael Redd to an ankle injury in that game against the Knicks, and they've gone 3-6 without their star guard. Milwaukee fell 105-94 at Utah on Wednesday for its second three-game losing streak in less than two weeks.
The Jazz outscored the Bucks 31-18 in the fourth quarter.
"We were up 10 and just relaxed and kind of stopped playing for a couple minutes and allowed them to get back in the game," Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said. "Then we just looked flat-out worn out in the fourth quarter."
Richard Jefferson scored 25 points and Andrew Bogut had 16 points and 20 rebounds for Milwaukee, which lost 114-105 in Denver on Tuesday night.
"We had our opportunities to come in here and win," said Jefferson, averaging 18.7 points in his first season with the Bucks. "We were up 10 in the second half and set the tone. We just didn't finish the job."
Skiles said he thought Redd might have come back during the two-game trip to Denver and Utah, but acknowledged he's not sure when he'd return. Redd was averaging 21.3 points before the injury.
Milwaukee has won two straight over New York after losing the four previous meetings. The Bucks have taken seven of the last 11 in the series at the Bradley Center.