Milwaukee Bucks coach George Karl has seen a lot in his basketball coaching career, but his record of late has been less than impressive.  After failing to lead his talented Bucks squad into the postseason last year after most picked them to come out of the East, Karl was the head coach to the biggest joke in Team USA Basketball history when his team was demoralized at the recent World Championships which were played on home soil.

Since then things have not got much better for Karl, whose Bucks are again in trouble with a 4-9 record in December and face a stellar Dallas team tonight.

"I like what I do. I think I'm pretty good at what I do, but you don't give an 'A' performance every night. Just like players don't give an 'A' performance every night. When you lose close games, I feel responsible for that," Karl said according to Tom Eland of the Milwaukee Journal-Constitution.

"Coaches make mistakes.  There are 100 or 150 decisions to make a night. You don't always get them right."

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the Bucks? attendance numbers are plummeting. Milwaukee?s drop in attendance is the second largest in the league? and the other team has a good excuse.

The Bucks attendance is down 14.8% this season. Only the Spurs have seen a bigger drop. The Spurs are playing in a smaller arena this season which helps to explain their decline. The Buck?s 8-11 record this season compared to 13-7 last season is their main excuse.

The Bucks are averaging 15,789 per game this season through Dec. 10, compared to 18,533 last season. They are playing to 84.4% of capacity.

The Bucks' average attendance in the league is 16th in the 29-team league and ninth in the 15-team Eastern Conference. The Bucks had the 10th-highest attendance average in the league last year and fifth in the East.

Glenn Robinson didn't go upside Ray Allen's head.

Their verbal warfare didn't blossom into fisticuffs. And their reconciliation didn't occur in the hallway on game day. They shook hands and patched up the day before -- at a local shoe store.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson wasn't needed for this dispute. The Honorable Sam Cassell sufficed.

On Wednesday, Cassell, the Bucks point guard and Robinson's closest friend on the team, called Robinson and asked him to meet with some of his former Bucks teammates, including Allen and Anthony Mason. When Robinson arrived, Allen was there to greet him.

They aired their differences on an off-night, then Glenn Robinson got the best of former teammate and friend Ray Allen in Philips Arena Thursday night as the Hawks broke out of their recent slump.

Robinson, quietly furious at being sharply criticized by Allen two months ago, had a contentious, if imperfect, performance to produce 23 points and seven rebounds as the Hawks pulled away to win 98-80 before 16,728. Allen sank 7 of 13 for 16 points, ending his five-game injury absence.

The Hawks got 19 points and 11 assists from a steady Jason Terry, and Theo Ratliff grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked four shots.

There is no place like home.

Tonight, in a much anticipated nationally televised game on TNT, the Hawks took advantage of an inspired second half defensive effort and dispatched the Milwaukee Bucks 98-80, raising Atlanta?s home record to 7-2.

For a team that played passionless basketball in its last two games, blowouts in Orlando and New Jersey, tonight was a return to energetic play, marked specifically by the play of Jason Terry, who personified what a point guard is all about with his 12 assist, 19 point night.

?I thought Jason took charge tonight,? said Lon Kruger. ?He handled the pace of the game, stayed aggressive throughout, and took care of the ball really well.?

Michael Lee of the AJC writes that Glenn Robinson said he is "open" to reconciling with former Milwaukee Bucks teammate Ray Allen when the Hawks play the Bucks Thursday -- but on one condition.

"He would have to come to me," Robinson said before the Hawks played New Jersey on Tuesday night.

Lee also talks to Kenny Smith about the Hawks playoff chances and who Smith is pulling for in the TNT televised Hawks/Bucks matchup Thursday as well as the emergence of Dion Glover.

Chris McCoskey of the Detroit News reports that Pistons coach Rick Carlisle was not happy after Friday nights? victory over the Bucks. He laid into the team in a post-game rant. Carlisle preached about effort and a lack of intensity.

Pistons players seemed a bit taken aback by Carlisle's outburst. "We got the win," Cliff Robinson said. "It wasn't the best effort defensively, but at the same time, we fought hard and got the stops when we needed to. "When you get a win in this league, you have to be thankful. They're not that easy to come by."

"To make believe everything is rosy is foolish," Carlisle said Friday. "I am just not seeing the effort plays that I am accustomed to seeing out of this team. I am so tired of seeing guys jog back defensively and getting their butts kicked under the basket. It's a disgrace."

Carlisle must have seen something because the following night, the Bucks handed the Pistons a 109-86 defeat in Milwaukee.

"Certain things are unmistakable," Carlisle said. "The identity of this team, to me, is sacred and right now it is being compromised by how we are playing on the defensive side of the ball. "We are giving up transition jump shots and layups like they were free cotton candy. It's a joke."

The Bucks turned 17 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points. They also scored 15 points off their fast break. They outscored the Pistons, 32-12, in those two categories. In the last two home games, the Pistons have been outscored 64-29 in those categories, and they have won in those areas only five times all season.

Ben Wallace agreed that the Pistons need to tighten some things up. "We just have to get down and guard guys," he said. "At times, we get lax out there. We took some quick shots at the offensive end, and a lot of times that gets them easy buckets in transition."

Carlisle said he was not planning to alter the lineup any time soon, but the lineup had the same problems in Saturday's loss.