Mason critical of Bucks after they unravel
By MICHAEL HUNT
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: March 23, 2002
East Rutherford, N.J. - The fact that it is now mathematically impossible for the Milwaukee Bucks to match their 52-victory level from last season is the least of their concerns.

Bucks-Nets


Photo/AP
New Jersey's Aaron Williams loses the ball as he is sandwiched by Darvin Ham, left, and Joel Przybilla during the first quarter Friday.


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If they don't get more people healthy, and quickly, they will soon be compelled to explain why they missed the playoffs in a year in which they were expected to make the NBA Finals.

Forced to play Eastern Conference-leading New Jersey Friday night without the injured Glenn Robinson and Tim Thomas, the Bucks found the results to be wholly predictable. They were drilled, 108-84, by the Nets at Continental Airlines Arena for their fourth consecutive loss and eighth in 11 games this month.

Like cement-overshoe-wearing gangsters in the marshy Meadowlands, the beat-up Bucks (36-31) are sinking fast and in moderate jeopardy of falling completely out of the playoff picture with 15 regular-season games to play.

Robinson, who suffered a bruised tailbone in the Bucks' previous game Tuesday night at Orlando, tried to go against the Nets (44-25) but couldn't get loose after an extended pre-game rehabilitation session. Thomas missed his fifth consecutive game because of his sore right knee, and his continued absence left the Bucks without their top two small forwards. The availability of both is being determined daily.

Their last-minute alternative was Darvin Ham, a power forward whose flagrant foul against Kenyon Martin late in the second quarter was the moment New Jersey credited with turning a 13-point deficit to the Bucks into a 27-point lead in less than 18 minutes.

"We were handling them pretty well," Ham said. "I don't know what they talked about at halftime in that locker room, but they came out like gangbusters. We just didn't match their intensity."

The turnaround was abrupt, severe and sudden, as stark as the Nets' 27-4 advantage on fast-break points and the 47-17 run the Nets created in a little more than 6 minutes to blow open the game.

Sure, the Bucks were playing without a small forward and a limping backcourt. But can all their awful play from the third quarter on be pinned on injuries?

"Injuries? It would be easy, but it would be a cop-out," Bucks forward Anthony Mason said. "Injuries haven't got anything to do with it. We've got too much talent on this team.

"We're not doing nothing right. We're not playing no defense. We're not setting no picks. We're not coming off picks quick enough. We're not playing unselfish. We're not playing basketball, period."

Leading, 38-25, in the second quarter, the Bucks let the game get away in a hurry. The Nets finished the half with a 25-10 run to take a two-point lead in the locker room, but not before Martin scored 12 consecutive points for New Jersey around the moment Ham fouled him.

Martin, who leads the league in flagrant fouls and has been suspended four times this year, was driving to the basket with 3:53 left in the half when Ham cut him off.

"I watch them on television all the time and I see guys shying away from him," Ham said. "You've got to mix it up and let them know you're not running. I'm not going to give him a clear-cut path to the basket. He didn't retaliate or anything. So it wasn't nothing except a hard foul."

Martin, who finished with 20 points, made both free throws and completed the four-point possession with a vicious dunk that got the Nets within five points. From there, they exploded.

"It seemed to me that the flagrant foul that Darvin Ham got on Kenyon was the thing that really ignited us," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "From that point on, we played lights-out basketball."

Whether it was Kerry Kittles taking it at Ray Allen or Jason Kidd burning the Bucks with 15 assists, Milwaukee never found the answer from the third quarter on.

"We played about 21 minutes of the first half extremely well," Bucks coach George Karl said. "In the third quarter, they erupted. They're a team playing with a lot of confidence and we're a team searching for our confidence."