GAMEDAY: Milwaukee at New Jersey - 01/08/11

Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles:

(On the Game)

"We played well last night and tonight. We didn't get the win last night but we played hard and our guys really had energy from start to end. We had good ball movement, long stretches of pretty good defense and overall played well. We came out ready to play early in the game and came out at halftime ready to play. We were really, really good defensively the first four or five minutes of each half. We got them in bad positions and forced them to take some bad shots. That allowed us to get out and get our transition game going. Overall, I think we played well".

(On Chris-Douglas Roberts)

"He played well both games (last night) and did a nice job tonight. A big key to his offensive game is knocking down his perimeter shot. He's been knocking down those shots and showed he can score".

Milwaukee Guard John Salmons:

(On the Game)

"This was definitely an important game for us. We've had a tough schedule with some tough loses. We knew we had to come into this game with a lot of energy and jump out early. We came together as a team and we came together fast with Andrew Bogut out. We didn't realize we were without Andrew until just before we came out for the game. We came together and got focused. We knew we had to win the game regardless and we did that."

Milwaukee Guard Chris Douglas-Roberts:

(On the Game)

"Knowing that Bogut was out we really emphasized energy. We knew how important this game was, we need to win these types of games. I really wanted to increase the lead, I didn't want to give the Nets any hope at all. I'm not hiding it at all, I really wanted to beat these guys like we beat them. Our schedule is easing up a little bit, we've had the toughest in the league so far. We need these games, we need to win them."

STRONG SCHEDULE - So far this season, the Bucks have faced an NBA-high 25 opponents with records of .500 or better. The Bucks have gone 9-16 in those games. New Jersey has had the second-highest number of .500+ opponents with 24 and have gone 6-18 in those contests. The Bucks are tied for ninth in wins against those teams with their nine victories, while Dallas leads the league with 15 wins against teams .500 or better. Following tonight's contest, the Bucks face two teams (Atlanta, San Antonio) with .500+ records before embarking on a fivegame stretch against opponents who are all currently under .500.

BOGUT ON BOARD - Andrew Bogut pulled down a career-high 27 rebounds (previous career-high was 24) last night against Miami. His 20 defensive rebounds tie the Bucks franchise-high set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar most recently on March 25, 1975 (Abdul-Jabbar also had 20 on Jan. 27, 1974) and are the most by any NBA player this year. Minnesota's Kevin Love held the previous high of 19 and is the only other player in the NBA to have recorded 27 or more rebounds (he has the NBA season-high of 31) this year. There have been just five total 27+ rebounding performances dating back to the 2005-06 season (Bogut, Love, Tim Duncan, Marcus Camby and Ben Wallace).

BENCH PROFICIENCY - The Bucks bench has outscored the opponents' bench in each of the past five contests by an average of 39.0-24.6 (195-123). Earl Boykins leads the Bucks bench players with 14.5 points in those games (although he missed one game due to an NBA suspension) and both Chris Douglas-Roberts and Corey Maggette have chipped in 10.8 points over the past five.

BRING IT BACK (TO BACK) - Tonight, the Bucks close their 10th of a league-leading 23 back-to-back sets. This is their second back-to-back set of the week after facing Miami and Orlando on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The Bucks are in the midst of their second of four weeks this season where they play two back-to-back sets. The next time this happens will be from Feb. 8-Feb. 12 (vs. Toronto/at Washington; at Memphis/vs. Indiana).

NO LITTLE ACCOMPLISHMENT - Bucks 5-5 point guard Earl Boykins has tallied 5,509 points over his 12-year NBA career and is 13th in career points for players under 6-feet. Boykins needs 13 points to pass 5-11 Johnny Egan for 12th place. Out of the 12 players ahead of Boykins, only one (5-3 Muggsy Bogues) is 5-5 or shorter.

• Tonight's game is the only Saturday road game for the Bucks this season. In their eight Saturday games so far, all of which took place at the Bradley Center, the Bucks have gone 5-3.

• The Bucks saw their first Bradley Center sellout of the 2010-11 season last night against Miami and are seeing a 7.6 percent increase in attendance over last year. Through 16 home games in 2009-10, the total attendance at the Bradley Center was 234,464, averaging 14,654 per game. Through 16 home games this season, the total attendance is 252,285 or 15,768 per game for an increase of 1,114 fans per game.

• Happy Birthday to Chris Douglas-Roberts who celebrates his 24th birthday today. Last night, CDR scored a season-high 30 points (one shy of tying his career-high) and recorded five rebounds and a career-high four blocks. CDR joins Michael Beasley and LaMarcus Aldridge as the only three players to record a 30-point, fiverebound, four-block game this season.

• John Salmons scored 15 points last night and has now scored in double digits in the past 10 games. Over those 10, Salmons leads the Bucks in scoring with 17.6 points per game.

• A few milestones are on the horizon for the Bucks: Drew Gooden is (447) three steals away from 450 and (395) five blocks away from 400; Earl Boykins (1,979) is 21 assists from 2,000; Keyon Dooling (4,498) is two points away from 4,500; Scott Skiles (93) is seven wins away from his 100th victory with the Bucks.