Michael Redd had carried Milwaukee for the majority of the game scoring a season-high 35 points. (NBAE / Getty Images)

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Tix

January 6, 2009

There is a big dry-erase board on the wall of the Milwaukee Bucks lockerroom at the Bradley Center.
 
Prior to every home game, it has very little room to spare. It is packed with diagrammed plays, the opposing team's lineup, relevant statistics, and some last-minute directives for the players to take onto the court with them.
 
Prior to the team's Jan. 5 game against Toronto, there were no messages instructing the Bucks to allow the Raptors to shoot 54.2 percent.
 
And the board had no escape plan for the Bucks to follow in the event that something like that should happen.
 
They had to figure that out for themselves.
 
And they did.
 
Facing a 97-94 deficit with 2 minutes, 11 seconds to play, the Bucks went on a 13-0 run to close out the game and emerge with a 107-97 victory, their seventh in their last eight Bradley Center outings. It pulled them back within two games of the .500 plateau.
 
With Andrew Bogut rendered unavailable by back spasms, Michael Redd carried Milwaukee for the majority of the game while fellow starters Richard Jefferson and Luke Ridnour struggled offensively, shooting a combined  3 -for-14 from the field.
 
Redd finished with a season- and game-high 35 points, but only six of those came in the fourth quarter.
 
So how did the Bucks manage to get it done this time? Ridnour pried the lid off the basket and converted consecutive 3-pointers during the final 2:22, but there was more to this comeback than that.
 
"All that really mattered was what happened down the stretch," Redd said. "We did a great job of just being patient and trying to stop Chris Bosh. He was tough, man. They kept going to him on every play, it seemed, in the fourth quarter and he made plays for himself and others. We persevered and got key rebounds, and Luke (Ridnour) made a huge 3 to win the game for us."

"We knew Toronto was going to hone in on me (in the fourth quarter), and I had to make plays for others -- not so much for myself -- and not force shots. We got some good looks, and it worked out for us. We made stops when we had to, and it was critical to get the rebounds and make the plays we made."
 
Charlie Villanueva was at the center of that action. He scored 13 of his 25 points and snared five rebounds during the final period.
 
Villanueva realized how vital it was for someone to deliver some clutch points with Bogut unavailable and Redd being chased by multiple Raptors. He also knew that he and his teammates had to take care of business on the other end of the court.
 
"Andrew and Mike are good offensive players," Villanueva said. "Somebody else had to step up. When one guy is out or off, another guy has to step up.
 
"We didn't defend particularly well tonight. I think they shot 54 percent. But down the stretch, I think our defense is what won the game for us."

Charlie Bell agreed. He was impressed with how the Bucks managed to offset Toronto's hot shooting and stop the Raptors often enough in the closing minutes to finish the job.
 
"We could have used Andrew a little bit tonight on Chris Bosh when he was attacking the basket to try to slow him down, because he was hardly missing," Bell said. "As well as they shot the ball, though, we did a good job of battling and pulling out a win.
 
"We've just got to play harder than the other team. Some nights, it's going to be like that. Some nights, we're going to be making shots and we may lose. Some nights, we may be missing shots and win. Basketball is a funny sport. Sometimes I think, no matter how much talent you've got, the team that goes out there and plays the hardest is going to win.
 
"Tonight, I felt like we played hard; not at the beginning of the game, but as the game went on. We continued to play hard and continued to battle down the stretch. Toronto played the night before, and I think they wore down a little bit."

Redd realizes that NBA teams don't often win games in which they yield 54-percent field-goal shooting. He admired the bottom line of this game, though, and how the Bucks got there.
 
"Some nights, teams catch fire," he said. "Our foundation was there tonight -- helping on defense. They just made shots off our help. Give them credit. It was a tough win for us.
 
"Man, we hit some huge shots -- 'Charlie V', Luke ... Francisco (Elson) was huge defensively and on the boards. It was just a tremendous team effort tonight against a tough team. Toronto's been playing well. We knew that coming in. This was, for us, a must win. We had to get this win, and we did."
 
Even the Bucks who didn't play figured into this one, Redd believes.
 
"Our bench was enthusiastic tonight, which was good to see," he said. "I think we did a great job of just helping each other and cheering each other on and supporting each other, which was critical."
 
Bell likes the way the Bucks have collectively raised their intensity.
 
"We feel like we can beat anybody on any given night if we go out and play our game and play hard," he said. "We didn't do that in Charlotte (in a Jan. 3 loss). We didn't start off playing hard tonight, but continued to battle, and then we played hard late in the game and came out with a win.
 
"This is a big stretch for us. We feel like if we can get to .500, things will start rolling for us. We have some home games, and having some extra practice time, and some extra gym time, we feel like our offense will start to come around. We made some shots tonight, made some big 3s, and I think you can attribute that to just being home. Guys can get some shots up. You can't do that on the road. You can't go to the gym or stay as long as you want. You've got to be out of the gym at a certain time. If we get some practice time, I think we'll start to click a little bit."
 
The key, Bell believes, will be consistent focus and effort.
 
"We've got to continue to play with a sense of urgency," he said. "We can't look at games and just think, 'OK, we're going to win this game.' Playoff teams go out there and play hard every night. Teams like Boston, Detroit, the Lakers, they go out no matter who they're playing against and try to prove a point ... take it to them. We've got to do the same.
 
"We've got to start to develop a winning  culture around here. It's something that we haven't done in awhile. We haven't been to the playoffs since my first year here. I definitely feel like this is a playoff team. We've got to go out there every night and play like it."
 
Some Bucks fans have begun looking at playoff positioning, even though the season has not yet reached its midway point.
 
Villanueva knows he and his teammates have to resist that temptation.
 
"It's very early," he said. "We've just got to take it game-by-game and see where we stand at the end. We're not looking ahead to the playoffs.

"But this (Toronto) is one of those teams that is competing for the sixth, seventh and eighth spots, so getting this win was huge."
 
Now it's on to getting that next one.