EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Andrew
Bogut scored 22 points and Ersan Ilyasova added 18 as the Milwaukee
Bucks sent the New Jersey Nets into the All-Star break with loss No.
48, a 97-77 rout Wednesday night in front of about 1,000 fans.
A storm that dumped more than a foot
of snow on the New York region kept the crowd at the IZOD Center to a
turnstile count of 1,016, most of whom moved to the courtside seats and
the first few rows of the lower bowl.
Up close, they saw the Bucks shoot 50 percent.
New Jersey, led by Devin Harris with
27 points, extended its current losing streak to eight games. The Nets
head into the All-Star break at 4-48, the same record the Philadelphia
76ers had when they recorded an NBA-worst 9-73 mark for the 1972-73
season.
The Bucks used an 18-1 run that
bridged the third and fourth quarters to pull away. Leading 68-60 to
start the fourth quarter, Milwaukee scored 10 straight points —
including five from Luke Ridnour (17 points) — to open up a 78-60 lead
with 8:57 left.
Courtney Lee (11 points) temporarily
stopped the deluge for the Nets with a 3-pointer, but Carlos Delfino
answered right back with his own 3.
Ilyasova hit consecutive 3s midway
through the fourth quarter, the second of which gave Milwaukee a 91-69
lead with 5:18 remaining.
The Bucks, now 3-0 against New Jersey
this season, head into the break with their sights set on a playoff
position after dropping a forgettable 93-81 decision to the Detroit
Pistons.
Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles deemed
it as "one of the worst losses of our season" as the Bucks had their
seven-game home winning streak end by scoring just nine points in the
first quarter and shooting a season-low 36.6 percent.
But against the Nets, Milwaukee relocated its stroke, connecting on 24 of 40 shots in the second half.
The Nets returned from a four-game
road trip to some controversy amid reports that Nets interim coach and
general manager Kiki Vandeweghe and former assistant coach Del Harris
had a secret agreement to eventually make Harris coach, without the
knowledge of team president Rod Thorn.
Harris, 72, abruptly left the team
last week after just two months of assisting Vandeweghe in his first
coaching stint. Vandeweghe has denied that there was any handshake deal
with Harris.
In addition, second-year swingman
Chris Douglas-Roberts is unhappy about his sharply diminished role in
the Nets rotation. Douglas-Roberts did not play in Tuesday's 104-97
defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers, which Vandeweghe said was a
situational decision. He didn't see action against the Bucks until
Vandeweghe put him in the game with 3:35 left.
Notes
Nets guard Keyon Dooling left
the game in the second quarter with a left quadriceps contusion and did
not return … Nets center Brook Lopez (nine points) was named to the
2010-12 USA Men's National Team program. The second-year star, who is
averaging 19 points and 9.1 rebounds, will be one of 27 candidates to
take part in the FIBA World Championship this summer and the 2012
Olympics in London, upon qualification. … Despite the paltry turnout,
the paid attendance for the game was 12,873.