1-28 Milwaukee 107 New York 105

[645]

Milwaukee 107 New York 105

[645]

The final seconds had just ticked off the Bradley Center clock Sunday afternoon and Milwaukee Bucks guard Mo Williams embraced forward Ruben Patterson near midcourt and then shot an appreciative glance toward the heavens.

Bucks win.

Riding the grand return from injury of Williams, the Bucks had led by 13 points early in the fourth quarter before holding off a late New York Knicks' rally to snap a six-game losing streak with a 107-105 victory. The victory was not in the books until a desperation three-pointer by Knicks guard Jamal Crawford at the buzzer was waved off by the referees for being too late.

JSONLINE

[645]

ON THE COURT

Player of the game:Mo Williams returned from injury in a big way, scoring 30 points and handing out 10 assists, and he hit two jumpers late to lead the Bucks to a much-needed victory. "We played too well as a team to lose," Williams said.

Play of the game: When Williams went to the foul line for two free throws with four-tenths of a second left and Milwaukee leading, 106-105, the plan was for him to make the first free throw and miss the second. Williams missed the first and, despite trying to miss, made the second, which gave New York a chance for a final shot after a 20-second timeout. "He did it backwards," forward Ruben Patterson said. "But we got the win, so I'm happy."

Statistics sheet: New York coach Isiah Thomas bemoaned his team's free-throw shooting (14 for 24, 58.3%) as the reason for this and several other losses. "We harp on (free-throw shooting) since the first day of training camp," Thomas said. "Our inability to convert when we get to the foul line is killing us right now and all season. If we make free throws, you can add at least seven or eight more wins in our win column." The Bucks made 16 of 25 free throws (64%).

Off the bench: Because of the Bucks' recent rash of injuries, coach Terry Stotts had been concerned because he felt he had been playing Patterson too much. Stotts held Patterson to 26 minutes Sunday and the veteran was energized, scoring 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting and grabbing five rebounds. "We got the ball in transition," Patterson said. "That's what Coach wants us to do and that's what we do best."

JSONLINE

[645]

MILWAUKEE - Their final free-throw statistics were etched on the white blackboard in the Bradley Center locker room after yesterday's 107-105 loss to the Bucks - "14 of 24." And the frustration of those misses was etched on Isiah Thomas' face.

Thomas flew into a rant yesterday at his players and the media, driving home the point that his Knickerbockers (19-27) would be in first place in the Atlantic Division if they made their free throws.

Thomas did not want to talk about Eddy Curry coming back or Jamal Crawford coming back to Earth.

Post

[645]

MILWAUKEE -- Jamal Crawford was in his usual place at the end of the game, with the ball and the Knicks' fate in his hands. This time it would not be his last shot of a prolific game, but merely one trying to prevent an irritating loss that was well deserved.

Karma, or the law of averages, kicked in and Crawford missed. And just to make sure, the officials waved off the shot because he stepped out of bounds.

So two days after dominating the Heat at the Garden, the Knicks lost, 107-105, to the Bucks, who snapped a six-game losing streak and continue to play without Michael Redd (patellar tendon strain). A game after a career-high 52 points against Miami, when he made 16 straight field-goal tries, Crawford scored 17 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter but shot only 9-for-24. His "thang," as Isiah Thomas described the state of being on fire, was quickly a thing of the past.

Newsday

[645]

MILWAUKEE - Typical Knicks: They handled Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat with relative ease when Jamal Crawford had the game of his life. Then, less than 48 hours later, Crawford lost the magic touch and they couldn't defend the most basic of basketball plays en route to a demoralizing 107-105 defeat yesterday to the lowly Milwaukee Bucks.

In what can only be called a bizarre postgame analysis, Isiah Thomas decided to focus on the Knicks' 14-of-24 performance at the foul line as the one and only reason his team couldn't beat a club that missed nine foul shots of its own, was minus its best player (Michael Redd) and had lost 11 of its previous 12 games.

Daily News