Back-to-back road wins for the Bucks has Milwaukee officially back in the playoff picture as the Eastern Conference's eighth seed.
After beating the Raptors in Toronto 105-99 on Sunday, the Bucks followed it up in New Jersey on Monday with a 105-99 win over the Nets. And, no, that is not a typo. Milwaukee's final scores on back-to-back nights were identical, both ending 105-99.
Milwaukee (18-24) has now won four of its last five games, and, along with the Knicks losing in Chicago on Monday, passed New York for the East's final playoff spot.
As the Knicks continue to struggle -- now having lost six in a row -- the Bucks have gotten on a roll, with their offense scoring over 100 points for the fourth straight game.
Against the Nets, it was Brandon Jennings' turn to take over. With New Jersey All-Star point guard Deron Williams missing the game due to a strained right calf, Jennings exploded for 34 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, with only one turnover.
"The ball went in for him," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said on "Bucks Live" after the game on FOX Sports Wisconsin. "With Brandon, analyzing his game is pretty simple. He's gong to take roughly the same shots every night. If they go in, he has a big game. If they don't, he doesn't. That's kind of where it's at."
The one strangely absent part of Milwaukee's solid offensive night was Ersan Ilyasova, who earlier in the day was named the Eastern Conference's player of the week. When the Bucks were last in New Jersey 22 days ago, Ilyaosva had 29 points and 25 rebounds. But on Monday, Ilyasova finished with four points and three rebounds in 24 minutes.
"Ers, he's done so much for us lately, I thought he was just tired tonight," Skiles said. "You look at the stat sheet, and when he has just one defensive rebound, he's probably tired."
With the playoffs now a very realistic possibility for the Bucks, Skiles is still trying to find a way to get Milwaukee off to stronger starts at the beginning of games.
"We've been talking about it," Skiles said. "If we think we're going to be in a playoff series with Chicago or Miami or one of those teams, we can't start games like that. We need much more of a sense of urgency, and we need to be more mentally ready when the ball goes up. And even then, you can fall behind by 10, but at least you're into it and don't have to go searching for things all the time. We need to try to account for that."
Shaun Livingston (left ankle sprain) and Luc Mbah a Moute (right knee soreness) both missed the two games of the Bucks' short road trip. Adding that to the injuries of Andrew Bogut (ankle fracture) and Stephen Jackson (hamstring), Milwaukee has been getting by with just 10 available players.
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