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Bucks snap losing streak, extend Celtics' skid

Apr 14, 2007 - 5:50 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- In a battle of two teams not headed for the postseason, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to strike gold first. As a result, the Boston Celtics' chances of hitting the jackpot in this year's draft lottery continue to improve.

Charlie Bell scored 24 points and Ruben Patterson added 21 as the Bucks snapped a four-game losing streak by downing the Celtics, 104-102.

Dan Gadzuric totaled a season-high 21 points and 11 rebounds for Milwaukee, which won for only the second time in the last 13 games - both against Boston. The 6-11 center recorded his second consecutive double-double and his third of the season.

"Guys were finding me, pretty much I'm trying to get other guys open and it ends up with me actually being open because they are concerned with their penetration and getting an easy bucket," Gadzuric said.

Despite never trailing and leading, 84-72, early in the fourth quarter, the Bucks could not finish off the Celtics, who closed within 104-102 following Leon Powe's three-point play with 34 seconds left.

"It is one of those games that, all season long, we have been giving them away and we were close tonight to giving one away but thank (goodness) we finally got one," Bell said.

With time running out, Allan Ray passed up a possible game-tying layup that ended up with a desperation 3-pointer by Sebastian Telfair that missed wide left.

"I knew we were in trouble right away, I told them we were not going to use a time out and that we had a play that we were supposed to run and I told them we're going to execute this play and it broke down," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

Gerald Green scored 21 points and Powe added 18 as the Celtics lost their sixth straight game, clinching the second-worst record in the league.