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Sluggish Knicks routed by Bucks

Dec 20, 2008 - 5:08 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Just like the traffic that Al Harrington experienced, the New York Knicks had a performance in which they went nowhere. For the Milwaukee Bucks, their showing was a relatively smooth trip.

Michael Redd scored 21 points as the Bucks routed the Knicks, 105-81, on Friday.

Richard Jefferson and rookie Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 16 apiece for Milwaukee, which has won the first three meetings with New York to claim the season series - something that could be significant if the teams are jockeying for playoff position.

"It is definitely critical," Redd said. "The Knicks are right there in the playoff hunt - as crazy as it sounds in the East. It was just a great win for us. After struggling in Philadelphia the other night, we had to come in here and prove something."

Redd had plenty of help as the Bucks scored 35 points before his first basket.

Reserve Tyronn Lue chipped in 13 points while Andrew Bogut collected 10 and 13 rebounds. Luke Ridnour also scored 10 and handed out seven assists.

The Bucks improved to 12-16, with three of their best performances against the Knicks. The Bucks posted a eight-point win here last month and blew out the Knicks on November 21 - the same day that Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph were traded.

"I don't know (why we play so well against the Knicks)," Redd said. "Just certain teams you play well against and matchup well against, and this is one of the teams we match up well against.

"We can't take it for granted, either. They're a really talented team. We just want to come out and play our brand of basketball and get the win."

In the three victories, Milwaukee has held leads of 16, 28 and 25. The Bucks also have held the Knicks under 90 points in each meeting and limited them to 38.5 percent shooting.

"I think we started with defense," Bogut said. "They scored 37 points in one half and for a team in a Mike D'Antoni system, to score 37 points is an accomplishment within itself."

In this one, the Bucks shot 47 percent (42-of-90) and capped a stretch of six out of seven games on the road by posting their fourth straight win over the Knicks and third win in four games overall.

Nate Robinson scored 21 points for the Knicks (11-15), who could not overcome a 15-point first quarter and shot 39 percent (29-of-75). They also were unable to overcome 23 turnovers and lost their third in row.

"I definitely think we weren't ready to play," D'Antoni said. "That is just some of the learning process that we have to do. It is inexcusable to not be ready. I don't care what happens.

"We haven't obviously grasped that totally."

Harrington was not in the starting lineup because he was stuck in traffic due to the wintry conditions. He did not arrive until the 6:13 mark of the first quarter and did not check in

until the 5:14 mark.

The Knicks were already down four and fell further behind as Harrington missed his first four shots. New York eventually heated up as Harrington made five straight shots to spark a 15-4 run that cut the deficit to four with 5:40 remaining in the first half.

"It is very frustrating because we felt like we made strides on that trip," said Harrington, who finished with 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting. "We thought we would come in here and have a better performance."

Milwaukee finished the half with a 14-2 run that featured 3-pointers by Redd and Jefferson following turnovers from New York.

That was only a preview of things to come as the Bucks led by as many as 25 in the third and took an 83-63 edge into the fourth.

"We were just trying to get something going and it was tough to sustain," said New York's Quentin Richardson, who missed his first seven shots and went 1-of-10 from the floor.