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Kings-Bucks Preview

Dec 19, 2009 - 6:18 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Sacramento (11-13) at Milwaukee (11-12), 8:30 p.m. EDT

The Milwaukee Bucks have been at their best on their home floor. That doesn't bode well for a Sacramento Kings team that owns the worst road record in the Western Conference.

The Bucks look to avoid a third straight loss when they return to the Bradley Center to face the Kings on Saturday night.

Milwaukee (11-13) lost 107-106 in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday in its most recent home game, but the Bucks are 9-4 and averaging 104.3 points at the Bradley Center, compared with a 2-9 record and 91.2 scoring average on the road.

A visit from Sacramento (11-14) could help the Bucks bounce back from both Wednesday's defeat and a frustrating 85-82 loss at Cleveland on Friday. The Kings are 1-11 on the road, where they've lost eight in a row including a 112-96 defeat at lowly Minnesota on Friday to open a three-game road trip.

Milwaukee's star rookie Brandon Jennings scored 18 points in Friday's loss, but shot an air ball on a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left.

"Our last shot was a terrible shot," said Bucks coach Scott Skiles, whose team has dropped seven games by three points or fewer. "We needed a much better shot than that. We had something else going. We'll have to address that."

Jennings, who was fined $7,500 by the NBA earlier Friday for posting a message on his Twitter account too soon after Milwaukee's 108-101 double-overtime win over Portland last weekend, is averaging a team-leading 20.5 points overall, but only 15.7 on 32.7 percent shooting in his last three games.

After shooting a season-worst 5 for 21 on Friday, the 10th overall draft pick will try to bounce back while facing another of the league's top rookies, Sacramento's Tyreke Evans.

The fourth overall pick, Evans is averaging a team-leading 19.8 points but was held to 10 and shot 4 of 12 against the Timberwolves. It marked his lowest scoring total since a 3-point effort against Memphis on Nov. 2. Evans has reached double digits in all but two games he's played.

"He looked a little worn down," Kings coach Paul Westphal said. "He's got a knee that's bothering him a little bit, and I'm sure that slowed him down."

Like Milwaukee, Sacramento has been one of the NBA's early surprises after winning 17 games in 2008-09, but was held to fewer than 100 points for only the third time in the last 15 games Friday.

"I don't know if we're tired. I don't know if we're believing all the good things people are saying about us," said Westphal, whose club lost for the sixth time in eight games overall. "We just had a bad game, but we're young."

Rookie Omri Casspi had 21 points and Beno Udrih added 18 for Sacramento. The 6-foot-9 Casspi has scored 43 points in two games since entering the starting lineup.

The Kings haven't won on the road since beating Utah 104-99 on Nov. 7. Sacramento has also lost two of its last three trips to Milwaukee, including 106-104 in the teams' most recent meeting Jan. 24. The Bucks swept last season's two-game series.