• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Raptors-Bucks Preview

Jan 20, 2010 - 5:19 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Toronto (21-20) at Milwaukee (16-23), 8:00 p.m. EDT

The Milwaukee Bucks' road trip couldn't have gone much worse. They're hoping a return to the Bradley Center with a new player can help them stay in playoff contention.

Veteran guard Jerry Stackhouse is expected to make his Bucks debut Wednesday night when Milwaukee opens a home-and-home series with the Toronto Raptors.

Milwaukee (16-23) won three straight from Jan. 2-8 but followed that stretch with a 1-5 western trip that ended with Monday's 101-98 overtime loss to Houston. The Bucks, who are two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, also lost Michael Redd for the season in the trip's opener. The star guard tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee in a 95-77 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 10.

With Redd out, Milwaukee signed Stackhouse, 35, on Monday to a prorated portion of the veteran's minimum. He played in 10 games for Dallas in 2008-09 before getting acquired and bought out by Memphis in the offseason.

"It's a low risk move for us that we hope pays off," said coach Scott Skiles, who was Stackhouse's teammate in Philadelphia in 1995-96. "One thing that Stack has always had is a level of toughness. He's not out there in the game to make friends.

"He's not one of those guys, you're not going to see him laughing a whole lot with guys on the other team and things like that. He's out there to compete."

Milwaukee, though, needs to do more than compete if it is going to avoid missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

"We need to win our fair share of them, for sure," Skiles said. "We'd like to play over .500 ball leading up to the break and see where that leads us."

Facing Toronto (21-21) twice in three days could help the Bucks get back on track. In the teams' first meeting this season, Milwaukee routed the visiting Raptors 117-95 on Dec. 9.

Brandon Jennings hyperextended his left knee in the third quarter of that game, but he led seven Bucks scoring in double figures with 22 points. In 18 games since that victory, Jennings is averaging 14.3 points and shooting 33.6 percent - well below his season marks of 18.0 and 38.6.

Bucks center Andrew Bogut, who had 12 points and eight boards in last month's victory over Toronto, will try to record his sixth straight double-double. He is averaging 13.2 points and 13.6 boards during this stretch.

Bogut could be matched up with Raptors forward Chris Bosh, who leads the NBA with 30 double-doubles after scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 108-100 loss in Cleveland. The four-time All-Star, though, was held to five points in the final 24 minutes.

"They did a better job of clamping down defensively," said Bosh, averaging 25.7 points and 10.3 rebounds while posting three straight double-doubles in Milwaukee.

That type of defensive intensity could also help the Raptors, who have given up 108.5 points per game while going 8-15 on the road this season.

Toronto center Andrea Bargnani, who missed the Dec. 9 loss in Milwaukee with a sore right ankle, is averaging 21.7 points and shooting 57.9 percent from 3-point range (11 for 19) in his last three games. The Raptors have won two of those three and 10 of 14 overall.