• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Struggling Bucks head to Sacramento in search of a win

Dec 10, 2007 - 2:04 PM Milwaukee (8-11) at Sacramento (7-12) 10:00 pm EST

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) - The Milwaukee Bucks just can't seem to find a way to win lately.

The Bucks will try to avoid their eighth loss in their last nine games when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Monday.

Milwaukee reeled off a five-game winning streak from November 14-24, but failed to score 100 points over their next eight games and suffered losses to Eastern Conference bottom-feeders such as Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta.

The Bucks found their scoring touch on Sunday and forced overtime in a 117-113 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. But Milwaukee lost the game on the defensive side of the ball, allowing the Blazers to shoot 56 percent (40-of-71) from the floor.

The Kings have been nearly as bad recently, dropping their past two games without the services of top scorer Kevin Martin, who will be out four to six weeks with a groin injury.

Francisco Garcia and John Salmons have seen their playing time increase, and both are averaging nearly 15 points over the past two games.

Martin joins former All-Stars Mike Bibby and Shareef Abdur-Rahim on the injury report for Sacramento. While Bibby should be back from a thumb injury in a month, Abdur-Rahim is expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.