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Bucks try to continue climb to respectability vs. Sixers

Jan 7, 2009 - 11:37 AM Philadelphia (14-20) at Milwaukee (17-19) 8:00 p.m. EST

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The Milwaukee Bucks have been inching toward the .500 mark for most of the last month. They continue that climb Wednesday, when they host the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Bucks have been looking more and more like a potential playoff team during the last few weeks - and it is not difficult to see why. All-Star guard Michael Redd missed much of the early part of the season with a sprained right ankle that sidelined him for 14 games.

But he returned in late November and hit his stride early in the following month - and the Bucks began to follow suit. When Redd scores 20 points or more, Milwaukee usually wins, but when he does not reach that mark, it is not as safe a bet.

Redd scored a season-high 35 points on Monday, leading the Bucks to a 107-97 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Two games prior, he poured in 31 on 10-of-16 shooting in a blowout win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Milwaukee will meet a Philadelphia squad coming off a big 104-96 win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. The 76ers entered the contest having lost six of seven, but Andre Iguodala's 28-point effort propelled them to their first victory of 2009.