Milwaukee Bucks: “Team Reliable” is the NBA's Model of Consistency

The Milwaukee Bucks are the most reliable team in the NBA.

Immune to circumstance and chance, impervious to injury, absence or exhaustion, the outcome never is in doubt.

Double-digit deficit after three?

Never fear, paying customer.

If the Bucks are playing, the home crowd goes home happy.

It’s as predictable as a WWE championship match.

Milwaukee is one of two teams—San Antonio is the other, and we’ll be dealing with them in just a moment—who have managed to remain both undefeated at home and winless on the road.

The road opposition has twice been playing for the third time in as many nights, and what do the Bucks do? They score a whopping 30 fourth-quarter points in falling to the Nuggets and Kings by a combined eight points.

The Sacramento game was the third of a five-game Western swing, and the second of four consecutive Andrew Bogut-excused absences.

Neither the borderline-schizophrenia of certifiable Stephen Jackson nor the bum leg of versatile Mike Dunleavy, who has yet to play in 2012, has been able to dislodge this 33-33-to-be train from its pre-ordained .500 track.

It’s inevitable.

Now, Abacus understands your skepticism, Mr. Glass-Half-Full.

It is a small sample size, plenty of teams (especially short-handed ones) take a bagel on an extended road trip, the Bucks are not the only team the Bobcats have out-pointed.

But the San Antonio Spurs’ detour through Wisconsin Tuesday night should remove all your doubts.

Coach Pop’s ancient and Manu-less warriors arrived with six home wins, three road losses and the desire to expand their two-game lead in the Southwest Division.

San Antonio, becoming only the third team this season to reach the 60 percent plateau (45 makes in 75 shots) in field-goal shooting, ran out to a quick lead that peaked at 25-15.

Those other 60-percent teams (Miami and Denver) just happen to have won their games by an average of 33 points.

Tuesday, Spurs’ bigs Tim Duncan, DeJuan Blair and rookie Kawhi Leonard hit 23 of their 31 shots while also leading the way to a 35-30 edge in rebounds.

Advantage Spurs, wouldn’t you say?

Wait, there’s more.

In addition to their 45 field goals, eight other Spurs’ possessions concluded with two free throws.  That’s 53 trips down the floor (out of 94 total possessions) that had, shall we say, a happy ending. In their 94 tries, the Bucks’ 44 field goals and five trips to the free-throw line total only 49 successful possessions.

As Dwayne Johnson’s WWE persona might put it, how in the blue hell did the San Antonio Spurs manage to lose this game?

Telekinesis, tea leaves, Tim Tebow?

But lose it they did, 106-103, to their invincible hosts.

The team that made three out of every five of its field goals missed 43 percent of its foul shots.

That, and out-of-their-mind 64 percent three point accuracy by the Bucks, made up the difference.

San Antonio officially submitted its resignation from the “Send ‘em Home Happy” Club Wednesday in Houston by avenging an earlier defeat, though it required extended play to shake free of this sticky stigma.

The Milwaukee Bucks stand alone now as the ultimate NBA crowd-pleasers.

Hey, do you suppose this is what Dan Gilbert had in mind when he made his Washington Generals wisecrack last month?