Bucks Down Spurs Again: Milwaukee Continues San Antonio's Oddest Losing Record

The San Antonio Spurs ended 2008 in the worst way. They played against the Milwaukee Bucks, and what has happened for the better part of Tim Duncan's tenure, happened again. They lost.

Would you believe that the Bucks have the best winning record against Tim Duncan of all 30 NBA teams? In the oddest struggle in perhaps all of pro sports, the Bucks now boast a 12-8 record against the perennial contenders.

The misery intensified years ago when Michael Redd showed up to the party and crashed it.

One game recap could not explain this quack of a mess. This is a strange history harder to explain than popcorn popping.

Crews will find Big Foot, and scientists will engineer a way to reincarnate Elvis Presley before anyone figures out why the Bucks, regardless of who has coached them, play so well against this stellar defensive ball club.

The Bucks handed the Spurs their sixth home loss, and it's still 2008. With a chance to pick up a game in their slim Southwest Division lead, the Spurs dropped to 20-11. They blew it, or was it bad luck?

Scott Skiles has transformed the Bucks' culture and has them focusing on defense, ball movement and rebounding. However, the once listless Bucks were torturing the Spurs long before Skiles accepted his third head coaching gig.

If there is any solace for the Spurs in once again being swept by the Bucks it's this: last time this happened, they won a championship.

Few remember in 2007-08 that the Bucks, albeit with a few different cast members, and Terry Stotts then Larry Krystowiak at the helm, torched the Spurs for 114 at the AT&T Center and 102 at the Bradley Center, both wins.

That loss in Milwaukee snapped a 13-game winning streak for the surging Spurs. So, what is it about this odd matchup that has the Spurs reeling in basketball's version of Helga's House of Pain? Why do they find themselves in Hades every time they play this team?

Tonight did not make the answers to those questions any clearer. The Bucks scored 31 points in the first quarter on 71 percent shooting. Five of the first seven Milwaukee scores were layups had off double teams, cuts and hot potato ball movement.

Andrew Bogut, the mediocre first pick of the draft that produced Chris Paul and Deron Williams, elevated for two dunks in the quarter.

He finished with six dunks, more than he has flushed in any game in the last two seasons. He also hauled down 12 rebounds and blocked several shots at the rim. Bogut hardly played like the slow-to-develop center from Australia that many have called a wasted draft pick.

He relied on help defense to guard Tim Duncan, and on most possessions, it came at the right time. The Bucks denied easy penetration and forced the Spurs to score off tough Tony Parker spin drives and fast breaks off turnovers.

Roger Mason took a full-court leap pass from Tony Parker after a Manu Ginobili steal and dunked it with one hand for an 88-84 lead. It seemed for a moment like the Spurs would do the unthinkable. They might beat the Bucks in a game that always seemed just out of their reach.

Anybody else perplexed at the above statement, that a sub-.500 team the last few years has been favored to clobber a four-time champion?

Redd, being his usual Spur killer self, rifled in a three off an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to one. Some tough calls, two missed bunnies and in-and-out bounces doomed the Spurs chances.

On the other end, the Bucks made the shots they have not been draining against more than 50 percent of their opponents. The Bucks headed in to San Antonio 27th in the league in field goal percentage and left with a two-point win on 51% shooting.

Roger Mason swooshed a step back trey to cut the Bucks five-point lead to two. The Spurs scrambly defense forced a five second violation with nine seconds to play. Tim Duncan missed a short jumper in traffic after easily gliding toward the rim and Michael Finley's tip rolled in and out.

Luke Ridnour, a C+ point guard at best on most nights, looked more than reliable Tuesday. Here's a thought: If the Bucks played the Spurs all 82 times instead of other teams, they would surely beat Jordan's Bulls' 72-win mark and four players would be heading to Phoenix in February for the All-Star game.

Ridnour scored 24 on a sizzling shooting night and found Bogut, Charlie Villanueva and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for credible looks. Those 15-20 footers Mbah a Moute has often missed this season in tight games? Of course he made most of them tonight.

The Spurs lethargic defense in the opening minutes sank them more than a likely fictional curse ever could, but it was difficult not to wonder why the Bucks don't look like this every night.

In fairness, the Bucks have been defensive in the last seven games, forcing an average of 18 turnovers and holding opponents to below 45% shooting. Give Skiles credit for baiting his players into a genuine embrace of defense.

The players hugged the concept for much of Tuesday night, fronting Duncan and helping Bogut guard him in the post, cutting off easy dribble drives and forcing looks late in the shot clock.

The Spurs defense after that first quarter did not lack effort. Michael Finley and Bruce Bowen bodied up Redd admirably and pushed him into fadeaways and long jumpers. Redd laughed off the pressure and tallied a 26-point night. Mason and Finley each took turns on Richard Jefferson and harassed him into difficult shots.

He made a few of them. Duh! With a still young nucleus and players who need experience to learn how to compete consistently, the Bucks are arguably better than 15-17.

But, what should puzzle the Spurs and piss them off is this: a mere Eastern Conference playoff team looked like a championship one on the road. How could the Bucks do this in the Spurs building?

The Spurs lost to Bucks 82-78 earlier in the season on the second night of a back-to-back without Parker and Ginobili. In that game, Duncan missed a six-foot hook that would have tied the score at 80. He could not have prayed for a better look.

The same thing happened tonight, when even in a crowd, Duncan threw up a high percentage shot to tie the game that drew iron.

Ginobili saved the Spurs from another close loss last season with a game-winning jumper off a jab step at the Bradley Center that he banked in off the glass. That 96-94 win was one of the hardest earned of the season.

Maybe losing to the Bucks is just what the San Antonio basketball doctor ordered. The Spurs swept the season series last year and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a five-game Western Conference Finals ouster.

Two seasons ago, when the Bucks had the Spurs similarly shaking their heads in disgust, they ended it by hoisting a fourth Larry O' Brien trophy in nine years.

Is that the key to a golden 2009? Lose to the Bucks twice and win a fifth championship?

The idea seems ludicrous, but it sounds a lot better than the way the Spurs ended 2008.

The NBA's oddest mismatch continued Tuesday. If the cliché misery loves company adage is true, this will not be the last time Tim Duncan says "yuck" when he sees Milwaukee on the slate.