<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">What a difference a week makes. The mood was somber among the Bucks after their record fell to 4-9 in a home loss to Boston on Nov. 25, especially with an imposing four-game western trip staring them in the face. But Saturday, the atmosphere in the visitors' locker room at the Oracle Arena in Oakland was upbeat and carefree after the Bucks overcame a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Golden State Warriors, 115-110, and improve their record to 2-1 on the trip. As strange as it might seem, the road has turned the Bucks into a different team. It has injected an air of optimism into a group that had struggled badly through the first month of the season and whose confidence was lacking. "We've played three good games (on the trip)," coach Terry Stotts said Saturday after the latest victory. "I think the way we won in L.A, the way we competed in Phoenix . . . it's encouraging. To win a game like this - an up-tempo game on a back-to-back - is encouraging. It's a long season and we've lost a lot of close games and our record could be a lot different but I like our mentality and our approach." Said forward Ruben Patterson, "We're coming together as a team." Or, as guard Michael Redd said, "Our team is really stepping up." Extended western trips are generally scorned by Eastern Conference teams, but this one has brought out the Bucks' best basketball of the season. After the Saturday victory the players spoke about playing with a certain looseness on the road that they didn't feel at home. The Bucks are 4-6 on the road compared with 2-4 at home. With only the game tonight at Utah remaining on the trip, the Bucks will join a very select group of Eastern Conference teams that will finish with a record of .500 or better on an extended western trip this season. Indiana, 2-2 on its current trip with only a game tonight against the Lakers at the Staples Center left, has a chance to finish with a winning trip. Orlando is 3-0 on its current trip with two games to go. The other Eastern teams that have ventured West already this season have fared miserably. "I think we put too much pressure on ourselves at home," said guard Mo Williams, who survived one of the worst shooting nights of his career Saturday to make some key plays down the stretch. "I think we press too much (at home) because we want to win so bad that we're not loose and we have a tentativeness in certain situations. "On the road, we're already picked to lose. So we're the underdog and it's easy to play when you're the underdog."</div> Source
It's kind of pathetic to imagine this (make that really, really pathetic), but a team like the Bucks is still very much in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt with a 6-11 record. In fact, we're only a half game out of the 8th seed. With that said, there are still MAJOR problems with this team, namely defense, consistency, and intensity. It's nice to reel off a couple unexptected wins here, but the Bucks will find out what type of team they are when they come home and play 4 of 7 at the Bradley Center, and we have a road game against the Knicks. The Bucks DEFINITELY have the talent to win four or five of these next seven games. If they can do that, I'll feel a hell of a lot better about our situation, and it'll put us in a position to be a serious contender for a playoff spot. All of that said, we have no reason to expect the Bucks to take care of business, and it's really lame that a team that's as bad as the Bucks have been even has a shot at the playoffs.
