Drew Gooden scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks handed the Los Angeles Lakers yet another road defeat in the lockout-shortened NBA season.
The Bucks, missing injured Australian centre Andrew Bogut and the suspended Stephen Jackson, held off Kobe Bryant and the Lakers 100-89.
Milwaukee nabbed their fourth victory in six games, while the Lakers fell to 1-7 in away games.
“I don’t know if it’s adversity, but a short season, not having any practice time is the biggest challenge,” Bryant said.
“We have a lot of guys we need to get on the same page. We have so much youth, particularly coming off the bench. We’ve got to shorten that learning curve.”
Bryant finished with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
The NBA’s top scorer worked to get his team-mates involved in the first half, taking just four shots and scoring seven points with six assists, but the Lakers couldn’t match the Bucks’ offensive flow.
“We executed well offensively,” said Bucks coach Scott Skiles. “We had some great sequences of ball movement again.”
First-year Lakers coach Mike Brown said he hoped his players “don’t need the home crowd to get us juiced, to play the right way”.
The New York Knicks lost for the ninth time in ten outings, shooting just 38 per cent from the field in a 97-84 loss at Houston.
Playing without injured leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks (7-13) were held below 90 points for the 10th time this season. They were considered championship contenders but currently would not qualify for the playoffs.
“We’re just playing awful,” said Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni. “We just can’t make a shot. It’s just not good.”
Star forward Amar’e Stoudemire suggested that the players are not preparing properly for games.
“We’ve got to start reading the board before games,” he said. “We have to be ready to execute that game plan.”
Philadelphia 76ers improved to 10-2 at home with a 95-74 rout of the Detroit Pistons, who have dropped four in a row.
It’s the same losing run for the Sacramento Kings, beaten 96-93 by Utah while Phoenix downed Memphis 86-84 and Washington beat Charlotte 102-99.
