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**narek** · 02-15-2008, 04:17 AM

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One year ago at the NBA all-star break, the Milwaukee Bucks had a record of 19-34 and Terry Stotts was less than a month away from losing his job as head coach.

Despite a change in coaches, plenty of off-season activity and optimistic talk of a playoff run, the Bucks have failed miserably again this season.

The record, after seven losses in their last eight games, has them stuck in a familiar rut . . . at 19-34.

Center Andrew Bogut put it succinctly after the Bucks blew a 17-point third-quarter lead and lost to the lowly New York Knicks on Saturday night at home.

"We haven't won for about two years, and guys 1 through 12 don't know how to win at the moment," Bogut said. "Guys' confidence is down and guys aren't playing the way they can."

As NBA players and fans gather in New Orleans for the All-Star Game this weekend, Bucks general manager Larry Harris is in a very precarious position as he finishes the last year of his contract.

Current coach Larry Krystkowiak, who is heading to Florida with his family for a brief time away, also is in a tenuous spot.

The 43-year-old Krystkowiak admits that nothing has been easy about his initial NBA coaching gig, with the team struggling to win.

"There have been game situations at the end I'd like to redo," said Krystkowiak, whose team has struggled to finish games and lost in the final 20 seconds against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night.

"Sometimes you make a decision to not take a timeout, and you try to hit a team before they can set up. The New York game at New York (in late November), I had this master plan and we end up not getting a good shot.

"You hold onto that. Nobody's harder on myself than me. I'd probably do it different the next time."

**narek** · 02-15-2008, 04:20 AM

Kohl still has hope despite frustrations

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Washington - With his Milwaukee Bucks in a free fall, team owner Herb Kohl said Thursday that he was disappointed his team hasn't played better this season.

"I think that's the word," Kohl said. "We're all disappointed that we haven't done better so far. I'm sure all of the players, coaches, everybody associated with the team, front office people, our fans, are disappointed we haven't done better so far.

"The season's not over."

At the same time, the Democratic U.S. senator said he was not in the business of making judgments yet on the fates of general manager Larry Harris and coach Larry Krystkowiak.

"We are focused on winning games," he said. "That's a daily job, an ongoing responsibility that we all feel. We are working really hard at it, but things have not fallen our way so far. The season is not over."

Kohl made it clear that everyone in the organization shares the responsibility of what has been a tough season for the reeling Bucks.

He also said media coverage of recent comments made by Krystkowiak, in which he thought the team was being destroyed by personal agendas, was "overblown."

"It won't surface again," Kohl said of the controversy. "I don't think it came out the right way."

The senator said the entire organization thought the team should be performing at a higher level than it has to date.

"To a man, everybody in the basketball organization feels we are a better team than we've shown so far. We are looking forward to demonstrating that in the 29 games that are ahead of us," he said.

The Bucks are entering the all-star break with a 19-34 record. Including their home loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday, the Bucks, who had visions entering the season of a playoff run, have lost four games in a row at the Bradley Center, and seven of the last eight.

Despite the poor record, Kohl reiterated what the players, coaches and front office have said for weeks: There is still an outside chance the Bucks can qualify for the eighth and last playoff spot in the weak Eastern Conference even with a sub-.500 record.

That's not something to get excited about.

**roux2dope** · 02-15-2008, 08:45 AM

:sl eep:

:ver ysad:

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