{image1}When the Bucks traveled from Orlando to Miami after beating the Magic 105-97 on March 3, all was right with their basketball world. The win improved the team to 33-27, its 2003-'04 high-water mark in relation to .500, and Milwaukee led New Orleans for fourth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race by a half-game.

But there must have been something bad in the postgame buffet that night, because the Bucks have been a completely different -- and vastly worse -- team ever since.

The Heat scored 39 points in the first quarter the next night, leading by 16 after 12 minutes. The Bucks eventually clawed back before losing, 104-98. That was the first of eight losses in nine games, and the Heat -- who don't have a regular player taller than 6-10 swingman Lamar Odom -- out-rebounded the Bucks, 40-35. A trend was born -- not just a losing one, but one of mirroring the 2002-03 Bucks in the process.

What should have been a minor hiccup turned into an unseemly belch at the in-laws' dinner table over the next two games. Cleveland beat Milwaukee 106-97 in Ohio two nights later, shooting 49.4 percent from the floor and winning the backboard battle, 41-39. Again, the Bucks staggered through the first quarter, falling behind 39-28.

"They came out more focused and maybe with more of a sense of urgency," coach Terry Porter said afterwards.

Keith Van Horn offered a pugilistic prerogative: "We're letting teams come out and take the first punch against us."

Two evenings later, the Bucks came out swinging against the Sixers, opening a 20-point lead before halftime. But in the city that made Rocky and Allen Iverson famous, back came the Sixers -- and down goes Milwaukee! Despite AI sitting out with knee trouble, Philly stormed back for a five-point win.

The Bucks did manage an ugly 94-80 home win against Atlanta on March 10, but they've lost five consecutive games since then. The Nuggets shot 56 percent on March 12 in a 117-111 Bucks defeat. In the season's worst loss to date two days later, the Bucks frittered away a 26-point second-half (!) lead to fall to New York, 103-100. The Knicks shot 48.8 percent, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range.

"It's an embarrassment, truthfully, to be on TV and lose a lead like that, it really is," Michael Redd said.

Portland out-rebounded the Bucks 42-35 in a 100-99 heartbreaker on March 16; Phoenix shot 54.4 percent and won the rebounding battle (40-35) in a 123-111 whooping last Saturday ("When we allowed them to get into the open court, they did pretty much whatever they wanted," said Porter); and the Lakers extended the misery with a 104-103 OT win Sunday night, shooting 49.4 percent and hammering the Bucks on the glass, 53-43. Shaquille O'Neal had 26 rebounds (there isn't a font weight bold enough to sufficiently emphasize this).

Though the Bucks surprised their fans, the pundits and themselves with an impressive opening 60 games, they had some luck along the way. They survived two disallowed, game-winning baskets (vs. San Antonio, at Boston) that came fractions of a second after regulation. They shook off several characteristic slow starts to earn comeback wins, the Dec. 26 game vs. Indiana being the most memorable. And despite the early injury to center Brian Skinner and occasional problems with Joe Smith, the team has basically been healthy.

Of course, that ended when T.J. Ford bruised his spinal cord on Feb. 25. Ford hasn't returned to the floor since, and the team has won just four times without him - including the first three games of his hiatus. Damon Jones has done a wonderful job in extended duty since then, but the Bucks' haven't really been the same team since.

The Bucks have been out-rebounded by 2.3 rebounds per night in the last nine games. This is somewhat deceiving considering Milwaukee was +22 in a three-game stretch vs. Atlanta (the lone win), Denver and New York -- and rebounds don't matter when you allow 220 points in consecutive losses. Far worse was the Bucks' opposing field goal percentage during this stretch -- an embarrassing 48.8 percent. Not only is that nearly four percentage points higher than the team's season average (44.9), it's well above the league's worst mark -- Orlando's 46.5 percent. As a reminder, Orlando is 19-53.

March and April were supposed to be difficult for Milwaukee. A heavy road slate and stiff Western Conference competition seemed to assure that.

But sluggish first quarters, lousy defense and ineffective rebounding were common traits of the pre-Terry Porter Bucks. The same results (a low playoff seed and a quick exit) await if the problems persist.