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Joe Johnson and the Brooklyn Nets would like to make things a bit easier on themselves this time against the Milwaukee Bucks.

A night after ending a long losing streak to the Bucks on some late heroics from Johnson, the Nets will try to win in Milwaukee for the first time in almost four years Wednesday night.

Brooklyn (32-22) halted a 13-game slide against Milwaukee when Johnson nailed a buzzer-beating jumper in overtime to clinch a 113-11 win in the opener of this home-and-home set Tuesday. He forced the extra session with a tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds of regulation.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Johnson, who finished with 24 points. "Regardless of the situation, whether it's regular season or playoffs, it's always a great feeling. And, just to see everybody kind of explode with excitement is probably the best feeling."

Johnson is averaging 22.3 points while hitting 9 of 17 from beyond the arc during the Nets' three-game winning streak, but he's totaled 24 points while shooting 9 of 29 overall in his last two visits to the Bradley Center. He had 13 as Brooklyn shot just 38.6 percent in a 108-93 loss there Dec. 26 with Deron Williams sidelined.

Brooklyn has dropped six straight games in Milwaukee since a win March 3, 2009, but the team may not care about the past after coach P.J. Carlesimo tried to use the overall slide as motivation Tuesday.

"(Carlesimo) mentioned the streak before the game, but I don't think anybody took that out there with that on their mind," forward Gerald Wallace said. "It wasn't anything about their streak. It was about us as team. It shows the fight we have."

Ending the skid in Milwaukee could also draw the Nets closer in the division chase since they're two games back of first-place New York, which visits Indiana.

The Bucks (26-26) have dropped seven of nine and are looking for an improved start after trailing Brooklyn 31-24 at the end of the first quarter. They fell behind by double digits after 12 minutes in two of their last three games before the break.

"We've got to turn it on right from the very beginning," coach Jim Boylan said. "We're not Oklahoma City or Miami or something like that. We've got to play hard for 48 minutes."

Brandon Jennings had 34 points Tuesday, 31 of which came after the first quarter. The point guard has been very productive against the Nets, averaging 29.8 points while sinking 19 of 35 from 3-point range over his last five meetings.

He had 25 against them in December while Monta Ellis scored 20 with six steals. Ellis came just shy of a triple-double Tuesday, finishing with 18 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.

Jennings and Ellis will have to contend with Brooklyn's backcourt of Johnson and Williams, the latter of whom had 19 points and nine assists Tuesday after sitting out the previous two games with inflammation in his ankles.

Brook Lopez had 19 points on 6 of 17 shooting Tuesday, but has averaged 24.0 points over his last three road matchups with the Bucks.

Though Milwaukee got big performances from Jennings, Ellis and Ersan Ilyasova (21 points) on Tuesday, it needs more from its bench. The Bucks' reserves accounted for 15 points against the Nets after having 12 last Wednesday against the 76ers -- the unit's two lowest-scoring games of the season.

Oh yeah, another game. Should be an interesting night again with all of these rumors and the deadline withing 24 hours. Hopefully Brooklyn has a let down after the high of last night. Probably good for our guys to be back on the floor. I think its another close loss if full squad and we'll get killed if we make a trade today/tonight.

Yea, will be interesting seeing if the rotations are any different. We on the 2nd night of a back to back where the 1st game went into OT however.

Philly/Detroit both have very winnable games and Toronto is at home with Rudy Gay going against his former squad. Could be a big night in the Bucks chase for the 9th seed.

We'll sticky this, but it is arguably the least important thread on the board today.

paulpressey25 wrote:We'll sticky this, but it is arguably the least important thread on the board today.

Bucks are still in the Playoffs. Tough loss last night, but 7 seed or better and the Bucks have a shot of getting through round 1. I think this game is important as a home bounce back game.

The trade deadline has only gotten less exciting over the years. Less and less major deals and I don't suspect this deadline will be all that different. 2 or 3 major deals and a handful of smaller ones.

paulpressey25 wrote:We'll sticky this, but it is arguably the least important thread on the board today.

This may be true but I believe the outcome of the game has huge implications on what happens before 3pm tomorrow.

It was nice to see everyone play well last night (except Moute of course) and us still fall short of beating a playoff team. Should've been clear evidence that even at this teams best, we are still short of winning a playoff series and that shaking things up is best for short term success and depending the move(s), long term success as well.

The Great Race for Eighth continues.

I hope Monta has a good game.

I predict a trade happens after this game tonight

DocHoliday wrote:

I wonder how long Monta was in surgery last night? He's lucky to be alive.

Ayt wrote:

DocHoliday wrote:

I wonder how long Monta was in surgery last night? He's lucky to be alive.

but honestly, it was fun to be on the giving end of a BS call for once.

You guys think Ellis will get any attention from the league for this potential "flop"?

Williams' right elbow likely made contact, but not the left. Elbows to the face aren't awesome.

Him selling it like he got shot was to get the call but he definitely got cracked pretty good, he was holding his jaw for a while.

Just saw this on reddit. Pretty impressive. I wasn't really sold when Sanders was drafted and there were talks that he could be a potential Ben Wallace. Well it's happening, and it's awesome.

David Lee.

Avi Lee