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One thing is certain for Milwaukee on Wednesday night: Michael Redd will not be in uniform. What remains in question is how the Bucks will respond in the second game following their top players’ season-ending knee injury.

Milwaukee goes for its first win at Indiana in four seasons on Wednesday night against a Pacers squad that has won five straight at home.

The Bucks (22-26), who have dropped seven in a row at Indiana, arrive at Conseco Fieldhouse following a 90-83 loss to Minnesota on Monday that marked their first game since Redd tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee during a 106-104 win over Sacramento on Saturday. Coach Scott Skiles isn’t using Redd’s injury as an excuse for the team’s poor play on Monday.

“I really can’t even fathom what that has to do with playing hard and having intensity. I mean, other than it being an excuse. I don’t know what else it would be,” Skiles said. “The type of intensity we need to win a game we probably had for about 10 minutes out of the 48. It’s just not enough.”

Richard Jefferson, shooting just 30.0 percent from the field in his last three games, missed 12-of-15 shots against Minnesota, including all five from 3-point range, as the Bucks connected on only 1-of-14 from long distance. Jefferson, though, is averaging 24.7 points and hitting 55.7 percent in his last six games at Indiana.

Starting the last seven games, Charlie Villanueva is averaging 21.1 points, 8.3 boards and shooting 52.7 percent from the floor. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in the Bucks’ 121-103 win over Indiana on Dec. 13.

Jim O’Brien has 30 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and professional level. Most recently, he served as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2004-2005 season. The Philadelphia native guided the 76ers to the playoffs with a 43-39 record, a 10 win improvement from the previous season.

Scott Skiles was named the head coach of the Bucks on Monday, April 21, 2008 ... he is the 11th head coach in team history ... Skiles, 44, has amassed an overall record of 281-251 (.528) as an NBA head coach, which includes stints with the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns (9 total seasons) ... He was hired as head coach of the Bulls on November 28, 2003, and inherited a 4-12 team ... Following that season, he went on to guide the team to three consecutive seasons of better than 40 wins (45.7 average) and three postseason appearances, which followed a six-year playoff drought for Chicago

MILWAUKEE (AP)— (December 14, 2008) Some sage advice from his former coach, Arizona’s Lute Olson, rang in Richard Jefferson’s ears after the Milwaukee Bucks blew a 21-point third-quarter lead against the Indiana Pacers Saturday night.

The Bucks bounced back to score the game’s final 19 points and win 121-103.

“A wise man once told me, ‘You can do that against bad teams, but you can’t do it against good teams,”’ Jefferson said. “You don’t ever prepare to beat bad teams. You try to beat good teams.”

PacerPerspective wrote:Thank god for T.J. and Mike...

cdash wrote:Lead is evaporating..