PLAY OF THE GAME: Late in the second quarter, Ramon Sessions was taking the ball to the basket on a fast break when LeBron James came down the lane, elevated and swatted the shot into the lap of Janet the Usherette in the third row between the Bucks bench and the scoring table.

OFF THE BENCH: Early in the second quarter, after a foul was called on Milwaukee's Luke Ridnour, Bucks coach Scott Skiles strolled on to the floor at midcourt and reminded the referees they could call some fouls on the other end of the court, also. Skiles received a technical foul for his efforts.

STATISTICS SHEET: It's not often that the Bucks get handled on the backboards, but Cleveland enjoyed a 53-38 rebounding edge. Ilgauskas grabbed 17 rebounds and Ben Wallace had 10.

UP NEXT

TEAMS: Bucks (7-12) vs. Chicago Bulls (7-9).

WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday.

WHERE: Bradley Center.

BROADCASTS: TV - FSN cable. Radio - AM-620.

NOTEBOOK

DEFENSIVE WOES: While not pleased with the Bucks' defensive play on its four-game trip, Skiles did not go so far as to say they had regressed defensively.

"Typically what happens is there's other slippage during parts of the year and you're able to get into the practice gym and work on some things and get back to basics a little bit," he said. "We've had virtually zero practice time. This is not unexpected. We're trying to turn around the defense for this season. But the numbers don't lie. We're not going to win games when we allow our opponent to shoot 50% and score over 100 points. Historically in the league, that's a recipe for disaster."

INJURY WOES: The Bucks have been consistent in refusing to use injuries as an excuse for the way they have played.

"(Against the Hawks), they were missing Josh Smith," said forward Richard Jefferson. "He's one of the best small-slash-power forwards in the NBA. So we can't make excuses for being short-handed. They were short-handed, also. We lost to Utah without Deron Williams. And Carlos Boozer missed the last 5 minutes of the game. So there's no excuses if you're playing short-handed. No one cares."

STARTING FIVE? When center Andrew Bogut went down with a knee injury, it left Jefferson as the only Bucks player to start every game. The opening night starting lineup of Jefferson, Bogut, Michael Redd, Ridnour and Charlie Villanueva has appeared in the same game only twice so far.

Tom Enlund

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