Milwaukee Bucks 103, Indiana Pacers 102

Above: Bucks Guard Mo Williams takes a well-deserved break from winning games at the buzzer

You don't get victories much more amazing than the 103-102 Bucks win over the Pacers on Saturday night. This should give them confidence going into their 4-game western death trip that starts Tuesday. After all, when you've come back from a 14-point deficit in the final 3:39 of regulation, you start to believe that you can come back from any deficit. That's good, unless it encourages them to keep falling behind early in games. Sooner or later, this team is going to have to win a game without spotting their opponents 15 points. The last two games it's seemed like they were rusty after the 3-4 day layoff. They can't get any momentum going with the schedule the way it is, which is ok because youre not going to be able to sustain momentum through the whole year anyway. It's best they learn to play together and through adversity at the beginning of the year, and build up momentum at the end.

But it was a wholly amazing game. First, the Pacers went up by 20 in the second quarter, but you knew that wouldn't last. Again, it would be nice if the Bucks could defend their way through some cold stretches, but as long as they keep winning I guess we will forgive them for now. The Bucks came back to tie, only to fall back behind by 14 points in the 4th quarter. They then stormed back to within 6 with 2 minutes left, and slowly grabbed the Pacers and pulled them backwards just in time to win by a point on a last-second 30-footer. Amazing.

THE GOOD: If you look at the box score, you'll easily recognize what kept the Bucks in the game: rebounding. They got 22 offensive boards, and beat the Pacers overall 53-41. They keep boarding like that, they'll stay in any game they can shoot themselves back into.

Mo Williams, who looks like a candidate for 6th man of the year. He's hot, which is good, because Redd and Simmons are inconsistent at this point.

Redd had what we in Bucks land like to call a "Desmond Mason Night," which means he shot like crap but was 13-15 from the line for 28 points. When he gets hot, this team will be awesome.

THE PUZZLING: Jiri "Journeyman" Welsch has apparently leapfrogged not only Charlie Bell but also Kukoc and Dan Gadzuric in the Bucks rotation. What is it about Jiri that warranted this type of promotion, I wonder? It can't be racism, because Kukoc is white and Dan G. is Danish. Mmm...danish.