Jazz milk the lead but spill at end

MILWAUKEE — In the heart of America's dairyland, Croatian Gordan Giricek tried to tell, in English, a tale he could express so much better in his native language.

After a few tries, though, what Giricek was attempting to say became quite clear. He felt like the farmer who had worked so hard milking a cow, only to knock over his bucket.

"No milk anyway," the Jazz shooting guard said. "That's it. You did the job, and then at the end you spill it. You lose."

Such was the frustration Giricek felt Saturday night in Wisconsin after the Jazz lost their ninth straight game, this time falling 89-86 to the Milwaukee Bucks at the sparsely filled Bradley Center.

Utah actually led by one with 35.2 seconds to go after point guard Keith McLeod knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

"I thought that was going to put us over," co-captain Matt Harpring said. "We just needed that one stop and we didn't (get it), and that was it."

After a quick timeout, Milwaukee's Mike James blew by McLeod for a layup that made it 87-86 Milwaukee. And after McLeod missed a jumper that caught back rim on the other end, Michael Reed hit two free throws to make it a three-point game.

The Jazz had a chance to force overtime with 4.8 seconds remaining, but Giricek and Harpring both missed scrambling trey tries coming out of a timeout, and that indeed was that.

The defeat was the 12th in 13 games and 19th in 22 for the Jazz, whose losing streak of nine in a row matches their longest since the 1982-83 season.

"I thought we had that game," Harpring said. "I don't know."

Altering cow references, Giricek had little else to offer.

"Same bull . . . just a different day," he said.

"Again, I don't know what to say. Just re-write the same quotes from last game. I mean, I don't know."

There was one difference, however, between this game and the Jazz's last 12.

This time, Utah took a lead into the final quarter.

In fact, the Jazz were up by four after the first period and by six at halftime, and after outscoring the Bucks 24-21 in the third, they even took a nine-point advantage into the fourth.

With six-and-a-half minutes to go, that lead stood at six, 79-73.