Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:
The Bucks (23-26) have used their recent surge to put some pressure on the teams above them in the playoff chase. On Saturday they climbed into a virtual tie with eighth-place Miami (24-27), which lost in Chicago to suffer its fifth straight defeat.
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And Milwaukee also stayed within one game of sixth-place Chicago (24-25) and gained ground on seventh-place Charlotte (24-25) in the conference standings.
The team’s only losses during this stretch were a five-point decision at Toronto, a one-pointer at Dallas and a 17-point defeat at Orlando.
The Bucks have benefited from solid play by center Andrew Bogut and point guard Brandon Jennings.
And the entire starting five has clicked since Carlos Delfino moved in at small forward, with Luc Richard Mbah a Moute switching to the power spot and Charlie Bell taking the shooting guard role vacated by the injured Michael Redd.
Milwaukee’s bench also has contributed, bolstered by the play of Ersan Ilyasova and the mid-January signing of free agent Jerry Stackhouse, who had not been in the league this season.
