Bucks Rally By Spellbound Wizards

The Milwaukee Bucks remain an unsightly team, but they'll be glad to take that hideous brand of basketball right into the playoffs.

"Yeah, it's ugly basketball, but it comes together at the end," Ray Allen said after the Bucks rallied to beat the Washington Wizards 99-91 on Monday night.

"It's just like when you were a little boy, you might have been an ugly little kid. But when you grew up, you blossomed into a fine young man," Allen added. "I mean, I was an ugly little boy, too."

And now he's a movie star. But he'd like to be known for his game as much as for Spike Lee's "He Got Game."

"This team is unnerving, period. But they win," Karl said. "That's what we play for. We might be a little tight. We might be a little nervous, but defensively we seem to make plays. It's not exactly artistic basketball, but they're Ws."

With their bodies ailing and their playoff position dropping, the Bucks got 31 points from Glenn Robinson including eight during a late 15-0 run.

Robinson scored 12 points in the fourth as the Bucks broke away from the pesky Wizards, who lost their sixth consecutive game and their eighth straight on the road.

"Somebody had to come on strong," Robinson said. "A lot of guys are out."

The Bucks, trying to end a seven-year playoff drought, have been without sharpshooter Dell Curry because of a bad back and point guard Sam Cassell, who said he would like to return Wednesday from a troublesome sprained ankle. Also, Michael Curry is playing with a separated shoulder and point guard fill-in Haywoode Workman has a pulled groin.

But they began a three-game homestand against the flundering Wizards, who lost for the 10th time in 13 games since interim coach Jim Brovelli replaced Bernie Bickerstaff on April 5.

It wasn't as easy as the sparse crowd at the Bradley Center expected.

Milwaukee trailed 79-74 before the 15-0 run gave the Bucks an 89-79 lead with 4:32 left.

"I think we had a team that if we jumped on them early we might have an easy game, but when they hung around I knew we were in danger because of their shooting," Karl said.

The Wizards pulled to 92-89 on Rod Strickland's free throw with a minute remaining, but Allen, who scored 19, hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to put it out of reach.

"I don't know why it is. I just think we're a fourth-quarter team," Allen said.

Tim Legler's 3-pointer gave the Wizards a 46-45 halftime lead, and Ben Wallace scored 11 third-quarter points as Washington took a 71-70 lead into the fourth quarter. Wallace finished with 14 points.

"I thought we had the game under control, and we turned the ball over and they took advantage of a couple of turnovers," Brovelli said. "I thought we had some nice open looks and the ball didn't go down for us. They made us pay. They capitalized on all our misses and a couple of our turnovers."

Otis Thorpe scored 18 for Washington. Strickland, who apologized for being arrested on drunk- and reckless-driving charges in Washington over the weekend, added 14.

Notes: Karl criticized Robinson's defensive lapses, saying he'd rather see good efforts at both ends of the court than great shooting and poor defense. ... Wallace missed six straight free throws. ... Washington's sixth man, Tracy Murray, didn't make the trip because of a strained right hip. ... Karl said he didn't expect Dell Curry back anytime soon: "I do all my amateur doctoring on facial expressions and body language and he's not very happy right now." ... Cassell scrimmaged with coaches and Robert Traylor before the game but said his target return of Wednesday wouldn't be reached because he's still about 65-70 percent and would be a defensive liability."

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