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Villanueva Drops 32 as Bucks Beat Sonics

March 5, 2008

Despite coming off two self-described "terrible'' games, Charlie Villanueva saw this coming.

Villanueva scored 32 points, his highest output in nearly two years, and had 11 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks scored a season-high 118 points to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 118-106 Wednesday night.

"I was due, man. I was due,'' said Villanueva, who combined to shoot 2-for-15 and score six points in his previous two contests, losses to San Antonio and Indiana. "That's terrible. I'm a better player than that. I just tried to get out of that funk and just ball as hard as I can and try to give the team some energy.

"I give a lot of credits to my teammates, as well. They kept finding me and giving me the ball. Once I made a few shots, I knew I was going to be hot.''

And Villanueva was, especially early. He scored 21 points in the first half for only the second 30-point game of his career; the other was for 48 points as a Toronto Raptors rookie at Milwaukee on March 26, 2006.

"Thirty-two in three quarters? I should have gone for 50,'' Villanueva said. "Maybe next time.''

Andrew Bogut added 21 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for Milwaukee, which was playing without guard Mo Williams and forward Yi Jianlian, out with minor injuries. Villaneuva, a reserve until replacing Yi in the starting lineup in early February, also tied his season highs in assists (three) and blocked shots (two).

Kevin Durant had 23 points for Seattle, which lost for the sixth time in seven games and dropped to 6-24 on the road.

"We hung in, but we didn't defend,'' Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "Charlie had such a good game, and we didn't really solve that until the fourth quarter. They just shredded our defense.''

The Bucks got a scare late in the third quarter when Durant, coming off a screen left of the lane, accidentally head-butted Michael Redd, lacerating Redd's nose. Redd left the court and went to the locker room holding a towel near his right eye. He did not return and got six stitches after the game.

The game was barely in doubt after the first quarter, when the Bucks used a 20-2 run to take a 34-18 lead. They led 69-54 at halftime for a season high for points in a half.

Seattle, taking advantage of the Milwaukee backcourt without Redd or Williams, cut the lead to single digits with under five minutes left, and Damien Wilkins' layup made it 107-102 with 2:50 remaining.

But Charlie Bell responded with a layup to give the Bucks some breathing room. Desmond Mason hit two free throws with 1:22 remaining to put Milwaukee up 111-102 and seal it.

"That's trying to make up for 35 lackluster minutes with 10 or 12 real aggressive minutes where we played, did good things, made shots and hustled our way back in it,'' Carlesimo said. "The fact that we were persistent was good, but it wasn't enough. They played so many more, better minutes than we did on both ends of the floor.''

Redd scored 15 points, all in the first half, after averaging 30.6 points over his last five games.

Milwaukee didn't miss his output much, as Villaneuva equaled his season high in the first half. Villaneuva scored 15 points in the first quarter on 6-of-7 shooting, including three 3-pointers.

The Bucks took control early and led 39-24 after a period, their highest-scoring first quarter of the season, and they had assists on 16 of their first 18 field goals.

Milwaukee had a season-high 36 assists in the game, after getting only 12 in 128-106 loss to Indiana on Sunday.

"It's not a fun way to play basketball when you have everybody thinking about their own numbers,'' Bucks coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "The rim got bigger because guys were shooting open shots rather than forced shots.''

Johan Petro had a season-high 15 rebounds for Seattle, and Wilkins and Earl Watson each scored 17 points.

"They jumped out on us early in the first quarter,'' Durant said. "They made a lot of shots. We were aggressive the whole game, but we just didn't get stops.

"On some possessions we played tough defense, but Charlie Villanueva was unconscious.''

Bell had 17 points for Milwaukee, and Mason added 16.