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Richard Jefferson was a one man wrecking crew.  The same could not be said for the rest of the Bucks.  Luckily for Jefferson, his superb performance was not wrecked with a loss as his friends showed up when he needed them the most.  The Bucks came back from a 14 point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Washington Wizards 112-104 in overtime at the Bradley Center.

"You have to have some kind of resolve and some kind of confidence and air about you," Jefferson said about the comeback.  "We knew we could come back, we just had to get some stops."

Jefferson was about the only consistent force the Bucks had on the court as he scored 32 points and had nine assists.  The rest of the Bucks on the other hand were about as helpful as a union worker on strike.  Well, at least through three quarters.  In the first three quarters, Jefferson had 26 points while the rest of the Bucks only accumulated for 46.  Jefferson shot 56% alone during that time.  The rest of the team shot 38%.  Thankfully, the rest of team answered the bell in the final round.

Jefferson scored just two points in the fourth but the rest of the Bucks scored 30 points.  Ramon Sessions, Luke Ridnour and Luc Mbah a Moute came up with 22 of those points.  The defense was also outstanding down the stretch after stinking up the joint through most of the game.  The Wizards entered the fourth quarter shooting 52%.  They ended regulation down seven percentage points as the Bucks held the Wizards to just 29% shooting in the fourth.

"We didn't play NBA basketball when we had to," said Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan.

"It was very disappointing to lose a game like that when we had it in control," Wizards forward Caron Butler thought.  "We had some mental breakdowns and they were able to get over the hump."

After Juan Dixon put up the Wizards 85-71 early in the fourth, the Bucks went on a 14-4 run to close the gap to four on a Mbah a Moute dunk with 5:03 to go.

The Wizards pushed the lead back up to seven with 3:31 to go but the Bucks answered with a 12-5 run to close out regulation with 98-98 tie.  The Bucks took a 98-96 lead with 35 seconds on an Andrew Bogut slam dunk.  Antwawn Jamison sent the game into overtime on a lay up with 21 seconds to go.

The Bucks' defense clamped down on the Wizards in overtime to pull out the victory.  Washington made just three field goals and pulled ahead thanks to Ridnour picking off DeShawn Stevenson's bad pass.  Ridnour immediately pushed the ball up the court and Richard Jefferson put the punctuation mark on the fast break with a tomahawk dunk.  The Bucks closed out overtime with a 10-2 run to pick up their third victory of the season.

It actually looked from the beginning that the Bucks would cruise to an easy victory.  The Bucks went up by as much as 18 late in the first quarter and ended the opening quarter up 30-17.

Then everything came crashing down in the second quarter for Milwaukee.  The Bucks made just four field goals and went without a point for the last six and half minutes of the quarter.  The inability to find the bottom of the net gave the Wizards the open they needed.  Washington eroded the Bucks lead with a 20-4 run over the last eight minutes of the half.  The Bucks' once large lead was a distant memory at the half as Milwaukee was down 45-39.

In addition to Jefferson, four other Bucks reached double digits.  Sessions finished with 22 points.  Ridnour had a double-double with 20 points and 11 assists.  Mbah a Moute continued to amaze in his young career with 17 points on 8-10 shooting.

"He's playing out of this world for us," Bogut said.  "He's the main reason why we've been successful. He's bringing energy, passion. He's bringing everything off the bench. Without him, we probably wouldn't get this game and we probably wouldn't get the game in New York. He's probably one of our most valuable players at the moment."

Bogut added a double-double of his own with 10 points and 13 rebounds.  The Bucks also did a terrific job of sharing the ball with 37 team assists to go along with a 50% shooting night.

"I think we had 37 assists on 45 field goals," Jefferson said. "That's ridiculous. That's as good as you're going to see in this league. When I had Jason Kidd on my team, those are the type of numbers we used to put up. That means that you're playing unselfish basketball."

Milwaukee's new commitment to defense paid off as Washington was held to just 44% shooting and 2-18 from beyond the arc. Caron Butler was the Wizards high scorer with 27 points while Jamison chipped in 19 points.

The Bucks now head out on the road to face the defending NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics, this Friday.