MILWAUKEE -- There was no blown 21-point lead this night. Maybe because the Washington Bullets never had a 21-point lead.
But the same poor shooting and turnovers that had hurt Washington a night earlier cost the Bullets in a 100-92 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks here last night.
With the loss, the Bullets fell to 12-39. Milwaukee improved to 21-32.
Calbert Cheaney led the Bullets with 22 points, and Juwan Howard added 20.
The Bucks rallied from an 88-86 deficit on a three-pointer by Todd Day and a two-pointer from Marty Conlon to take a 91-88 lead with 2:13 left. The Bullets immediately took a timeout.
After the timeout, Milwaukee's Eric Murdock stole the ball from Chris Webber. Then, on the Bucks' possession, Webber fouled Vin Baker, who made both of his free throws with 1:44 left to give Milwaukee a 93-88 lead.
Cheaney drove to the basket to cut the deficit to 93-90 with 56.5 seconds left, but Milwaukee reserve forward Johnny Newman hit a three-pointer with 35 seconds left to give the Bucks a 96-90 lead.
Cheaney was fouled with 23.2 seconds left while attempting a three-pointer and made two of three free throws to cut the deficit to 96-92. Murdock hit one of two free throws for a 97-92 lead.
Webber and Cheaney each missed shots down the stretch as Baker's free throw and Murdock's two free throws accounted for the final score.
The Bucks made a run midway through the third quarter on some inspired play by Murdock and Day. Day hit two three-pointers and Murdock scored twice to lift Milwaukee from a 59-58 lead to a 69-62 lead that forced the Bullets to take a timeout with 6:38 left.
But Scott Skiles was not about to let the game slip away.
Skiles hit a three-pointer immediately after the timeout to pull the Bullets to within 69-65. Murdock and Eric Mobley added baskets to give Milwaukee an eight-point lead, its largest of the game to that point, but Skiles added a jump shot at 4:19 to pull Washington within 73-67.
Kevin Duckworth added a shot but it was countered by a basket by Milwaukee's Vin Baker. But Skiles made another thrre-pointer to pull the Bullets to 75-72 with 2:32 left. And after forcing the Bucks' Glenn Robinson into a turnover with the shot clock, Howard scored on the break to pull the Bullets to 75-74.
Cheaney completed the comeback when he made a three-pointer with 34.6 seconds left to give the Bullets their first lead since 10:11 of the quarter. Baker made one of two free throws with 23.1 seconds left to cut Washington's lead to 77-76 after three quarters.
Howard led the Bullets with 18 points after three quarters, with Cheaney adding 16 and Webber adding 15. Milwaukee was led by Day with 18 and Murdock with 14.
The game started to take shape in the second quarter, which ended with the Bucks leading, 50-49.
The teams never were separated by more than four points the entire quarter. The quality of each possession seemed to be superseded by the next.
The Bucks pulled out to a 32-29 lead on two consecutive baskets by Baker. But Doug Overton, coming off the bench to spell Skiles, scored off a steal and a break and added another basket at 7:19 to give Washington a 33-32 lead.
The teams traded the lead before rookie center Mobley slammed home a thunderous one-handed, alley-oop dunk to give Milwaukee a 44-43 lead.