Associated Press
CHARLOTTE ó Gerald Wallace scored 24 points, Boris Diaw added 21 and the Charlotte Bobcats beat the Milwaukee Bucks 102-92 on Saturday night to snap a three-game losing streak.
The league’s lowest-scoring team shot 47 percent and took advantage of Bucks center Andrew Bogut’s absence to control the inside and avenge a Friday night loss in Milwaukee.
The 7-foot Bogut missed the game because of lower back spasms, leaving the Bucks without their anchor in the middle and they looked nothing like the team that held Charlotte to 75 points in a 28-point rout Friday.
Richard Jefferson scored 19 points, and Michael Redd added 17 to go over 11,000 points in his career for the Bucks, who failed to complete a four-game season sweep of Charlotte.
Missing starting shooting guard Raja Bell (groin) for the third straight game, the Bobcats pulled away early in the fourth quarter behind Diaw and Wallace. In one of his best games since being acquired with Bell from Phoenix last month, Diaw shot 8-for-11 from the field and added six rebounds and seven assists.
Wallace, who was 1-for-9 from the field early in the third quarter, started to take the ball to the basket and met little resistance from Dan Gadzuric, who started in place of Bogut, and Charlie Villanueva. Wallace made four straight shots, including a 3-pointer to give Charlotte a 79-65 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Diaw’s jumper just over a minute later pushed the lead to 18, ending the Bucks’ hopes for their eighth win in 11 games.
Emeka Okafor added 14 points, and D.J. Augustin had 12 for the Bobcats, who had assists on 22 of 33 field goals and surpassed 100 points for the 10th time this season.