Twenty-Four Keeps Spirits Up 04.19.10 - 03:46pm

The Atlanta Hawks may have presented many of the Milwaukee Bucks with a rude welcome to playoff basketball on Saturday.

But for Jerry Stackhouse, it was the kind of treatment that a veteran would expect.  

Behind their starters, the Hawks started strong and paced themselves to a 22-point halftime lead. But Stack and the Bucks built some momentum late in the game, and though their comeback fell short, the second half surge left No. 24 optimistic about what lies ahead.

Stack battling Atlanta's Mario West on Saturday (Getty Images).

Stack provided six points in the 102-92 loss, but also helped the Bucks pick themselves up at halftime with his veteran leadership. No. 24 told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that one of the keys to the playoffs is constant encouragement in good games and bad. Jerry thinks that will be a necessity going forward:

“We’ve just got to keep encouraging each other. Basketball is a game of fleeting confidence. As long as we can keep each other confident through the ups and downs of the series, we should be all right...Our bench is going to be huge in what we’re able to get accomplished. Myself, Luke, Ersan. We’ve just got to come off ready to play. Even guys like Danny G (Gadzuric) have got to be ready to come in and bang some bodies, take some hard fouls, finish around the rim. He’s capable of doing all those things.”

NEXT UP

The Bucks will have a chance to build on the momentum they established late in game one when they take the court in Atlanta for game two of their best-of-seven first round playoff series with the Hawks. Tip-off is at 6:00 CST and you can see all the action on FSN Wisconsin.

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Stackhouse speaks from experience (MJS, April 17, 2010)
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/91228609.html