DALLAS _ One team entered the American Airlines Center riding a four-game win streak. The other came in with just two wins on the season.
The Milwaukee Bucks were the former but played like the latter. Actually, they played worse than the latter as they were embarrassed by the Dallas Mavericks in a 111-79 loss on Saturday night, their largest margin of defeat this season.
Dallas did the bulk of its work behind the 3-point line, making 19 3-pointers _ the most ever by a Bucks opponent _ on 38 attempts. Many of those came as a result of Milwaukee's defensive breakdowns, as all the Bucks' progress on that end during their four-game win streak seemed like a distant memory.
But even when the Bucks weren't committing defensive miscues, the Mavericks just couldn't seem to miss.
Wesley Matthews, who had 22 points, rattled in a 3-pointer from the corner to beat the shot clock while falling out of bounds and John Henson draped all over him for one of his six 3-pointers. Devin Harris got the ball deep enough that Khris Middleton gave him some room and Harris responded by splashing a 3.
J.J. Barea, who had 20 points and four 3-pointers, had a rare miss from downtown, airballing an attempt in the second half, but Dirk Nowitzki saved it back to him and Barea chucked up another attempt late in the shot clock that caught nothing but net.
While everything was falling for the Mavericks, the Bucks never got into any offensive flow. They went 28 of 74 from the field for a season-low 38.4 shooting percentage. Milwaukee couldn't buy a bucket from behind the arc, going 6 of 25 (24 percent).
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the NBA's leader in player efficiency rating, had 24 points and 15 rebounds in the loss, but had his second-worst shooting game of the season at 7 of 20 from the floor. Middleton had 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, but no other Bucks player scored in double figures.
