With the funeral for George Karl's father scheduled for Saturday afternoon in the Seattle area, Terry Stotts will serve as Milwaukee's stand-in head coach again Saturday night when the Bucks play the much-improved New Jersey Nets.

Stotts, Karl's top assistant, coached the Bucks to a 95-89 victory against Toronto on Thursday night that broke the team's five-game losing streak. Stotts said he hasn't talked with Karl since he left Thursday afternoon, but Karl left a message congratulating Stotts on the victory.

"When he left, I said, 'If you need to call me I'm available, but I'm not going to bother you,' " Stotts said.

Some of the players credited Stotts' low-key personality with helping them relax in ending the losing streak against Toronto. Karl delivered a stinging critique after a loss to New York Tuesday night and challenged the Bucks to share the ball against the Raptors.

"I don't think it's anything I did," Stotts said. "George is a very good motivator. Right before he left he challenged the team on passing. He was hard on them. George is very good about bringing up a team when it needs to be picked up. He would have had the same effect.