Sam Cassell couldn't carry the Milwaukee Bucks' offense all by himself Tuesday night, although he's always willing to try.

When your point guard scores 24 points but contributes only three assists, something's missing, and in this case it might have been a man in a brown suit sitting at the end of the bench.

Not that Glenn Robinson would have stopped the Bucks' bleeding, but he might have given them time to form a scab. This is interesting only because his team seemed to be going out of its way for the last couple of weeks to make him look expendable.

The Bucks winning eight in a row without their No. scorer would have been more remarkable if they hadn't taken four out of five earlier in the year without Ray Allen, their No. 1 scorer. They can fool you that way.

Just when you start to think they can beat anybody with one hand tied behind their backs, a group like the Phoenix Suns comes along, grabs the other hand and smacks them squarely in the mush. The Bucks can be a very good team with one of their big three indisposed, but they need a quorum to be a special team.