Amid the pomp and ceremony of their 35th home opener Saturday night, it was as if the Milwaukee Bucks could feel the serious undercurrent that belied the affected frivolity of the evening, according to Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal reports

How couldn't they? It was as palpable as the less-than-capacity crowd expressing its extreme displeasure at a 22-point third-quarter deficit or Tracy McGrady subjecting the Bucks to a serious one-man beating.

It may be far too early to discuss worst-case scenarios, but when you're trying to win back what had been a perpetually loyal fan base and influence skeptics, trying to counter Orlando's superior hustle and McGrady's 47 points with an offense as unsynchronized as a Blue Mound Road traffic-light pattern isn't exactly the way to go about it.

The Bucks couldn't have appeared more dazed and confused had they just stumbled out of the first day of training camp. McGrady, who already has the appearance of the best player in the Eastern Conference, has the potential to make anyone look silly. But as for an offense that seemed as if it was thrown together more haphazardly than the USA's World Games entrant, the Bucks have 80 games to get it together.

The question, though, is whether that might be enough time.

"It's frustrating to come out and play this way in the home opener," an exasperated Tim Thomas said. "We need to get this fixed right now."

With their $57 million payroll, one of the largest in the league, and memories of last season's collapse just six months old, there is no room for failure this season. Failure in this case would be defined as missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year, the consequences for which surely would be more severe than simply unloading a high-profile player.

So how do they get it back, that good-time feeling of success, accomplishment and goodwill?

The Bucks knew there would be an offensive period of adjustment without Glenn Robinson, but this bordered on outlandish. Bad games from Sam Cassell are rarely, if ever, survivable, but 1 of 10? And 4 of 12 by Ray Allen? The only time the Bucks exuded minimal offensive confidence was in garbage time, when Ronald Murray, Kevin Ollie, Michael Redd, Dan Gadzuric and Marcus Haislip were on the floor. That's three rookies, a journeyman and a third-year player, but at least they were willing, unlike their more experienced and highly paid teammates, to take the ball to the basket.

If the Bucks are to again advance deep into the playoffs, like they did during their run for the Finals two seasons ago, they will need at least two marquee players to have career kind of offensive years.

They also have to provide something of substance to appease their customer base. For the home opener, with the added attraction of McGrady and Grant Hill, there were a number of empty seats in the Bradley Center. Although the Bucks established a franchise record for home sellouts last season, the smallish turnout for their 2002-'03 home debut was not completely surprising, given the disappointment and feelings of betrayal that resulted from last year's historic collapse.

Based on his own informal man-in-the-street poll, George Karl said he believes the amount of fan disapproval does not rise to the level of the pre-season scrutiny his team has received from the media. For example, you would have to search long and hard to find a national publication that is predicting the Bucks will even make the playoffs.

But there are still a number of questions that must be answered before the Bucks can again be considered an Eastern Conference player. Count Orlando coach Doc Rivers, who spent the afternoon watching his alma mater, Marquette, play an exhibition game at the Bradley Center, as those curious about the Bucks' ability to rebound.

"The jury's out," Rivers said. "Signing Michael Redd, getting Toni Kukoc, starting Tim Thomas. Add that together and I don't know if they lost anything."

Though Robinson's scoring is gone, Rivers does not necessarily consider that a loss. "They had too many of those guys already," he said.

The thing now is to get at least a couple of those who remain to play better offense than they ever have before. It's very early, but Saturday night's debacle was not a good start.