Night after night, Jason Kidd will to the microphone stand within the BMO Harris Bradley Center atrium, a single sheet of paper in hand – the box score from that night’s game. He’ll look at it as a reference point during his post game media sessions, but he always knows one number.

Unfortunately, it’s been drilled in his head to look for it.

Turnovers.

He tries to joke about it.

If we don’t have 20 turnovers, it’s not us.

Things like that.

At this point in the year, with just 11 games left, the Milwaukee Bucks are what they are in that regard. The team reached the 20-turnover threshold for the second straight game in Wednesday night’s 89-88 victory over the Miami Heat, which actually ended a stretch of five games where they turned it over less than the 16.0 times they average per game – a number tied for second words in the NBA with Houston.

During the 5-13 skid that the team has been on since the All-Star break, the Bucks have reached 20 turnovers or more seven different times. They’ve had an additional three games with at least 16.

For comparison’s sake, the top 11 teams in the NBA turn it over 13.3 times per game.

"It puts way too much pressure on our defense," guard Khris Middleton said. "If we can cut those in half, I mean, we can win these games a little bit easier. We just have to take care of the ball from me, to everybody else. Just trying not to over-force things. A lot of our turnovers, I feel like, are just being unselfish, trying to make passes, extra passes to guys. We just have to be conscious of it and not turn the ball over."

It may not seem like much of a difference, but when you’re a team that struggles to score (the team is 22nd in the league at 97.6 points per game), giving away possessions does far more harm than good, as opposed to teams that can fill it up, like fellow high-turnover teams such as Golden State, Oklahoma City, Phoenix and Houston.

"Obviously we’ve got a younger team so we’re going to make some mistakes but I think the biggest thing for us is turnovers, man," Bucks forward John Henson said. "We’re up there defensively – we’re one of the best defensive teams in the league and if we can cut down turnovers and get more possessions the sky’s the limit for us and that’s kind of what we need to do."

Henson’s right. And it’s amazing, really, that the Bucks turn it over at that high a rate but remain one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

Heading into tonight’s game against Indiana, the Bucks are sixth in the league in holding opponents to 97.4 points per game and are third in defensive rating, which computes points allowed per 100 possessions.

They give it up 16.0 times a game, but manage to take it away 16.2 times.

"Defensively they’re great," said Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott. "They can switch a lot of matchups. And definitively especially, they just look like they play a lot like college, guys are just active and they’re just all over the floor."

The Bucks have been held to fewer than 90 points 14 times, but have managed to lock up opponents to fewer than 90 points 24 times.

"I give them credit, using their length to their advantage," Orlando Magic coach James Borrego said. "They are playing well and have a good defensive scheme. We have to be solid offensively by moving the ball and our bodies. If you are stagnant and slow, they will eat you up."

For all the consternation on the offense, the defense has remained consistent – and has kept the Bucks in the Eastern Conference playoff race as the offense has sputtered over the last month.

"When you add new faces and injuries, obviously that can change the complexion," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But they have continued to defend. They’ve had some adversity like we’ve had, but they’ve been one of the most consistent defensive teams the entire year. They’re long, they’re big, and they don’t give you easy opportunities in the paint and around the rim. You have to work for your opportunities"

Before the game Wednesday, Spoelstra lamented the fact that his Heat had held double-digit leads in two of the three losses to the Bucks – only to see his team blow a 14-point lead that night by scoring just nine points in the fourth quarter and fail to crack 90 points. Again.

"That’s not our style and what we want to get to," Spoelstra said. "But you have to give them credit, they’ve been able to dictate the styles of all the three games (prior to Wednesday)."

In their remaining 11 games, the Bucks face five teams that are in the top half in the league in scoring (including Boston twice) and five that rank below them in scoring. The team, despite their recent struggles, see an opportunity to get hot again down the stretch by cutting down on their turnovers while maintaining the defensive effort.

"That’s what we’ve built our identity on this whole year," guard Jerryd Bayless said of the team defense. "Turnovers is something we’ve been struggling with lately, but we built our identity, honestly, this year on defense, and we just gotta continue to hang our hats on that."

"We can control (our defensive effort) every game. We just have to do it. It’s a matter of wanting to do it. Defensive effort. And, guys have to show effort every night. I think for most of the time we have done that, but we have had lapses, being a young team, but at the same time, overall, I think we’ve done a pretty good job. We just gotta continue to do it for the rest of the games."