ASHWAUBENON – In the week of practice before preseason games began being played, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Larry Drew printed up large numbers to post around the Cousins Center. The point was to put some goals in the minds of the players for each game, but the underlying message was that if those numbers were hit, victories would pile up.

Through the first five games of the preseason, the injury-riddled Bucks had had some success in reaching those goals, but as Drew said Wednesday night following a 105-95 victory over the New York Knicks at the Resch Center, "We’ve had some losses where the numbers have been kind of consistent with what we’ve been posting, but there were some numbers on the other end that weren’t in our favor."

Such numbers included having more turnovers than assists and shooting under the stated goal of 46 percent from the field (three times apiece).

On Wednesday night, the Bucks hit three statistical goals – shooting 46 percent (they shot 52.2 percent), holding the opponent to under 43 percent from the field (the Knicks made just 39.8 percent of shots) and, for the first time, handing out 25 assists (the team had 26).

Another goal, one that can’t necessarily be measured was also met. It was the "1-15" number which represented a one through 15 team effort.

With Ersan Ilyasova, Brandon Knight, Ekpe Udoh and Carlos Delfino missing the game due to injuries; Zaza Pachulia just working back from his offseason Achilles surgery and Gary Neal having just returned from a flareup of his plantar fasciitis, the victory was a total team effort.

"I think seeing is believing," forward Caron Butler said after the game. "I’m pretty sure he’s going to have us watch film (Thursday) and post some of those numbers and just show the guys what we’re talking about – that if we hit these numbers we’ve got a chance night in and night out."

Drew acknowledged that getting a victory does help, even if in the preseason.

"It does, it really does," he said. "So, our message is going to stay the same as far as what our goal is as far as the numbers are concerned. If we can accomplish those numbers, if we can get those numbers consistently then we’ll see better results, but that won’t happen until that happens."

Let’s take a look at two of the key numbers and why Drew set them as goals:

46: Team shooting percentage
"I think we have good enough shooters," Drew said. "I think offensively if we execute and we get the shots that we want, I think if we play together, there’s no reason why we couldn’t get up to that number or close to it. I put that number there to challenge this team. If we move the basketball, if we execute the offense and play very unselfishly we’ll get good shots, high percentage shots. I know that’s a big number. I know where that ranked last year, but again, I’m going to throw that out there to challenge this team."

Through six games in the preseason, the Bucks have hit (or exceeded) that number three times. Last year, the Bucks ranked 28th in the NBA in field goal percentage at 43.5 percent.

25: Assists per game
Drew believes this is attainable number because it goes hand-in-hand with the field goal percentage goal.

"I don’t see why we couldn’t be a team like that, with the shooters we have," Drew said. "I think we have some big men that are very efficient around the basket. If we share the basketball there’s no reason why we can’t get 25 assists."

In the first five preseason games, the only time the team came close was the 22 assist it handed out against Memphis.

"That’s a big thing for how I think we have to play to win," guard Luke Ridnour said Wednesday.

"It’s always fun to play on that kind of team," center Zaza Pachulia added. "It’s always fun for everybody and it’s fun for the fans, too. We won a lot of games like that (in Atlanta under Drew)."

4: Seconds across the timeline
This was a goal of the coach’s from the beginning of the year, even before injuries began to decimate the team and force him to go to a smaller lineup.

"What it is does it really keeps constant pressure on the opposition," Drew said. "When teams scout us, I want something in that scouting report to say something about we’ve got to get back there defensively because they will push it up our backs. We’ve got to develop good habits in doing that."

Against the Knicks, Drew rolled the ball out with lineups that included O.J. Mayo, Gary Neal, Ridnour, Butler and Sanders. Or, Khris Middleton would be in instead of Neal.

"That’s great. We get to play fast," guard Gary Neal said. "We get a lot of opportunities to attack the defense and continue to put the defense on its heels. Four seconds, hopefully we’ll be able to play that way throughout the whole season because that’d be great. With the offensive weapons that we have that will be a lot of fun to watch.

"Four seconds doesn’t mean shoot the ball in four. It means get the ball basically across half court so you can attack the defense with enough time to be able to get it from one side of the court to the other side of the court and not get stuck with a lot of shot clock going down and get stuck with bad shots because of the shot clock. It’s a tempo we’re striving for and a tempo that we’re aiming for."

43: Opposing team field goal percentage
Opponents made over 45 percent of their shots on the Bucks last season, even with Larry Sanders and John Henson establishing themselves as shot blockers. Conversely, the champion Miami Heat allowed opponents to shoot at a 44 percent clip while division rival Indiana led the league at 42 percent.

To reach that goal would mean the Bucks are one of the top defensive teams in the league.

"That’s a decent number, an attainable number that we can definitely strive for and reach," Butler said.

In the preseason, it has been. Despite going 1-5, the Bucks have not allowed an opponent to even reach the 43 percent number.

With one preseason game remaining Friday night at home, the Bucks look to build off the performance Wednesday.

"That’s our goal right now, to hit those numbers," center Larry Sanders said. "It’s not really on winning the game, it’s getting ourselves together on the defensive and offense end, getting schemes down. As we’re getting better at that, the rest of will take care of itself, like (Wednesday). We played good ‘D’, we sat down, we limited their shots, and came out with a win. That’s a little bit of positive reinforcement for everyone to buy in a little bit more to the system."