The marathon is over

MILWAUKEE -- The marathon is over. Now it's time for the mile run.

That's how Bucks' coach George Karl describes the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. The Bucks are finishing the marathon in a sprint, playing some of the best basketball of the season.

But, teams turn it up another notch for the playoffs. Just what will the Bucks need to do to win the Eastern Conference and maybe challenge for the overall NBA title? Here are five things:

1. Continue to play team basketball. The Big 3 of Sam Cassell, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson have to check their egos in the locker room every night and continue to play unselfish basketball.

"We've moved the ball and played well as a unit for weeks now," Allen said after the final regular season game at the Bradley Center. "I give Sam (Cassell) the credit. He's kept us in our offense and gotten us the ball where we can get high percentage shots. If we continue to so that, we can be very tough to beat."

2. Toughen up inside. The Eastern Conference teams that could provide the biggest challenges - Miami, Philadelphia and New York - all have veterans inside who will turn it up inside. The refs usually let the high altitude wrestling go on in the playoffs.

"Everybody knows what to expect," said center Ervin Johnson. "We're ready to turn it up a notch." Allen said the Bucks might not get the scoring from center, but that he feels the wrap on the team of not having a good big man is false. "Ervin, Scott Williams, Mark Pope, Jason Caffey...they have all done what we need from them this season. Now, they have to get ready for the physical play of the playoffs," Allen said.

3. Get good bench support. Karl says the Bucks' bench should rank in the top five in the NBA and that Tim Thomas should be the Sixth Man of the Year. The Bucks will need to get even better play from their reserves.

"We have been getting good contributions from a lot of guys off the bench all season," said reserve guard Lindsey Hunter. "In the playoffs, your bench becomes all that more important."

4. Stay healthy. The Bucks have been banged up going into the playoffs the last two seasons. Thomas, who has a shoulder problem, will come off the injured list in time for the playoffs. Caffey has been nursing a nagging knee problem for much of the second half of the season, but should be ready. The rest of the Bucks have to stay sound.

5. Keep the crowds into it. The Bradley Center has been louder than some of us ever thought it could get. That Sixth Man is very important since the Bucks will have home court advantage, at least through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Karl, who has often been critical of his team during the season, said after the BC finale that he liked his team's chances if "we don't get too happy."

"We still have some work to do," Karl said. "But, when we go hard to the glass, mix in some good defense and pass the ball, we can be very good."

The Brewers finished the first homestand in Miller Park history 6-3 and started a road trip in Cincy only a game under .500 at 6-7. We learned that Miller Park will be somewhat of a hitters' park, but fair to all involved.

Thirty homeruns were hit in the first nine games played at Miller Park. The Brewers hit 16. Opponents hit 14.

Barry Bonds, one of those opponents, hit Nos. 498 and 499 of his career at the park over the weekend, but he also dropped a fly ball to let three runs score in the Brewers' 7-4 win over the Giants.

Brewers' manager Davey Lopes believes his team is learning how to take advantage of opponents' mistakes. "You learn to keep it close and wait for a mistake. When it happens, you have to jump on it," Lopes said after the Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants 7-4 Sunday. "We aren't really hitting on all cylinders yet, so we'll take that. You'd always like to have a better record than you have (6-7), but we started showing signs on this homestand of what we are capable of doing."

--One of the rather quiet but inspiring stories of the homestand was the return of reliever Chad Fox. The righthander pitched Saturday for the first time since April 20, 1999.

Fox spent those two years trying to come back from elbow surgery. "It felt great to be on the mound in a real game again," Fox said. "I didn't really have time to think about the long road back when I was out there.

"When they first told me on the bus (while he was with the Indianapolis AAA team) that I was coming up, I had some time to think about it and did flash back. It's made me look differently at everything. This is a game, to be enjoyed. I want to pitch the best I can and enjoy every moment."

This could turn out to be as good a story as Jeff D'Amico's comeback last season. Keep up on the buzz here and at The Brew Crew Review at thebrewcrewreview.com.

The Wave took its playoff series against Kansas City and now starts the second round of NPSL action against Toronto next Friday at the Bradley Center. Between the Wave, Admirals and Bucks, the BC will be hosting plenty of playoff action over the next several weeks.

The Admirals also were ready to start playoff action in the IHL this week. Meanwhile, the Rampage were scheduled to play soccer at San Diego Thursday night and the Indians Firebirds were set to travel to Milwaukee to meet the Mustangs on Friday night in Arena football.

Last Saturday, more than 65,000 sports fans attended the Wave, Bucks and Brewers games in a single day. With these other teams starting action, the fans will have even more choices. Milwaukee might be a small market, but it still is a vital one.