If the easier road in the Eastern Conference is from seventh place instead of sixth [url=http://www.texanscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-deandre-hopkins-jersey]DeAndre Hopkins Jersey[/url] , the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t interested in taking it.

They know they aren’t going to get the right playoff mindset by losing.

”If you have that mentality it kind of carries over to the postseason and you become a complacent basketball player,” forward Jabari Parker said.

Eric Bledsoe had 22 points and 10 assists, and the Bucks moved into a tie for sixth place in the East with a 115-102 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night.

Khris Middleton also scored 22 points for the Bucks, who joined Miami with a 43-37 record. The Heat were blown out by the Knicks at Madison Square Garden a night earlier but the Bucks avoided the same fate despite playing without All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo because of a sore right ankle.

The No. 6 seed would be looking at facing Philadelphia, which has won 13 straight games, or LeBron James and Cleveland. The team that ends up seventh draws a second-seeded Boston team that has lost All-Star guard Kyrie Irving for the season.

”They got a great a basketball team and a great coach,” Bledsoe said. ”Obviously they’re missing a couple of key players but at the same time they were playing well without those guys in the lineup.”

Parker made his second start of the season in Antetokounmpo’s place and finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. John Henson had 15 points and 12 boards for the Bucks, who hoped to get point guard Malcolm Brogdon back but will have to wait a little longer as they try to become the dangerous team they think they can be.

”We know how good we can be and we’ve shown it,” coach Joe Prunty said. ”We’ve shown it in games and over stretches of games, but similar to what we were talking about earlier, we have also had lulls or games where we haven’t played as well as we’d like to or need to, and that’s what we’re trying to build on every day.”

Jarrett Jack scored 18 points and Kyle O’Quinn had 15 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and four blocks for the Knicks, who beat Miami 122-98 on Friday but fell short in their hopes of beating another playoff-bound team.

The Knicks were without Tim Hardaway Jr. (sprained left ankle), Enes Kanter (lower back, right wrist) and Emmanuel Mudiay (concussion). Michael Beasley started after leaving Friday’s game with a bruised left knee.

Jack was the starter earlier in the season before falling out of the rotation entirely while the Knicks turned to young guards Trey Burke [url=http://www.bearscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-dan-hampton-jersey]Dan Hampton Jersey[/url] , Frank Ntilikina and Mudiay.

”The job is 82 games,” Jack said. ”If you’re not in, you cheer for everybody else. But if he calls your number, be ready to come in there and be ready to come in there and contribute as best you can.”

The game was close most of the way until the Bucks, trailing by one, took control with a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter. Middleton’s basket gave Milwaukee the lead for good, Tony Snell and Parker made 3-pointers, and Bledsoe made four free throws as the Bucks surged to a 106-95 advantage with 2:17 to play.

Snell left a little more than five minutes into the game when he turned an ankle when he stepped on a teammate’s foot while chasing a Knicks player around a screen. He returned in the second quarter and had 10 points.

TIP-INS

Bucks: Prunty said Brogdon (left quad) was evaluated Saturday and it was determined he wasn’t ready to go. The Bucks hope last season’s Rookie of the Year can play Monday. … Parker had averaged 20 points in his last three games.

Knicks: Coach Jeff Hornacek said he expected that Kanter and Hardaway would play again this season if healthy, refusing to rule them out for the final two games. ”Those guys are all competitors and that’s what we like about them,” Hornacek said. … Knicks starters had no turnovers in the first half and the team had just two total, both by Luke Kornet.

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

The Knicks held Latvian heritage night in celebration of Latvia’s 100th anniversary. The New York Latvian Concert Choir sang the national anthem and Latvia President Raimond Vejonis was presented with a personalized jersey by Knicks All-Star Kristaps Porzingis, who is from Latvia.

UP NEXT

Bucks: Host Orlando on Monday.

Knicks: Host Cleveland on Monday.

Christian Hackenberg spent his final day with the New York Jets much as he did in his first two seasons.

As a spectator.

The Jets traded the 23-year-old quarterback to the Oakland Raiders on Tuesday for a conditional seventh-round draft pick next year, ending Hackenberg's tenure with the team before he ever took a regular-season snap.

"Some players, it takes a while for them to get going," said coach Todd Bowles, who announced the trade after his post-practice news conference was delayed for two hours as the deal was being completed.

"We did everything we could to try to help him as best we could," Bowles added. "Sometimes it just works out somewhere else."

Hackenberg was a second-round pick out of Penn State in 2016 [url=http://www.pantherscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-curtis-samuel-jersey]Curtis Samuel Jersey[/url] , but never played a regular-season snap for the Jets. The 23-year-old quarterback was clearly No. 4 on New York's depth chart, behind veterans Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater and first-rounder Sam Darnold.

"We've got three quarterbacks and obviously we drafted Sam in the first (round)," Bowles said. "We like Teddy and we like Josh. We just had one too many to get all of them reps."

After zero regular-season snaps in two years with the #Jets, QB Christian Hackenberg is heading to the #Raiders for a 2019 7th-round draft pick. More from @DWAZ73: s://t.co/qXV4vtOVHu pic.9pnWgNQ375

鈥?AP NFL (@AP_NFL) May 22, 2018

Hackenberg stood back and merely watched as McCown, Bridgewater and Darnold took their snaps during 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 team drills during the first practice of organized team activities. Hackenberg threw during position drills, but that was it 鈥?and, as it turned out, that was by design.

"We held him out today because we had things in the works," Bowles said, "in case something happened."

Hackenberg joins a quarterbacks room with the Raiders that includes Derek Carr, EJ Manuel and Connor Cook. Oakland coach Jon Gruden worked with Hackenberg for his "Gruden's QB Camp" series before the 2016 draft, so he has some familiarity with the young signal caller.

With the Jets, Hackenberg was considered a project when he entered the league and has been an enigma so far in the NFL. His mechanics have been the subject of much debate and criticism.

So, he went back to the basics this offseason, working on shortening his motion and trying to become more efficient. After two years with no results, Hackenberg was asked a few hours before the trade why it took so long to take that step.

"I don't know [url=http://www.coltscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-reggie-wayne-jersey]Reggie Wayne Jersey[/url] ," he said. "I think there were some times where I threw it really good throughout my first two years here. That was the frustrating part for me, is the ups and downs and not knowing why, if that makes sense, and not really getting any information from anybody on how to fix that and how to address it."

That immediately raised some eyebrows, and came off as a veiled shot at the Jets' coaching staff.

"No, I don't put the blame on anyone," Hackenberg said. "I think my thing is I'm happy I got the opportunity and someone stepped up outside of me to help me give me the tools to do it. So, being able to take that by my control, if that makes sense, being able to handle that and do it myself, I think is really cool."

Bowles insisted that Hackenberg's critical comments had nothing to do with the deal.

"No, Hack's a great guy," Bowles said. "He's 23 years old 鈥?he should want to play. He's a competitor, so I understand."

After last season ended, Hackenberg sat down with Jeremy Bates, the Jets' quarterbacks coach and new offensive coordinator, about things the youngster needed to work on. Hackenberg acknowledged that he developed "some inefficiencies [url=http://www.lionscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-anthony-zettel-jersey]Anthony Zettel Jersey[/url] , some bad habits" and discussed shortening his throwing motion.

Hackenberg met with former NFL quarterbacks coach David Lee and went over several things before Lee pointed him in the direction of personal coach Jeff Christensen. The two worked together for 60-plus sessions since the end of January in Chicago, Los Angeles and Kansas City with other NFL QBs such as EJ Manuel and Kevin Hogan.

"For the first time in a long time, right now, I feel that I have a solid foundation from a fundamentals standpoint," Hackenberg said. "And the cool thing is, it only started about two months ago and it's only going to keep on getting better and better and better. So, I'm excited about it."

But it won't be with the Jets, and Hackenberg will go down as one of the biggest draft disappointments in recent team history. New York spent a second-round pick on a player who never took a snap 鈥?and one who was considered, at one time, a possible future franchise quarterback.

"Any time a pick doesn't work out, I guess you can look at it as a waste," Bowles said. "But when a pick does work out, it's not a waste. You learn lessons from everything you do in life. It's not just football and draft picks, so if anybody's got a four-leaf clover up their butt and that's going to work out every time, please let me know that person because it didn't work out here."

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