Numbers: Knicks vs. Bucks, Round 4

Though the NBA season's stretch run is still in full stride, the Knicks' game against the Bucks on Wednesday night is critical. If they lose, they drop to ninth in the East -- and only the top eight teams make the playoffs. Here's what the Knicks need to do while they play perhaps the biggest game of their season so far:

STOP BRANDON JENNINGS

Jennings scored 36 points during the Bucks' 100-86 win on Jan. 20 and 25 points during the Bucks' 119-114 win on March 9. When the Knicks finally pulled out an 89-80 win on March 26, they held Jennings to just 15 points. New York did a good job overall of limiting the Milwaukee scorers that day, as that 15 points made Jennings the second leading scorer on his team. A good trend: his production has decreased each time the teams have played this season.

BATTLE OF THE BENCH

Drew Gooden came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 11 rebounds on Jan. 20. The entire Knicks bench produced just 11 points and 10 rebounds. On March 9, Mike Dunleavy came off the bench for 25 points. The entire Knicks bench had 24 points. When the Knicks finally won against the Bucks on March 26, their bench scored 22 points. But even then Milwaukee had them beat: Dunleavy came off the bench for 26 points. Paging Steve Novak and J.R. Smith.

DON'T WORRY ABOUT MELO

Carmelo Anthony has performed well in each of the three games, scoring 35 points on Jan. 20, 22 points on March 9 and 28 points on March 26.

ON THE REBOUND

Whichever team has won the rebound battle has also won the game. The Bucks out-rebounded the Knicks 47-43 on Jan. 20 and 40-35 on March 9. The Knicks out-rebounded Milwaukee 54-41 on March 26.

STREAKERS

The Knicks come into Wednesday's game having just lost to Chicago. That's not a good sign. They were losers of four straight when the Bucks beat them on Jan. 20. They had lost three consecutive games when they dropped another to the Bucks on March 9. But they had just beat Detroit when they won against Milwaukee on March 26.