MILWAUKEE — In theory, the Milwaukee Bucks should have been happy going into halftime Saturday trailing the Golden State Warriors by just two points at 53-51.

Why not, considering the Warriors are the second highest scoring team in the NBA after Phoenix?

Why not, considering the Warriors are the most productive team in the NBA in forcing turnovers and then turning them into points?

Why not, especially considering how the Warriors demolished the Bucks by 30 points in their other meeting in December?

Why not?

Here's why.

"You can say we were in the game, but to me, personally, we should have been up by 10 at half," said center Andrew Bogut. "We couldn't put them out."

If Bogut thought the first half was poor, then only imagine what he thinks of the second half, especially a third quarter during which the Warriors turned a close game into a rout in the first 6 minutes to run away with a 119-99 victory over the Bucks before a crowd of 16,615 at the Bradley Center.

Many in the crowd came to pay tribute to Sidney Moncrief, the former Bucks great now serving his old coach Don Nelson as the shooting coach for the Warriors. Moncrief saw at halftime his old No. 4 get a new banner hanging from the rafters.

Then he saw his current pupils come out and hit their first seven shots of the third period to blow the Bucks off the floor in a manner too common to this team but unfamiliar to those 10 playoff teams Moncrief played on here.

"Give them some credit," Bogut said. "They keep playing the game the same way, whether they're up or down. They keep pushing the ball."

The Bucks seem to keep playing the game the same way, too, but that too often involves turnovers and easy scores for the other team.

The Warriors, who force close to 18 turnovers per game, forced nine Bucks miscues in the third quarter that resulted in 16 of Golden State's 41 points in the period.

That's not only nine attempts for the Warriors to score — and they were successful six times — but nine attempts for the often offensively challenged Bucks to go without even a shot.

Milwaukee scored just 22 points in the third quarter, the third time in the last four games the Bucks have seen poor play in one quarter ruin the chance at a victory.

"We catch a team playing its fourth game in five night and we've had two days off," coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "I'm surprised they had more energy than us. …

"I didn't see a whole lot of defensive pressure. I thought we predetermined where we're going to throw the ball. A lot of times I thought we threw it right to them and created their transition."

Forward Al Harrington scored 11 of his game high 27 points in the decisive third quarter, with nine of them coming on three 3-pointers. Harrington, who led six Warriors in double figures, hit five three-pointers, half of the Warriors total.

The Bucks were led by Michael Redd, who scored 24 points but only four in the second half.

Bogut continued his solid play, posting his fourth double-double with at least 20 points scored. He finished with 21 to go along with his 10 rebounds.

But as impressive as those numbers might be for Bogut, they are the not the ones that matter the most.

"Every game, we're trying to figure out how to be consistent for four quarters," Bogut said. "It's extremely frustrating. We let another one go."