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Bucks Win Home Opener
Milwaukee Bucks' Brandon Jennings reacts after a basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)
MILWAUKEE -- Brandon Jennings has arrived.
The Milwaukee Bucks rookie point guard led his team from an 11-point halftime deficit to an 11-point lead entering the fourth quarter and held on to defeat the Detroit Pistons 96-85 in the home opener on Saturday night.
With 7:45 remaining in the third quarter, the Bucks began a 12-0 run that started with a three-point shot from Hakim Warrick, followed by nine consecutive points by Jennings.
During that stretch, Jennings hit two deep jump shots on back-to-back possessions, then on Detroit’s next trip down he stripped the ball from Jason Maxiell and finished the fast-break by going around his back and connecting on a reverse layup.
“I got that from Kobe Bryant,” Jennings said of his play that got the Bradley Center crowd on their feet. “The only thing is Kobe dunked it and I didn’t. I call that the Kobe move.”
The No. 10 overall pick wasn’t done. He drilled a three-pointer following another Pistons turnover to give Milwaukee a seven-point lead.
“(Jennings) came out in the third quarter and gave us a huge lift,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “He got in the zone there a little while, and once again shows you a whole other element of his game. It got his team going too (in addition to the crowd), which is as important or more important.”
Jennings finished the quarter making all seven of his shots from the field for 16 points, outscoring the entire Pistons team in the third. He also had two steals.
“My main thing was just to come in here and get like 15 assists a game and run the team,” Jennings said. “But tonight I had to take over the scoring load a little bit, which I did.
“The first three (point shot) I hit in the second half was from Michael Redd. After that the rim just looked like an ocean. I kept getting in the lane and I was hitting open shots. It wasn’t’ like they were bad shots. They were open shots, so I had to take them.”
The night after Jennings nearly began his National Basketball Association career with a triple-double, he finished his Milwaukee debut with 24 points, three assists and two rebounds.
“I thought he (Jennings) had a pretty good all-around game too,” Skiles said. “We just unfortunately couldn’t make shots. He easily could’ve had 10 or 12 assists again.”
As sharp as the Bucks were in the second half, they didn’t start the game in nearly the same fashion. Milwaukee made only 12 of 40 shots in the first half and allowed Detroit to shoot 50% going in to halftime.
“We always kind of have a little sluggish start,” Jennings said. “But I think second half, when Scott comes in (the locker room) and talks to us and says what he has to say, I think it gets us fired up. We just kept chipping down the lead, and next thing you know we had the lead and we never looked back. He was a little mad, but at the same time he was trying to keep it positive for us.”
Carlos Delfino started at small forward after being unable to play in Philadelphia due to a one-game suspension given by the NBA for an altercation during the preseason. Kurt Thomas started at the other forward spot, but was replaced by Hakim Warrick less than five minutes into the game and did not return.
“Both games we’ve just kind of been sluggish out of the gate,” Skiles said. “So we’ve got to try to find something we can do about that. The whole second half I thought we had good intensity, played good defense, spread the ball around, really played well.”
Jennings was the only Bucks starter to score in double-digits. Michael Redd had nine points, Andrew Bogut finished with six points, while Delfino added five points. Thomas did not attempt a shot.
Milwaukee’s bench outscored the starters, led by Warrick with 21, who made 10 of his 15 free throw attempts. He also grabbed five rebounds to go along with three assists and two steals.
“You don’t win too many games with one starter in double-figures,” Skiles said. “Hak (Warrick) came in and gave us a big lift. He started in the second half, and I thought he was a big factor in the game.”
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added seven points and eight rebounds in over 28 minutes on the floor. Ersan Ilyasova chipped in nine points and six rebounds, and Dan Gadzuric had eight points and five rebounds.
