Rookie Brandon Jennings provided a Halloween treat for Milwaukee, hitting 24 points including nine straight in the third quarter, as the Bucks rallied past the Detroit Pistons 96-85 on Saturday.
A night after flirting with a rare NBA record in a season-opening away loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Jennings dazzled the crowd in his home debut, hitting all seven of his shots in the third as the Bucks (1-1) erased a 49-38 halftime deficit to register their first win of the new campaign.
Jennings, taken with the 10th overall pick by Milwaukee in the draft, had given himself a tough act to follow by posting 17 points, nine assists and nine rebounds on his NBA debut on Friday.
Oscar Robertson, in October 1960 with the Cincinnati Royals, is the only player to have recorded a triple-double in his first career game.
“He [Jennings] came out in the third quarter and gave us a huge lift, got in a zone for a little while and showed us a whole other element to his game,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles told reporters. “I told him I thought that was one of the most impressive first games I’ve ever seen by a rookie last night since I’ve been in the league.”
Jennings, the first high school player to bypass college to play professional basketball in Europe, produced an impressive encore bringing the Bradley Center crowd to its feet with an electrifying second-half performance.
After nailing a jumper to pull Milwaukee level at 55-55 five minutes into the third, the 20-year-old guard hit on a fade-away jumper 30 seconds later and then added another two points on a driving layup before dropping a long range three-pointer to give the Bucks a 62-55 lead they would never surrender.
“They put it on the board, must win game, home opener and I felt the same way,” said Jennings, who spent last year playing in the Italian league. “We had to bounce back and win the game today. We just kept chipping down the lead and then next thing you know we had the lead and never gave it back.”
Hakim Warrick contributed 21 points off the bench for the Bucks while Michael Redd had nine points before exiting the game in the second half with a sore knee.
CAVALIERS 90, BOBCATS 79
Delonte West scored 13 points in his delayed season debut, Mo Williams added 24 and LeBron James 14 as Cleveland, back at full strength, rolled to a win over Charlotte.
Williams scored 12 in the fourth quarter — all on three-pointers — and James added nine assists and seven rebounds for the Cavs, now 2-2 after an 0-2 start.
In other NBA action, it was:
• Wizards 123, Nets 104
• 76ers 141, Knicks 127, OT
• Spurs 113, Kings 94
• Rockets 111, Trail Blazers 107
• Mavericks 93, Clippers 84
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS