Jennings scores 33 in Bucks' victory
PHILADELPHIA - Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings, bent on putting his worst game of the young season behind him, scored a season-high 33 points Monday night to lead the Bucks past the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-96.
"I was so upset with my game in Boston the other night," said Jennings, who was limited to four points on 1-for-11 shooting in Saturday's 106-100 loss. "I wanted to come out here and prove that was just a fluke, and have a short memory. That's something I was working on this summer."
Jennings shot 12-for-21 from the field, and made a three-pointer from the right wing with 7:05 left - after he nearly lost the ball twice - that snapped an 89-89 tie and put Milwaukee ahead for good. He also had eight assists.
"Jennings was fabulous tonight - lightning quick, hitting shots," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "He and Monta Ellis, I don't know if there's a faster two-guard lineup out there than those two guys."
Ellis added 18 points and seven assists for the Bucks (4-2), who shot 51.3 percent from the field and overcame 23 turnovers by building a 48-31 rebounding advantage. Mike Dunleavy scored 13 points.
Jrue Holiday scored 25 points and Jason Richardson added 20 for the Sixers (4-3), who were coming off a 3-0 road trip. They shot just 4-for-21 while being outscored 22-13 in the fourth quarter.
"I don't think we had heavy legs," Collins said. "We had heavy minds."
The Sixers trailed 75-59 early in the third quarter, but went on a 26-8 run that extended into the early stages of the final period. They took their first lead of the half, at 85-83, on Spencer Hawes' jumper with 11:46 left.
Holiday scored seven points in that flurry, and Richardson and Thaddeus Young had six apiece.
The game was tied three times before Jennings nailed his 3-pointer, after twice fumbling the ball and recovering.
"He makes those kinds of shots," Collins said. "He takes a lot of low-percentage shots, but tonight he hit them."
Said Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles, "Brandon and I have been together a long time now. He's got the freedom to go make his plays. That was a nice little recovery there. ... They got their hand on it, but he was able to recover, kind of keep his poise there and put it in."
Jennings said he was "just taking what the defense gave me. It was actually a big shot for us, because they had the momentum. To come down and hit a three like that just gave us back the momentum."
Jennings added two more baskets as the Bucks extended their lead to as many as 10 in the closing minutes.
He scored 19 first-half points, including 10 straight in a 14-0 Milwaukee spree late in the half, as the Bucks seized a 62-50 halftime lead.
Milwaukee, which made its first eight shots of the game, went 23-for-36 from the field (63.9 percent) in the half.
Holiday and Dorell Wright scored 14 points apiece in the half for the Sixers.
Wright did not score in the second half. Thaddeus Young finished with 11 points.
NOTES: Sixers center Andrew Bynum, who has not played this season after incurring a bone bruise in his right knee in mid-September, said before the game the revised timetable for his return, announced earlier in the day by the Sixers, does not constitute a setback. "It really was the original plan," he said, to return eight to 12 weeks after he was first injured. The team, however, originally announced he would be out a month. Later, the return date was pushed back another month, until Nov. 19. But after Bynum underwent an MRI last Monday, it was determined (according to a team statement) that he will not be able to resume basketball activities until Dec. 10, and then would need anywhere from a week to four weeks of practice and conditioning before he could play. ... Richardson returned to the Sixers' starting lineup after missing the previous four games with a sprained left ankle. ... The Sixers made a season-high 10 three-pointers (in 24 attempts), but were 0-for-5 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter. .. Holiday had eight of the Sixers' 15 turnovers.
