Wizards-Bucks Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Dec 29 2011 10:50PM

The Milwaukee Bucks seem to be developing an early habit of letting big leads slip away, but they've at least won one of their first two games.

That's more than the Washington Wizards can say.

After two very different but equally painful defeats, the Wizards try to avoid their third 0-3 start in five seasons Friday night when they visit Milwaukee.

Washington led by as many as 21 points in Monday's season opener against New Jersey before falling 90-84, while Wednesday's 101-83 loss at Atlanta didn't come with any late disappointment. The Hawks opened on a 19-4 run and never looked back.

"We're searching," coach Flip Saunders said. "Our main group is not performing well together at this time. We did some positive things but you can't get off to this kind of a start."

Perhaps the biggest culprit in that starting five is Andray Blatche. After saying he wasn't being used to the best of his abilities following a 5-for-13 shooting performance in the opener - and then taking to Twitter to defend himself - Blatche went 2 of 13 and finished with four points against Atlanta.

With Jordan Crawford and Rashard Lewis also struggling early, there could be some changes coming Friday. To point guard John Wall, the answer is clear - even if finding it may not be easy.

"We've just got to find some chemistry," said Wall, who has 11 assists and 10 turnovers thus far. "We do it in practice but practice doesn't count."

The Bucks (1-1) are glad the preseason didn't count after a pair of losses to Minnesota, and they certainly would have liked to have back their first game that did. Up by as many as 14 points in the second half, Milwaukee fell apart down the stretch in a 96-95 loss at Charlotte on Monday.

The Bucks nearly let a 20-point lead disappear Tuesday - allowing the Timberwolves to get within two late - but held on for a 98-95 victory.

Brandon Jennings led the way with 24 points, but it was a rookie who saved the day. Jon Leuer, who played one minute and didn't score in the opener, had a three-point play with 1:17 left that turned out to be the difference.

Leuer had 14 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 20 minutes.

"Jon was great," coach Scott Skiles said. "I probably should have played him more (Tuesday). He's earned his minutes out there."

While Leuer is earning more minutes in Skiles' lineup, defensive-minded rookie Chris Singleton is averaging 24.0 minutes in Saunders' rotation and figures to see plenty of time guarding Stephen Jackson on Friday.

Jackson has averaged 20.6 points in his last 11 games - nine wins - versus the Wizards, who he'll meet for the first time in a Bucks uniform.

Washington, meanwhile, will want to make sure Nick Young gets his fair share of shots. One of the team's few bright spots after averaging 18.5 points in the first two games off the bench, Young averaged 19.0 in three games against Milwaukee last season.

The Bucks, however, won two of those and have taken eight of 11 from the Wizards overall.

Jennings, Bucks keep Wizards winless, 102-81

Posted Dec 31 2011 12:54AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) Brandon Jennings wouldn't let the Milwaukee Bucks blow another big lead.

Jennings scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half to lead the Bucks to a 102-81 victory over the winless Washington Wizards on Friday night.

"Right now we should really be 3-0," Jennings said. "We were up at halftime against Charlotte, and we lost a lead. And tonight we were up (24) at half and let a team come back. That is something we really need to focus on, especially going on a West Coast road trip. On the road in hostile environments you have got to be able to contain the lead and take over."

Jordan Crawford, benched in favor of Nick Young after scoring one point in a loss at Atlanta on Wednesday, led Washington (0-3) with 24 points. John Wall had six points on 1-of-9 shooting and four turnovers.

Ersan Ilyasova had 16 points, and Carlos Delfino, who missed the first two games of the season with a sprained right wrist, added 15 off the bench for Milwaukee (2-1). Andrew Bogut had 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.

Jennings has scored 22, 24 and 22 points in three games this season.

"He has been very efficient," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "He is doing a good job in the first half of the games of moving the ball around and seeing people and kind of taking his scoring opportunities as they come. And then as the game has gone on he's gotten a little more aggressive, especially when we've struggled a little bit in those stretches.

"That's what the good players do."

The first half went about as badly as it could go for the Wizards - starting with a technical foul called when Roger Mason Jr., who was not on the active list, checked into the game.

Mason had come in for Crawford with 3:27 left in the first quarter and scored on a baseline jumper seven seconds later. However, during a timeout at the 2:53 mark, the Wizards were whistled for the technical. The basket was later taken away from Mason and credited to Rashard Lewis. Jennings made the technical free throw to make it 25-18 Milwaukee, and Ronny Turiaf's dunk made it 25-20 before the Bucks poured it on.

Wizards coach Flip Saunders took responsibility for Mason being disqualified from the game. The Wizards public relations staff also took the blame.

The NBA provides a roster to teams to circle who will be inactive for each game. The list excluded Mason's name, and neither Saunders nor the PR staff caught the mistake before sending the final active roster to the league office.

The Bucks statistical staff noticed the mistake when they tried to enter Mason's basket.

"It's my fault," Saunders said. "I didn't notice it. I take responsibility for that. I thought he would have given us some help."

Said Mason: "It was just human error. Just a mistake. It happens."

Milwaukee outscored the Wizards 40-21 the rest of the half to take a 65-41 lead. The Bucks, 22nd in the league in field goal percentage coming in, shot 61.5 percent in the half to Washington's 34 percent. Young and Wall combined to go 1 for 11 in the first half.

Washington opened the second half on a 15-4 run, holding Milwaukee without a field goal for more than five minutes. The Wizards outscored the Bucks 26-13 in the period and trailed 78-67 after three quarters. Crawford had 12 points in the third.

"We are all young and we try to force it," Crawford said. "We all try to do it on our own, which I try to do all the time. Sometimes I want to come back as quick as possible."

Washington cut it to nine on a dunk by JaVale McGee to open the fourth, but the Wizards got no closer the rest of the way. They cut it to 88-77 with less than six minutes remaining, but the Bucks - who had blown double-digit, second-half leads in each of their first two games - used an 8-0 run to seal it.

Bogut said the late comebacks are not concerning, as the team looks ahead to games at Denver, Utah, Sacramento, the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix in the next nine days.

"We have no excuse for it, but at the same time we're not really pushing the panic button," Bogut said. "We're 2-1, and we've got room to improve on that."

Meanwhile, the Wizards, and Wall, are just looking for a win.

"Very disappointed," Wall said. "I think we could have won these two ones against the Nets and definitely the Bucks. We just didn't bring the energy. There is no way you could make the playoffs when you are not winning the close games and tough games against teams like this."

Said Saunders: "Bottom line is we got to figure it out and figure it out quick. We can't have it where we have some guys go out and compete, or if some guys are not playing well offensively it takes away our energy defensively."

And he said Wall is one of the problems.

"Wasn't good," Saunders said. "John has a tendency to get down on himself when he is not making plays. We got down big, he got down."

Notes: Wizards forward Andray Blatche again took to his Twitter page after a loss, this time apologizing to fans for his funk, saying he would focus on his defense and rebounding, and asking them not to give up on the team. . Bucks forward Luc Mbah a Moute missed his third straight game with right knee tendinitis. Mbah a Moute took part in the shootaround. "No idea," Skiles said, when asked how long he will be out. "We thought he was going tonight." Bucks forward Tobias Harris, the team's first-round pick in 2011, also has yet to play for Milwaukee with dehydration issues. . The Bucks assigned rookie guard Darington Hobson to the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Mad Ants of the NBA Development League. Hobson was the 37th overall pick in the 2010 draft out of New Mexico but missed the 2010-11 season after undergoing hip surgery.

Notebook: Bucks 102, Wizards 81

By Rick Braun, for NBA.com
Posted Saturday December 31, 2011 12:10AM

THE FACTS: Brandon Jennings scored 22 points to lead five players in double figures, and Andrew Bogut posted a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks cruised to a 102-81 victory over the winless Washington Wizards Friday night at the Bradley Center.

QUOTABLE: "It's just one of those things we've got to work through. We're three games into the season. If we're still talking about this in two or three weeks, then it's a big issue."
-- Andrew Bogut on the Bucks' struggles playing with a big lead

THE STAT: The Bucks let a 26-point lead slip down to nine in the second half before putting the game away. In Tuesday's victory 98-95 over Minnesota, they let a 20-point lead get cut to two, and in the season opener they blew a 14-point halftime lead in a 96-95 loss.

TURNING POINT: Bogut scored the first four points in a 20-6 run midway through the second quarter that gave the Bucks a 58-35 lead. They were never seriously threatened the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE II: "The league sends out a list and we circle the guys that are active. For some reason Roger wasn't on it and I didn't notice it. I take responsibility."
-- Wizards coach Flip Saunders on the mistake that made guard Roger Mason ineligible for the game.

HOT: Jennings made 8-for-15 shots and is now 23-for-50 (46 percent) for the season. That's a strong improvement over the 39 percent he shot last season and the 37.1 percent he shot in his rookie year in 2009-10.

NOT: Starting guards Nick Young and John Wall combined to go 2-for-19 for the Wizards, with Young going 1-for-10 and Wall 1-for-9.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Tight end Jermichael Finley of the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers was in the seats.

GOOD MOVE: After an extremely flat third quarter, Bucks coach Scott Skiles went with a lineup of Jennings, Bogut, rookie Jon Leuer, Beno Udrih and Carlos Delfino for much of the fourth quarter, and the Bucks pulled away.

BAD MOVE: Saunders didn't double-check the 12-man roster he turned in before the game that didn't include Mason. Mason entered the game with 3:27 left in the first quarter. When the error was discovered with 2:53 left in the quarter, the Wizards were assessed a technical foul and Mason was ineligible the rest of the way.

ROOKIE WATCH: Leuer had four points and five rebounds in 22 minutes for the Bucks. Shelvin Mack, the Wizards' second-round pick, went 3-for-3 and had seven points in nine minutes.

NOTABLE: Washington was assessed a first-quarter technical for putting Mason in the game. Mason was ineligible for the game because he wasn't included on the list of active players the Wizards submitted before the game. Mason entered the game with 3:37 left in the quarter scored on a jumper with 3:20 left. During a timeout with 2:53 left, the stat crew pointed out that Mason wasn't on the active list, and the technical foul was assessed. Because Mason technically couldn't play in the game, the basket he scored eventually was credited to Rashard Lewis. ... Although he was healthy and ready to play, forward Drew Gooden, the Bucks' big free-agent signing of the summer of 2010, did not play.

UP NEXT: For the Wizards, Sunday vs. Boston, Monday at Boston, Wednesday at Orlando. For the Bucks, Monday at Denver, Tuesday at Utah, Thursday at Sacramento.

• Wizards: Evans, Vesely
• Bucks: Harris, Hobson

• Wizards: Wall
• Bucks: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #6 Tony Brown, #34 Kevin Cutler
• Attendance: 17065
• Duration: 2:04