The Milwaukee Bucks played their first preseason home game in
Milwaukee on Saturday, falling to the Utah Jazz 92-78.
The game was a first on several fronts, none more compelling
than rookie power forward Yi Jianlian making his first start of the
preseason in front of his home crowd at the Bradley Center, where
13,468 fans came to see the "new look" Milwaukee Bucks.
Yi Jianlian collected 13 points on 6/13 shooting in 29 minutes
of action, the most he scored in his three preseason performances.
Yi also had five personal fouls and game high eight turnovers.
He had three points on Tuesday in the first appearance against
Chicago Bulls and finished 12 points at Salt Lake against Utah
Jazz.
From the outset, Yi looked tentative and hurried as one might
expect with the rookie playing in front of his home crowd for the
first time. However, three of those turnovers came almost in
succession early in the game, and then he had a stretch where he
seemed to get his groove on somewhat, backing down a defender and
hitting a turn around jump shot, and looking more comfortable as
the game progressed.
On the bright side he seemed to work well with former number
overall 2005 draft pick and starting Center Andrew Bogut, who
finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots in
22 minutes of play.
Milwaukee led 64-61 at the end of the third quarter, before head
coach Larry Krystkowiak sat his starters for much of the fourth
quarter and the Jazz began to pull away.
The Bucks had more turnovers (30) than field goals (28) that led
to 31 points off of turnovers. Sixty one fouls being called aided
in this ugly affair as well. The Bucks did out rebound Utah 41-34
and held them to 37.7 % shooting from the field, showing
improvement over last years team as Coach K has emphasized defense
and rebounding throughout training camp.
One of the highlights of the evening was when Milwaukee, who had
been behind by as much as 12 points, came storming back and took
the lead on a nice pass from Mo Williams to Yi Jianlian for a
thundering slam dunk that gave Milwaukee a short lived 48-47
lead.
"I see a big guy running that hard why would I lay it up?" said
Williams who led the Bucks with 22 points. "He's running the floor
and I need him to get going. He's my pick-and-pop guy. I want to
get him going and get him in a good rhythm."
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)
