Chinese rookie Yi Jianlian exhibited his sweet shooting stroke on
Saturday, leading the hosts Milwaukee Bucks to a 103-99 victory
over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Yi made his first 12 field goal attempts en route to a
career-high 29 points and registered his first NBA double-double
with 10 rebounds while playing 43 minutes, and he was 14 of 17 from
the field.
"It was tremendous," Bucks head coach Larry Krystkowiak said of
Yi. "Our guys did a nice job of finding him. I wish it would have
continued a little bit more."
While watching Yi at a recent practice and shoot around, Larry
Krystkowiak must have known something was brewing.
He said: "at practice and a recent shoot around Yi didn't even
hit the rim on his shooting drills (meaning all net). He is usually
the first one to ten in our shoot round's."
Coach K also said games like tonight should be common in the
future. And what a night it was.
With Milwaukee playing host to the Charlotte Bobcats (10-15), Yi
put the experience he has learned from his first 25 games in the
league and put it all together to having his best game yet as a
pro.
The Bucks (11-15) as a team was sharing the ball, finding Yi
open from around the 20 foot range and from both right and left
baselines, as well as out on top.
He showed an assortment of moves ranging from his patented mid
range jumper to taking it to the rack driving with both left and
right hands and finishing with authority on dunks. He also had a
couple of offensive rebound put backs for dunks as well. Yi was
amazing as Milwaukee kept pesky Charlotte at bay, avoiding another
disaster such as an earlier loss to these same Bobcats.
The 7-foot Chinese had a nice offensive rebound he immediately
put back for a dunk with 2:16 left in the game, putting Milwaukee
up by 11, leading to the final score.
Yi, commenting on how it felt hitting his first 12 shots said:"I
don't worry about that. The team was getting me open shots and I
hit them."
"There were lots of opportunities to shoot. The feeling in my
hands has gotten a lot better when I'm shooting," Yi added.
Michael Redd, Bucks' captain, said referring to Yi: "he's like
having another guard out there. And he's seven foot!"
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2007)
