Bucks end exhibition game losing streak

• Basketball

Basketball

Talk about it

CHARLOTTE - The Milwaukee Bucks ended a four-game exhibition losing streak today, with a 100-90 victory at Charlotte.

The game began at 10 this morning, so thousands of middle school kids could watch it. The Bucks were down by 20 in the third period, and they out-scored the Bobcats 28-to-11 in the final 12 minutes. Second-year forward Tobias Harris scored 18 points to lead Milwaukee. Mike Dunleavy had 17 off the bench. Larry Sanders had 13 rebounds to go with his eight points. Doron Lamb, the Bucks’ second-round draft choice from Kentucky, outplayed his former Wildcats’ teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Lamb made 6-of-7 from the floor, and he scored 10-of-his-12 points in the fourth quarter. Kidd-Gilchrist had four points in 13 minutes.

Kemba Walker had 20 points and seven assists for Charlotte, which fell to 1-6 in the preseason. The Bucks are now 3-4, and they’ll play their final exhibition game tomorrow night in Green Bay against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The regular season begins next week.

________________________________________________________________________

Milwaukee Bucks’ point guard Brandon Jennings will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, unless he signs a contract extension by a deadline of next Wednesday. General manager John Hammond says the Bucks want to keep Jennings for the long-term. He says the Bucks’ negotiators have had talks recently with Jennings’ agent Bill Duffy – and those talks will continue quote, “until the 31st or until an agreement is reached.” One problem for the Bucks is that they don’t know the market yet for a point guard like Jennings. That’s because none of the other point guards drafted along with Jennings in 2009 have signed new deals yet. If Jennings does not sign by the end of the month, the Bucks could still match any offers he gets from other teams during a signing period next summer. Jennings played in all 66 games in last year’s lockout-shortened season. He had career-high averages of 19 points and five-and-a-half assists. The Bucks will play an exhibition at Charlotte today, starting at 10 this morning.

________________________________________________________________________

Milwaukee Bucks’ forwards Tobias Harris, Larry Sanders, and Ekpe Udoh all had their rookie contracts extended yesterday. All three options run through the end of next season in mid-2014. Harris had the third year of his four-year rookie contract picked up – while Sanders and Udoh both had their fourth seasons guaranteed. Under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, only the first two years of a rookie contract are guaranteed – and the third and fourth seasons are both team options. The 20-year-old Harris is currently battling for a starting job at small forward. He averaged five points and two-and-a-half rebounds in 42 games a year ago as a rookie. Sanders, a third-year pro, led the Bucks with 76 blocked shots in 53 games. Udoh played in 11 contests after being traded from Golden State in the deal that brought Monta Ellis to Milwaukee and sent Andrew Bogut out West.

Tags: wisconsin sports, proam, bucks, basketball