Pistons-Bucks Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Jan 10 2013 12:06PM

A coaching change might have been what the Milwaukee Bucks needed to get back on track.

They should have a good chance to remain undefeated under interim coach Jim Boylan when they try for a fourth straight home victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

Milwaukee (18-16) was on a season-high four-game skid when the team and coach Scott Skiles mutually decided to part ways Monday. Boylan, a longtime NBA assistant, will coach the team at least through the rest of the season.

In his first game in charge Tuesday, the Bucks beat Phoenix 108-99, then overcame a 15-point deficit to win 104-96 at Chicago the next night.

Boylan also replaced Skiles as Bulls coach at midseason in 2007-08, but won't put as much pressure on himself to succeed this time. Chicago fired Boylan at the end of that season after he guided the team to a 24-32 record.

"I told the guys that I'm just gonna have fun with this," Boylan said. "Coach as well as I can coach, motivate these guys, and that's what I'm gonna do."

The Bucks averaged 95.9 points and shot 43.2 percent while going 16-16 under Skiles, but have made 46.3 percent of their shots for Boylan.

"It is the same offense, same defense, but we are just not thinking," Milwaukee guard Brandon Jennings told Chicago's official website. "I have confidence in Jim."

Jennings could be the biggest benefactor of the coaching change. He averaged 17.8 points and shot 40.0 percent before the move, but has scored 64 points while making 53.8 percent from the field and 10 of 17 from 3-point range in the last two games.

"I am letting the game come to me," said Jennings, who has made at least one 3-pointer in a career-high 22 straight contests. "I've got my swagger back and I'm just having fun."

Motivated by some in-game trash talk from diminutive Bulls guard Nate Robinson, Jennings scored 20 of his season-high 35 points during a third quarter in which the Bucks outscored Chicago 31-23.

Though Jennings was held to nine points and 3-of-12 shooting in a 96-94 loss at Detroit on Dec. 30, he's averaged 23.0 and shot 51.0 percent during Milwaukee's three-game home winning streak over the Pistons. The Bucks have averaged 99.0 points and shot 46.8 percent during that run while holding Detroit to 88.3 and 41.1 percent.

Detroit (13-23) has not played since Sunday when its season-high four-game winning streak ended with a 108-101 home loss to Charlotte. Tayshaun Prince scored 21 and Greg Monroe added 18 with 14 rebounds, but the Pistons blew a 13-point second-quarter lead.

"A loss is a loss, no matter who it's to. Whether it's to Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker," Pistons guard Brandon Knight said. "Those are just guys on certain teams. It's a team game."

Playing its lone contest away from The Palace of Auburn Hills in a 10-game stretch, Detroit has allowed 93.5 points at home compared to 100.1 on the road, where it's 3-14.

Averaging team highs of 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds, Monroe has averaged 19.2 and 11.4 in his last five versus Milwaukee.

Monroe, Knight lead the Pistons past Bucks, 103-87

Posted Jan 12 2013 12:19AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) Defense has been a problem for the Detroit Pistons on the road. Against the Milwaukee Bucks, they had no trouble.

Greg Monroe had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Brandon Knight added 20 points and Detroit beat Milwaukee 103-87 on Friday night to hand interim coach Jim Boylan his first loss with the Bucks.

The Pistons had been allowing 100.1 points per game on the road, but turned up the defensive pressure and took Milwaukee out of its game in the second half.

"The third quarter was terrific," Detroit coach Lawrence Frank said. "We were able to score off of our defense and hold them to 11 points. Greg and Brandon were exceptional. Ball movement, spacing, the stops, limiting them to one shot and out. It was a tremendous third quarter."

Coach Scott Skiles and the Bucks mutually decided to part ways Monday. Boylan, a longtime NBA assistant who had been with Skiles in Phoenix and Chicago, took over and won his first game in charge Tuesday when the Bucks beat Phoenix 108-99.

Then, after trailing by 15, Milwaukee rallied to win 104-96 at Chicago on Wednesday.

But it was a different story Friday night. Knight and Monroe keyed the attack as the Pistons outscored Milwaukee 33-11 in the third quarter to take a 14-point advantage into the fourth.

The Pistons opened with a 23-5 run and took a 64-54 lead on Knight's three free throws. Brandon Jennings was called for a foul on Knight and picked up a technical arguing the call. Knight made the technical and then the two free throws. He led the comeback with 10 points and Monroe added eight.

"We did a good job of coming out and focusing on defense first (and) executing on offense," Monroe said after his 13th double-double of the season and sixth 20-10 game. "It's definitely something we can look at and build on."

Contributions from everyone helped Detroit erase the Bucks' 49-41 halftime lead.

"Just, the guys were open and a lot of good opportunities, transitions," Knight said. "We were able to get stops. It always starts with stops. I was able to push it, slow down a little bit and see where guys were open at. Our guys just did a great job just finishing around the basket and playing with a lot of energy."

Detroit led 74-60 going into the fourth quarter and squashed any hope of a Bucks comeback when Monroe scored on a hook shot, layup and dunk and Knight added a 3-pointer as the lead grew to 83-62 with 9:57 to play.

Rodney Stuckey's 3 gave the Pistons another 21-point lead with 2:48 to go, and the Bucks didn't get closer than 14 again.

Jennings and Beno Udrih each had 15 points for Milwaukee.

The Pistons improved to 4-14 on the road and snapped a three-game losing streak in Milwaukee. The Bucks helped out by shooting 39.6 percent.

Detroit hadn't played since Sunday when the Charlotte Bobcats' 108-101 victory snapped its four-game winning streak.

Larry Sanders said the Bucks might have been a little fatigued, but that wasn't the key.

"(They) kind of wanted it more than us," Sanders said.

The Bucks' bench provided most of the energy during a 14-0 spurt midway through the second quarter. Ersan Ilyasova's baseline layup capped the surge and gave Milwaukee a 42-31 lead. Udrih keyed the attack, scoring seven points while John Henson added four.

Udrih's falling-down jumper in traffic gave Milwaukee a 49-39 margin. Knight's floater just before the half ended made it 49-41.

NOTES: Rookie big man Andre Drummond, who had 11 rebounds for Detroit, has at least 10 boards in six of his last seven games. ... Sanders has blocked at least one shot in 22 consecutive games. ... Both teams shot poorly in the first quarter. The Bucks were 8 of 22 from the floor while Detroit was 9 of 22. ... Detroit's Tayshaun Prince is one of seven active NBA players who have spent 10-plus consecutive seasons with the same team. ... Boylan previously replaced Skiles as Bulls coach at midseason in 2007-08, but was fired at the end of that season after guiding Chicago to a 24-32 record.

Notebook: Pistons 103, Bucks 87

Rick Braun, for NBA.com
Posted Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:11 AM - Updated Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:11 AM

THE FACTS: Greg Monroe scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Detroit Pistons dominated in the second half to blow past the Milwaukee Bucks, 103-87, Friday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Monroe scored 12 of his points in a third-quarter blitz that saw the Pistons outscore Milwaukee, 33-11, and turn a 49-41 halftime deficit into an easy victory. Brandon Knight had 10 of his 20 points in that quarter, as the Pistons (14-23) won for the seventh time in nine games.

Brandon Jennings and Beno Udrih each had 15 to lead Milwaukee (18-17), which lost for the first time under new coach Jim Boylan after two victories.

QUOTABLE: "We know he's the leading shot-blocker in the league so I had to do a good job of going at him and getting into his body so he couldn't block my shot. I got in a good rhythm and coach kept feeding me the ball."
-- Monroe, referring to Milwaukee's Larry Sanders, who couldn't stop him.

THE STAT: For as lopsided as the game turned out, most of the statistical categories were fairly even ... except for one: The Pistons made 8 of 22 3-pointers, the Bucks just 1 of 16.

TURNING POINT: Detroit trailed, 49-41, at the half but made a concerted effort to go inside from the opening of the third quarter. Monroe and power forward Jason Maxiell scored the Pistons' first nine points of the period. As the offense heated up, the defense was clamping down, holding Milwaukee to 5-of-21 shooting in the period.

QUOTABLE II: "Greg, he was the guy tonight. ... We're built to where we have a lot of good players. Some nights it's going to be some guy's night and the next night it's going to be someone else's. That's part of the give and take of being on this team. ... It's just kind of rolling who has it going."
-- Pistons coach Lawrence Frank on Monroe getting the ball and scoring so much in the third quarter.

HOT: Monroe went 5 for 7 in the third period and the Pistons made 13 of 19 (68.4 percent) to turn the game around.

NOT: On two different occasions the Bucks missed 10 straight shots. They missed their last nine shots of the first quarter and their first of the second quarter and10 straight in the third quarter during a 15-0 Detroit run.

GOOD MOVE: With Sanders having three fouls at halftime, the Pistons dumped the ball inside on nearly every possession in the first six minutes of the third quarter. Monroe never did draw Sanders' fourth foul, but instead got the Pistons rolling.

BAD MOVE: Udrih had 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first 6 minutes of the second quarter but we pulled shortly thereafter.

ROOKIE WATCH: Detroit forward Andre Drummond had eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Pistons guard Kyle Singler had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. Milwaukee's John Henson finished with six points and four rebounds.

NOTABLE: The coaching matchup of Boylan and Frank pitted a former Marquette University player (Boylan) against a former Marquette University assistant coach. "Jimmy's career was a whole lot more impressive than my short resume here," Frank said. Boylan played on the 1977 NCAA Championship team. Frank was an assistant to Kevin O'Neill from 1992-'94.A catch-all category that can include milestones, stats that don't fit elsewhere, other aspects of the game that should be included. ... Sanders finished with three blocks and had a streak of games with four or more blocks snapped at five. ... The Bucks play their next four games on the road, three of them on the West Coast. ... Monroe had his 13th double-double and his sixth 20/10 game. ... The Bucks finished with 12 blocks and have blocked 10 or more shots in their last four games. That's the longest such streak in the NBA since the Los Angeles Lakers had six such games in the 1999-2000 season.

UP NEXT: For the Pistons, Saturday vs. @ Utah, Thursday vs. New York (in London), Jan. 20 vs. Boston. For the Bucks, Sunday @ Toronto, Tuesday @ Los Angeles Lakers, Thursday @ Phoenix.

• Pistons: Kravtsov, Middleton
• Bucks: Lamb, Przybilla

• Pistons: --
• Bucks: Jennings

• Lead Changes: 6
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #56 Mark Ayotte, #30 John Goble
• Attendance: 15681
• Duration: 2:01