WiscoSportsTalk

In a heated affair last night, the Milwaukee Bucks edged the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum, 103-98.

Brandon Jennings led all scorers with 26 points, but he was hardly the top story.  Luke Ridnour and Ersan Ilyasova stole the spotlight.  Luke Ridnour came off the bench and had 13 points and 12 assists (8 in 1st half), while Ersan got the start at the 4-spot and finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Ersan hit the glass hard, boxed out bigger players all game long, and had some great passes on the offensive end.  He reminds me of a young but raw Dirk Nowitizki. Ilyasova is only 22 years old, and he seems to be buying into Skiles’ system because he is one of the most consistent defenders on the team.

Once again the team played short-handed without Andrew Bogut, Michael Redd, LRMaM (Luc Richard Mbah a Moute), and Joe Alexander (Potsie).

Memphis jumped out to a ten point lead at the end of the first half.  They had everything falling down-low with their big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.  In the second half the Grizzlies stopped going down-low and started going one on one and playing with tunnel vision.

When the Grizzlies stopped moving the ball effectively, the Bucks began getting after it.  Memphis was paced by Rudy Gay and Marc Gasol who each had a double-double in points and rebounds. Gay had 24 and 10;  Gasol had 14 and 14.

Charlie Bell started making jump shots for the first time this year, and he finished the game with a season high 19 points, including 5 three pointers.  He was big all night on both ends of the floor.

Milwaukee travels to San Antonio to play the Spurs on Monday night.  The Spurs may still be without Manu Ginobili, but Tony Parker-Longoria returned last night and helped the team beat the Wiz.