Evans hurt as Kings fall to Bucks in 2OT
March 20, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)—While Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings(notes) wasexcitedly talking about a double-overtime victory Friday night, first-yearcounterpart Tyreke Evans(notes) of the Sacramento Kings was having difficulty evenopening his mouth.
Jennings scored 35 points, hit a career-high eight 3-pointers and addedeight assists for the streaking Bucks, who rallied late in regulation and nevertrailed in the second overtime in a 114-108 victory over the Kings.
Jennings was reveling afterward in his biggest points total since he scored55 in a Nov. 14 game at Golden State.
Evans was being examined by team doctors and the rest of his season could bein jeopardy. He sustained a concussion, had lacerated gums and a chipped toothafter taking an inadvertent elbow from the Bucks’ Ersan Ilyasova(notes) late inregulation on a loose-ball situation when he departed for good with 27.3 secondsleft.
Kings officials said Evans was being X-rayed and might have a fractured jaw.
The talented point guard had 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Hehad his first triple-double last week and was an assist shy of having two morein the following three games.
“Tyreke has a concussion. He has some damage to his teeth and his jaw,”Kings coach Paul Westphal said. “There will be more tests (tomorrow). Heobviously isn’t going with us to L.A. (for Sunday’s game with the Clippers).
“We have no idea how long he’ll be out or how serious the injury is untilthe doctors are able to examine him with all the equipment they have.”
The injury took away from a showcase game between two of the leadingcandidates for Rookie of the Year. Jennings who has been annoyed latelyconcerning his absence from the Rookie of the Year discussion, downplayed thestrong game versus Evans, who many see as the front-runner for the rookie honor.
“Right now it’s not about me, it’s about my teammates,” Jennings said.“John Salmons(notes) played today, Andrew Bogut(notes) played good today. Ersan hit some bigshots. A win like this is like a playoff game. We just kept fighting.”
Salmons continues to play well for the Bucks. Since arriving in a trade fromChicago the Bucks are 13-2 with the veteran swingman in the lineup. Salmonsscored 27 points, but perhaps more importantly was a major factor in keepingEvans from making his trademark penetrating moves to the basket.
“I was trying to stay in front of him (Evans) as best I could,” Salmonssaid. “He is one of the best at getting in the paint and finishing. Myteammates gave me a lot of help.”
Andrew Bogut added 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks, who avoidedtheir first two-game losing streak since mid-January. The Bucks hold down fifthplace in the Eastern Conference playoff chase and are 2 1/2 games ahead ofsixth-place Charlotte, which lost to Atlanta in overtime.
Beno Udrih had 26 points and nine assists for the Kings, who have lost twostraight and six of eight. Spencer Hawes and Carl Landry scored 16 points each.
The Bucks scored the first five points of the second overtime and nevertrailed.
Jennings hit a jumper with 1:12 left for a 112-108 lead and the Kings neverscored again in a sloppy final minute.
“We were able to steal it,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “We were ableto execute well after some timeouts and got some baskets and Ersan Ilyasova hitthe big one. We were fortunate to have that on a night where we didn’t playwell.”
In the first overtime, Jennings missed a jumper in the closing seconds thatwould have won the game. Neither team scored in the final 59 seconds and wentinto the second overtime tied at 101.
Ilyasova sent the game into overtime, making a long 3-pointer to tie it at95 with 6.4 seconds left. The Kings squandered a nine-point lead in the final2:26.
The battle of the two talented rookies definitely belonged to Jennings inthe first half. He made five 3-pointers and had 22 points for Milwaukee, whichled 49-48.
NOTES: Bucks forward Carlos Delfino was back in the starting lineup aftermissing the last two games because of left ankle bone bruise. … The Kingsended their five-game homestand and will play six of their next seven on theroad, starting Sunday against the Clippers.
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