So you just know rookie point guard Brandon Jennings wants to make amends when the Milwaukee Bucks play the New York Knicks on Friday night.

And what better place to do it than Madison Square Garden?

Jennings will play his first pro game at the Garden and give Knicks fans a first-hand glimpse at what they're missing after New York passed on him with the eighth overall pick in last June's draft.

He has experienced his ups and downs over a captivating rookie campaign, and Jennings' 55-point game against Golden State on Nov. 14 remains the top scoring game in the league this season.

But Jennings was 1 of 7 from the field in the Bucks' 99-82 loss in Orlando on Tuesday and had a season-low two points. It was just the seventh time in 47 games he had been held in single figures.

"He's had some difficulty in the second game of back-to-backs," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "That's understandable. He hasn't gone through this before.

"I felt like early in the game he turned down some shots. He came off some pick-and-rolls with some space and elected to go in there. But he made some nice passes to people like he always does. But his defensive effort wasn't very good, either."

It's all part of the learning curve for Jennings, recently named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month for the third straight month.

He is actually shooting better from three-point distance (38.7%) than he is overall (38%). But the 10th overall pick in last year's draft remains the rookie leader in assists with a 6.2 average and ranks second in scoring (17.2) to Sacramento's Tyreke Evans (20.7).

"He's a great player," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said of Jennings, despite the Magic's success against him. "He's so quick and he can get to where he wants to go on the floor.

"He can get shots when he wants them. All you try to do is not give him anything easy, don't make a lot of mistakes. Make sure your help is getting to him to take away his easy baskets. Then hope he misses some of the shots when you are there."

Jennings' meteoric start has hurt him in some ways because the perception is that his overall play has declined. But he is averaging 34.2 minutes and directing the team effectively.

During a recent five-game stretch he dished out 40 assists, including a season-best 13 against Minnesota on Jan. 23.

"There aren't very many guys, rookies or veterans, who are going to maintain the numbers he had going for a while in November," Van Gundy said. "Especially rookies, you're going to level off some.

"But if you look at the year he's having, averaging 17-plus points, it's a phenomenal year.

"I still think if you look at him, you've got to say he's performing above all expectations for the year. And I assume what will happen is he'll have some real good runs the rest of the way and he'll have some games where he struggles.

"But I think there's no question over a lot of games now he's proven what a talent he is and how good he is going to be in this league."

Opposing teams are trying various schemes to disrupt Jennings' rhythm, often trapping him or showing a bigger defender to slow down the Bucks' initial half-court offense.

"The number of easy looks he gets isn't going to be what he had," Van Gundy said, "but I still have not seen anybody that has a defensive scheme he can't handle and is locking him down."

Jennings is looking forward to a busy all-star weekend in Dallas as he participates in the Rookie Challenge game and the Skills Challenge in the lead-up to the All-Star Game on Feb. 14.

But first he wants to help the Bucks make a surge in the final four games prior to the break, beginning against the Knicks.

"It's still not over yet," Jennings said. "We've got to go to New York and win and go home and get a couple games.

"We still have a chance to almost reach .500 (before the break) so we've just got to keep fighting."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we don't get a pg like him or better next yr im gonna be so

the order of the day is to knock mr. jennings on his weak ass wherever he tries to go on the floor. put toney douglas on him and dog his ass and frustrate him and make him cry like little anthony randolph! then have jordan hill under the basket to swipe his sh!t if he gets anywhere near it.

c'mon you monthly bleeders time to man up a little around here!

Marv wrote:c'mon you monthly bleeders time to man up a little around here!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

earthmansurfer wrote:

Panos wrote:F Jennings. Seriously get over it. Its not like he was the obvious pick, and I challenge anyone to show evidence that said we should have picked him before the season started.

The guy that was high on our list was Tyreke Evans. In our workout Jennings held his own against him. That was our first clue. Second, our scouts thought good of him (but clearly not enough). Third, our position of need was pg first, though Center might even be more important as they are harder to find, but take longer to develop (which we are seeing).

I hope we get to see something great from Hill tonight, as you know what's going through his and a lot of peoples minds...

But, if you want evidence, well this is sports, hard to find evidence. The closest thing to evidence regarding Jennings would be his ranking coming out of high school. The Knicks simply didn't do their homework. Then again, maybe Hill turns into something special...

That's not the evidence I'm talking about.
I'm talking about evidence that anyone realized that we missed out on Jennings before the season started and he had some good games. Otherwise, its all spilled milk.

jimimou wrote:

fishmike wrote:I'm sick of Jennings too. I hope Nate doesnt get too caught up but I can see Nate destroying Jennings. Nate is 1000x stronger and just as quick. If he can just stay out of the one on one crap he can have a great game

why do i get the feeling that its gonna be the nate vs jennings show tonite??? i am not expecting much to be honest - these guys may jack up 30 shots each.

Marv wrote:
c'mon you monthly bleeders time to man up a little around here!

Panos wrote:
F Jennings!

playa2 wrote:

fishmike wrote:I'm sick of Jennings too. I hope Nate doesnt get too caught up but I can see Nate destroying Jennings. Nate is 1000x stronger and just as quick. If he can just stay out of the one on one crap he can have a great game

Fishmike, you don't think it's purposeful for Danphony knowing this show down against brandon was coming and he's gonna sick his top dog (NATE)to go up against him,knowing Jennings would have died twice to have played for the knicks in NY and wanted him to prove it at MSG ?

nate plays no D. and if he gets in a shooting contest with him he's failing in his pg role. what top dog??

sebstar wrote:I hope Jennings puts on a show. Rubs it in the face of Walsh and company.

i'm hoping for the opposite. i have nothing against jennings and hope he does great against everyone else. but i hope he gets his ass handed to him here and i hope douglas and hill lead the handing. i don't even care about walsh, this is about the knicks.