Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings Sparks Young Bucks' Rising Offense

After a disappointing 2-3 start, the Milwaukee Bucks have reeled off three straight wins to get back to .500 and are looking like the team that entered the 2010-11 season with high expectations for a deep playoff run.

The Bucks began the season playing the same hard nosed Scott Skiles style of defense that helped them reach the playoffs last year. Milwaukee leads the NBA in scoring defense, allowing just 89.4 points per game, and ranks third in opponents field goal percentage at 42.5%.

But up until its last three games, the Bucks’ sputtering offense had been hard to watch.

Brandon Jennings, the second year point guard known as “Young Buck” in Milwaukee, has been the biggest reason for the turnaround on offense.

Jennings, one of the quickest players in the NBA, is finding his shooting stroke and playing much more aggressive on offense for the Bucks. He’s sparked a struggling offense that ranked close to last in almost every offensive category.

Jennings has scored exactly 19 points and added 6 assists in Milwaukee’s last three games. He’s also averaged 7 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 turnovers over that time frame. He’s also made eight of 15 three-pointers, seven of eight free throws, and shot 44% from the field.

The three game winning streak started a week ago when the Bucks beat the Knicks 107-80 at home. Milwaukee then traveled to Atlanta to play the Hawks the very next day and pulled off an impressive 108-91 road upset.

Following their victory, the Bucks fought Golden State at home on Saturday and held the high octane Warriors under 80 points in a 79-72 win.

The Bucks averaged 98.7 points per game over that period, almost 10 points higher than the 89.6 points that they averaged in their first seven games.

The leadership, shooting and playmaking ability of Brandon Jennings has been the biggest reason for the improvement on offense.

Jennings is the Bucks’ most dynamic offensive player, and it’s up to the 21-year-old point guard to continue to shoot the ball better and set up his teammates for the Bucks to be successful on offense.

Jennings isn’t Rajon Rondo — where Rondo’s job is to get 10 points and 15 assists — the Bucks need Jennings to tally 20 points and 6 assists.

On a team that’s hitting just 41.6% of their field goals (29^th in the NBA), the Bucks need Jennings to continue to make around 45% of his shots and score close to 20 points per game.

The 19 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds that Jennings has averaged in the past three wins is exactly what Scott Skiles wants to see.

Milwaukee faces the Lakers at home tonight in what should be a great test to see how much this Bucks offense has really improved.