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Bogut, Jennings spark Bucks’ victory over Celtics

MILWAUKEE — A serious mismatch on paper, it looked even more ridiculous in real life: Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings, all of 6-foot-1 and 169 pounds, standing up to Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis—a player 8 inches taller and nearly 130 pounds heavier.

Still, Jennings didn’t back down from an on-court confrontation with Davis in the fourth quarter. The rookie’s aggressive reaction to a hard foul midway through the period appeared to kick-start the Bucks, who came back and took down yet another Eastern Conference heavyweight with a 86-84 victory over the Celtics on Tuesday.

“No doubt about it,” Jennings said. “Once that happened, I said, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s on now.’ ”

Andrew Bogut had 25 points and 17 rebounds for the Bucks, who went on an 18-9 run after the confrontation between Jennings and Davis, which started with a hard foul by Davis on Jennings’ fast-break layup attempt and ended with the two players being separated on the court.

“He probably thought he got hit a little harder than he should have, and stood up for himself,” Bogut said. “He’s a young kid that’s going to speak his mind, and we need that.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he wished Davis had just walked away, but Rivers had bigger concerns—namely his team’s inability to stop Bogut.

“He killed us,” Rivers said. “I thought he set the table for them all night.”

Carlos Delfino started for Milwaukee despite experiencing flulike symptoms earlier in the day, scoring 19 points.

Rajon Rondo had 20 points for Boston, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Garnett had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Boston then went into the fourth quarter with a 68-64 lead, but Milwaukee had closed within two when Bogut blocked Pierce’s layup attempt, leading to a fast break for the Bucks. Jennings went up for a layup but took a hard foul from Davis, who hit the floor.

Jennings stood over Davis and appeared to scream something at him—although Jennings insisted afterward he didn’t say much.

“I just stood over him, let him know, ‘I’m all right,’ ” Jennings said.

Then Davis got up, the two players made contact and had to be separated. A double-technical was called, along with a personal foul on Davis, and Jennings hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to one with 8:03 left.

The Bucks didn’t want to make too big of a deal out of what could be seen as a signature victory. But Bogut acknowledged that the win did help the team’s confidence.

“We still have a lot of season to go,” Bogut said. “We’re starting to do the right things and we’re beating teams now that no one thinks we can beat.”