National Basketball Association

Bucks stun Pacers on Bogut's tip

Published Dec. 8, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Andrew Bogut carried his team to victory. Brandon Jennings jumped on him for a ride, too.

Bogut tipped in an inbounds pass from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute as time expired, lifting the Milwaukee Bucks to a 97-95 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.

As the buzzer sounded, Bogut turned away from the basket and raced up the court yelling as loud as he could. Jennings then jumped on Bogut's back for a celebratory ride as the rest of the team mobbed the center.

Bogut said it was a play the team always runs during practice. The Bucks didn't even need coach Scott Skiles to call it.

''We've run that probably 100 times in practice just for these situations,'' Bogut said. ''Coach is big on late-game plays. If you can't get a catch-and-shoot, it's a tip play. It worked perfectly.''

With 0.5 seconds left, Mbah a Moute made a perfect pass over Roy Hibbert that just missed the rim, but allowed Bogut to jump and deflect it in for the winning points.

Skiles said the play was one of those things a team works on, but rarely needs except for three or four times a year.

''He couldn't have passed it any other place for Bogues to get a hand on it,'' Skiles said. ''It was a great play by those two guys.''

Bogut finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks.

''It felt good to have a smile on my face after a game, and have the crowd excited,'' he said. ''It's moments like these that can bring a team together.''

Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said he told the team exactly what the Bucks would run.

''We put a 7-2 guy (Hibbert) on the basketball and somehow Bogut got an angle of Jeff (Foster) and tipped it in,'' O'Brien said.

The Bucks have won six in a row over the Pacers, including the last five at the Bradley Center. Bogut was out with a migraine for the first meeting this season, but the Bucks still won 94-90 on Nov. 5 at Indiana.

Danny Granger had 26 points for Indiana, including a clutch 17-foot jumper with 33.9 seconds left that tied the game at 95.

John Salmons had 16 points for Milwaukee, but missed a late jumper that would have given the Bucks the lead. Hibbert grabbed the rebound and Indiana worked the ball down the court.

Hibbert missed with 0.3 seconds left and the Bucks yelled for a timeout. The referees put 0.2 seconds back on the clock.

Mbah a Moute was ready to inbound the ball, but Indiana called time.

After the timeout, Mbah a Moute made a flawless pass to Bogut, who cut behind Jennings' screen and over Foster for the winning shot.

Jennings, with a huge grin on his face, jumped on Bogut's back and hugged him.

Bogut said he didn't worry about a recurrence of back spasms, which recently caused him to miss five games.

''He's too light,'' Bogut joked about Jennings. ''He's too little.''

The play was reviewed, but the call was upheld.

Darren Collison had 17 points for the Pacers and Hibbert added 13.

Jennings had 22 points for the Bucks and Ersan Ilyasova added a season-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Granger made one of two free throws that capped the third quarter and gave Indiana a 79-78 lead heading into the fourth. There were 11 lead changes after the game was tied at 58.

Mike Dunleavy and Hibbert keyed a 10-2 run to open the third. Hibbert dunked over Bogut, and Dunleavy added six points, including a free throw that tied the game at 58 at the 9:02 mark.

Jennings and Ilyasova each had 13 points and Bogut added 11 points and 10 rebounds, helping Milwaukee take a 56-48 lead at halftime. Granger had 14 points and Collison scored 10 of his 12 in the second quarter to keep Indiana close despite being outrebounded 32-14.

The Bucks outrebounded the Pacers 50-37 and had 19 offensive rebounds to Indiana's five.

''We held them to 36 percent shooting, but gave up 19 offensive rebounds,'' O'Brien said. ''That was the difference in the game.''

That, and a winning tip as time expired.

Notes: Indiana forward James Posey picked up a Flagrant I foul with 4:03 left in the second quarter. He hammered Jennings as the Bucks' point guard drove to the hoop. After landing on his tailbone, he got up slowly and missed the free throw. ... O'Brien argued a no-call and was hit with a technical by referee Brian Forte late in the third. ... The Bucks had 12 offensive rebounds out of the 20 boards they grabbed in the first quarter. The Pacers managed one offensive rebound and five defensive ones.