Philadelphia, PA (Basketball News) - Michael Redd forced overtime with a three- pointer and finished with 30 points, and Andrew Bogut was a force in his first NBA game with 13 points and nine rebounds, as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 117-108, in the season-opener for both clubs.
Bucks guard T.J. Ford, who missed all of last season with a spinal injury, nearly had a triple-double, as he finished with 16 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds. Bobby Simmons poured in 22 points and had 12 rebounds for the Bucks, who gave head coach Terry Stotts a win in his debut with the team.
Stotts, who was an assistant with the Golden State Warriors last season, took over for Terry Porter, who was unexpectedly fired on June 22.
Bogut, the first overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft out of Utah, went 6-of-9 from the floor, and that included a game-sealing three-point play in overtime.
"I had him in most of the fourth quarter and overtime," Stotts said of Bogut. "We were effective with him on the court. Right now he doesn’t have to be an offensive force. We don’t need him to feel like he has to score every time he touches it. I think he knows that, and like I’ve always said, he’s very mature with his approach to the game and it was shown tonight."
Allen Iverson had 35 points and nine assists and Chris Webber added 32 points and 14 rebounds for the Sixers, who blew a seven-point lead with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter and couldn’t post a win for new head coach Maurice Cheeks.
"We just cracked. We had the game," Iverson said. "We’re not supposed to lose that one. I would rather get blown out then lose that one."
Cheeks, who was a second-round pick of the Sixers in the 1978 draft and spent 11 seasons playing for Philadelphia, replaced the fired Jim O’Brien in the offseason. It seemed as if he’d win his debut before a crowd of 17,705 at the Wachovia Center, but the Bucks finished the game with an incredible 22-6 run.
"That emotion is gone now," said Cheeks, who helped the Sixers to the 1983 NBA title. "There aren’t any more emotions now. It was great. I am just trying to get the game going and get the season going. And this is not the way I want to get it going."
An Iverson steal led to one free throw by John Salmons to extend Philadelphia’s lead to 102-95 with 2:02 left in regulation, but the Bucks rallied as Redd hit two free throws and Ford put in a basket with less than a minute remaining. Webber then missed a jumper and Redd canned a three-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to force overtime. Webber had a chance to give the Sixers the win at the end of regulation, but he missed a jumper from left of the foul line to send the contest into the extra session even at 102-102.
"That’s a shot that all NBA players love to have and it went in for me this time," Redd said. "Our team did a great job hanging around in that last minute until we had to make a three that we’d be in the game still."
A foul-line jumper by Redd gave Milwaukee the lead for good at 106-104. Bogut’s layup and two free throws from Simmons then made it 110-104 with 1:40 remaining. The 7-foot Bogut then made a layup and converted it into a three- point play with 49.1 seconds left to extend the Bucks to a 113-104 cushion.
"In an NBA game anything can happen in that last minute, it’s so crucial," Bogut said. "You just keep playing hard and good things will happen. We worked hard at practice it showed tonight."
Steven Hunter added 11 points and Salmons had 10 for the Sixers, who were outrebounded, 53-39.
"We just didn’t get it done," Iverson added. "Out of 82 games it’s unheard of to think that you can win every game, but that was one that we should of had. As a team we have to accept that we had a chance to win a basketball game and we just didn’t get it done. I think that it’s better for us now then later on because hopefully we can learn from this experience and make sure that it doesn’t happen again."
The Sixers didn’t trail the entire first half, going up by as many as nine points in the opening quarter before settling for a 32-29 advantage after 12 minutes.
The lead grew again to nine points early in the second quarter at 38-29 following a basket from Salmons. The Bucks got within one at 40-39 on a jumper from Charlie Bell, but Philadelphia built a 55-50 lead at the intermission behind 18 points from Webber.
The Bucks were ahead by as many as six points in the third quarter, as Redd’s basket with 3 1/2 minutes left made it 69-63. However, the Sixers closed the period ahead 74-73.
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