The Milwaukee Bucks played their first preseason home game in Milwaukee on Saturday, falling to the Utah Jazz 92-78.

The game was a first on several fronts, none more compelling than rookie power forward Yi Jianlian making his first start of the preseason in front of his home crowd at the Bradley Center, where 13,468 fans came to see the "new look" Milwaukee Bucks.

Yi Jianlian collected 13 points on 6/13 shooting in 29 minutes of action, the most he scored in his three preseason performances. Yi also had five personal fouls and game high eight turnovers.

He had three points on Tuesday in the first appearance against Chicago Bulls and finished 12 points at Salt Lake against Utah Jazz.

From the outset, Yi looked tentative and hurried as one might expect with the rookie playing in front of his home crowd for the first time. However, three of those turnovers came almost in succession early in the game, and then he had a stretch where he seemed to get his groove on somewhat, backing down a defender and hitting a turn around jump shot, and looking more comfortable as the game progressed.

On the bright side he seemed to work well with former number overall 2005 draft pick and starting Center Andrew Bogut, who finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots in 22 minutes of play.

Milwaukee led 64-61 at the end of the third quarter, before head coach Larry Krystkowiak sat his starters for much of the fourth quarter and the Jazz began to pull away.

The Bucks had more turnovers (30) than field goals (28) that led to 31 points off of turnovers. Sixty one fouls being called aided in this ugly affair as well. The Bucks did out rebound Utah 41-34 and held them to 37.7 % shooting from the field, showing improvement over last years team as Coach K has emphasized defense and rebounding throughout training camp.

One of the highlights of the evening was when Milwaukee, who had been behind by as much as 12 points, came storming back and took the lead on a nice pass from Mo Williams to Yi Jianlian for a thundering slam dunk that gave Milwaukee a short lived 48-47 lead.

"I see a big guy running that hard why would I lay it up?" said Williams who led the Bucks with 22 points. "He's running the floor and I need him to get going. He's my pick-and-pop guy. I want to get him going and get him in a good rhythm."

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)