After home games, his entourage includes a little brown Mamacita strolling near him and riding shotgun in a Cadillac Escalade and some homeboys to hang out with.  And don’t forget about the three straight Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honors. 

On the court, the confidence that has been missing from the Bucks comes from one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year.  Jennings played in his 63rd NBA game Tuesday at home. 

He was part of the reason the swagger returned to the team.   

What seemed to be the impossible three months ago is looking to be a reality.  After Milwaukee evened their record to 11-11 in December, they went south, only to pull themselves up from the rear in late February and back to .500. 

Now people around here are talking playoffs again. 

Milwaukee beat two of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference in four days in early March.  You can give the Bucks a pass for beating the Cleveland Cavaliers without injured forward LeBron James. 

And they went toe-to-toe with the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics.  No doubt, those were two tough games against quality opponents and two signature wins.  It didn’t matter if the wins were at home or on the road. 

The will to beat Boston Tuesday occurred with 8 minutes 3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Milwaukee trailing 70-69.  Jennings drove right for an attempted layup. 

Boston forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis knocked Jennings to the floor with a hard foul.  Jennings popped up and went face-to-face with Davis.  It was like Floyd Mayweather Jr. standing up against WWE’s the “Big Show.” 

Both players were given technical fouls.  Davis also got a personal foul. 

Milwaukee used the extra motivation to go on a 17-9 run to lead 86-79.  The Bucks didn’t score in the final 2:42 as the Celtics scored the game’s last five points.  A last second shot by guard Paul Pierce was no good. 

Milwaukee held on for an 86-84 win. 

Boston coach Doc Rivers responded on the Jennings-Davis incident.  “You call that a skirmish?” he said.  “I don’t call it much, really.  I call it two little guys looking at each other or one big guy and one small guy.” 

Davis’ listed weight is 295 pounds; Jennings is 169, soak and wet. 

Said Rivers, “Baby, I told him what he should have done was walked away, and then the tech would have been only on Jennings because he was standing over him.  It was a clean, hard foul.  Get used to it.  There will be more.  I didn’t think the foul was hard enough for a reaction." 

"It’s just two young guys, you know, acting up, but no big deal.” 

But indeed it was a big deal for Jennings when asked for his take on the situation.  “It was a hard foul,” he said.  “They’re known for punking people, but they weren’t gonna come in here and punk me."

"Hard foul.  I just looked at him and made sure he was all right.  I was all right.  So I made sure he got off the ground.  (Boston) is a team that don’t take no mess.  We don’t either.” 

Milwaukee currently holds the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with a 34-29 record.  There’s a possibility that the Bucks could meet Boston (40-22) in the first round of the playoffs.

The Celtics return to the Bradley Center on April 10.

And Milwaukee closes out their regular season on April 14 at Boston.