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Instead of folding under the pressure of rookie Brandon Jennings (29 points) and his Bucks teammates, Charlotte fought back with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 93-85 with just over two minutes to go. The Bobcats had a chance to get closer, but Flip Murray missed two free throws and Stephen Jackson’s 3-pointer was a little too strong with just over a minute remaining. Charlotte couldn’t close the gap any more until Murray’s jumper with 13 seconds left on the way to a 95-88 loss to the Bucks.

“I don’t think we matched their energy to start (the game) with,” said Bobcats Head Coach Larry Brown. “I told (the team) that if we would have played with the energy we did in the second half, even though we missed free throws and got hurt on the boards, we probably would have had a better result. We can’t afford not to play with unbelievable energy.”

One look at the box score shows that Charlotte’s efforts at the charity stripe might have cost it the win in this one. The Bobcats left 17 points on the board after connecting on just 65 percent (26 of 43) of their freebies, compared to 81.0 percent (17 of 21) for the Bucks.

“Free throws killed us,” newest Bobcat Stephen Jackson said after scoring 22 points but only hitting 4 of 9 shots at the line. “Had we played like we played in the fourth quarter all game, we would have won. We didn’t really turn it up until the fourth quarter, I don’t know why, but we just got to find a way to play like that for four quarters.”

Gerald Wallace took charge for Charlotte in the fourth, scoring 10 of his 22 points as the Bobcats outscored Milwaukee 28-19. Wallace also added 10 rebounds to record his sixth double-double of the season. Flip Murray followed with 17 points off the bench as he continued his hot shooting on the road trip. But it wasn’t enough to keep Charlotte from dropping its seventh-straight game and falling to 3-9 overall.

“We got new guys and we’re struggling right now on offense,” point guard Raymond Felton said. “We’re trying to get everybody involved in the offense and get everybody shots. It’s a tough time for us right now, you know, we had a great start at the beginning and then we started struggling, then we had a trade. I’m not blaming everything on that, but we’re just struggling right now. If we make half of our 17 missed free throws, we probably win tonight. We just have to put it behind us. We’re going to be fine, it’s a long season.”

The Bobcats are hoping that as the team continues to gel after adding Jackson and Acie Law on Monday in exchange for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic, these close losses will soon become convincing wins. Jackson continues to look comfortable in the offense and knows that getting those wins is top priority.

“As far as my teammates, they’ve made it really easy for me to adjust,” said Jackson. “The team has accepted me with open arms, so everything is good on that part. I just think us coming together and figuring out how hard we have to play to win games is the biggest thing right now. As far as accepting me, the team has done that and it’s been an easy transition. We just got to find out how to win a game.”

Charlotte will have that chance at 5 p.m. Sunday when the team returns to Time Warner Cable Arena to take on the Indiana Pacers.