brandon-jennings-11-26-13.jpg

Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings has 37 assists in the last three games.

(The Associated Press)

AUBURN HILLS -- As a fifth-year NBA player, yet still just 24 years old, the

Brandon Jennings admits he remains a work in progress in managing that delicate line any point guard straddles, between implementing his own game and sacrificing large chunks of it.

It was easy to focus on Jennings' improved shooting in

.

And after admitting sagging confidence in his jump shot, that certainly mattered.

"It just felt great just to see that shot go in the basket," Jennings said after scoring 15 points, including 4-of-6 shooting on 3-pointers.

In the broader scope, Jennings' playmaking did even more to transform the Pistons' offense this week, including consecutive 65-point halves Sunday at Brooklyn and Monday against the Bucks.

Jennings has three consecutive double-digit assist games, matched only once previously in his career, when he had four in a row last March for the Bucks.

He promised from the day the Pistons traded for him to become a distributor, like during his high school days at Oak Hill Academy (Va.), before the Bucks looked to him and Monta Ellis to create a volume-offense backcourt.

The transition hasn't been easy for the 17-point career scorer.

"You remember, I was harping from the beginning of the season, saying I'm going to be the pass-first point guard, taking my team skills like I was at Oak Hill," Jennings said. "But it was totally different because I had been the main scorer for my team for four years. And to try to kind of take a back seat has been a little bit different for me. But I'm learning how to balance it and it looks like it's coming along pretty well."

Monday's reunion was tough on the Milwaukee Bucks' Brandon Knight (left) and Khris Middleton.

The swished shots looked good and the Pistons needed them. Jennings had missed eight consecutive 3-point attempts before Monday's win.

But the symmetry of Jennings' last three games, with averages of 12 points, 12 field-goal attempts and 12 assists -- and a 2-1 record -- is the Pistons' template for him.

In Jennings' first 10 games, he averaged 15 points, 15 shots and six assists, and the Pistons were 3-7.

Against Milwaukee, the other four starters all had field goals, three of them more than one, before Jennings took a shot.

By the end of the first quarter, he had four 3-pointers, four assists, and keyed a 21-0 knockout run.

Jennings benefited from the Pistons turning early steals into transition offense against the Bucks. He got his big men going early and collected easy assists in the open court.

The fast break created a rhythm between playmaking and shooting which Jennings had struggled to find.

After a day off Tuesday, that's a formula the Pistons hope Jennings can recreate Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls here.

"I've been trying to balance that," Jennings said. "There's been times where I've been getting so many guys involved, I kind of forget to score sometimes. That's been what's kind of messing up my rhythm a little bit.

"I've got to try to find a way to not go five minutes, 10 minutes without taking a shot, then taking my first shot. It's been kind of a different situation for me but I think I'm kind of just picking it up right now."

-- Download the Detroit Pistons on MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Like MLive's Detroit Pistons Facebook page