Bucks center Andrew Bogut wanted to return as quickly as possible from a leg injury to help silence critics that claim he's always injured.

He missed six games with a lower leg contusion.

"You try to take it personally when you get an injury and people say you're going to be out for a certain period of time," Bogut said. "That's all I could do. The only competitiveness I had left in me was to try to come back earlier than they said."

The center missed 43 games last season due to a stress fracture in his lower back. He was averaging 16.1 points and 9.2 rebounds in the first nine games of the season before injuring his leg.