MILWAUKEE -- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist appeared in only seven games last season, and he last played in a regular-season on Feb. 10.

When the Charlotte Hornets raised the curtain on the new season Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, the fourth-year forward made up for lost time.

Kidd-Gilchrist knocked down 10 of 18 shots for 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while playing 34 minutes to lead the Hornets to a 107-96 victory at the Bradley Center.

"He played a great game," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "You put him out there with Marvin (Williams) and Nic (Batum), and it gives us so much versatility defensively. They're able to switch so much stuff. The three of them can all contain the ball, help, play pick-and-roll defense. It makes rotations and everything a lot simpler."

Kidd-Gilchrist wasn't the only Charlotte player to enjoy a strong return from injury.

Center Cody Zeller, who missed the entire preseason with a bone bruise in his right knee, made the most of his 14 minutes, scoring 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting.

Offense was plentiful for the Hornets, who shot 44.9 percent from the field despite going just 7-for-23 from beyond the 3-point arc. Charlotte also got 17 from Kemba Walker, 15 from Roy Hibbert and 13 from Williams, who sank three of the Hornets' seven 3-pointers.

"We just stuck to our game plan," Walker said. "We made all the right plays. We didn't turn the ball over too much. We got a lot of stops, pushed the tempo, we made shots. They made their run, but we were able to keep our composure and come out with a win."

Milwaukee got a game-high 31 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, 14 from Greg Monroe, 13 from Jabari Parker and 11 from Matthew Dellavedova. Antetokounmpo also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.

"Giannis was off the charts tonight," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "He has to get his teammates to join him."

Looking similar to the team that struggled to score last season, the Bucks shot 42.4 percent from the floor and made only 3 of 16 tries from beyond the 3-point arc.

"We had shots that we didn't make, and we took some bad shots," Kidd said. "On top of that, just understanding that offensive rebounding and threes are something that we have to get better at."

Dellavedova hit his first 3-point attempt at the 7:41 mark of the first quarter, but the Bucks missed their next nine attempts from distance before Antetokounmpo connected with 4:18 left in the third.

By that point, though, the Bucks were already buried deep. An inability to stop the Hornets defensively, coupled with ice-cold shooting, doomed Milwaukee to a 24-point deficit in the third quarter.

The Bucks manage to claw back into the game early in the fourth, getting the margin down to 11 with nine minutes remaining. Malcom Brogdon got Milwaukee within nine at the 8:20 mark, but a three-point play from Kidd-Gilchrist returned the double-digit advantage for Charlotte.

"I think we did a good job there moving the ball and defending the ball," Antetokounmpo said. "We rebounded the ball there, and we were able to run. That's why we came really close in the game."

Milwaukee cut the deficit to nine one more time, but a Williams 3-pointer made it a 101-89 game with just under three minutes left.

"Every time we made a run, they hit a 3," Kidd said.

The Hornets return to action Friday, when they travel to Miami to face the Heat, an opponent they pushed to seven games before intimately falling in a first-round playoff series last season.

The Bucks host the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night then travel to Detroit for their first back-to-back set of the season.

NOTES: Milwaukee SG Tony Snell was unavailable for the season opener because of a sprained left ankle. He has not been able to practice with the Bucks since he was acquired from Chicago in exchange for PG Michael Carter-Williams on Oct. 17. ... F/C Frank Kaminsky was inactive for Charlotte as he recovers from a sprained left ankle suffered in an exhibition game Oct. 21 against Minnesota. ... The Hornets won the season series 3-1 a year ago and are 52-50 against the Bucks since Charlotte returned to the NBA in 2004.