Without Giannis Antetokounmpo for a fourth-straight game due to illness, Damian Lillard returned for the Milwaukee Bucks, but poor shooting plagued them as they fell 115-111 to a Chicago Bulls team they beat just five days earlier without Dame. Still, Lillard scored a game-high 29 as each team had three men above 20 points. Josh Giddey and Nikola Vucevic paced Chicago with 23 each.
NBA.com Box Score
Game Recap
Though the Bucks shot the three-ball decently in the opening minutes, they struggled to convert looks inside as the Bulls jumped in front by 13. In fact, they shot a piddly 4/14 on their twos and missed all of their looks in the restricted area, struggling to finish despite ordinary interior defense by Chicago. Meanwhile, the Bulls were 9/9 within 12 feet, resulting in a 20-2 edge in the paint, and were ahead 33-25 after one.
Milwaukee closed to within two just after an early Chicago timeout, but that was as close as they would get for the first several minutes of the second. Defensive miscues enabled the Bulls to tee up two open threes, and Doc Rivers reset the defense with a timeout at the 5:26 mark. Finding themselves down 13 again, the starting lineup reassembled and sliced the deficit to three after a Khris Middleton four-point play, part of an 11-2 run. The foul was upgraded to a flagrant one due to Lonzo Ball’s closeout, as Middleton went down hard and walked gingerly over to the bench, appearing to motion towards his left ankle. He stayed in the game initially but sat for the final minute, and the Bucks trailed 62-60 heading to the locker room.
Middleton was back on the floor to start the third but started 0/3. Milwaukee finally grabbed their first lead with a 9-0 run, capped off by a Bobby Portis three just after the quarter’s midpoint. It was short-lived, as a quick 7-2 Bulls run put them up a basket and sent the Bucks into the huddle with three and a half left in the frame. A reserve-heavy lineup held serve for the closing minutes, and the Bucks clung to an 84-83 advantage entering the final period.
While Brook Lopez reentered at the break, Doc bought Middleton and Lillard a few more minutes of rest. Unfortunately, Chicago streaked out to a seven-point lead with a 10-2 run to begin the fourth. Lillard checked back first with just over ten to go and it soon became Dame Time. A personal 11-0 run put the Bucks back up by four with 7:16 remaining. Sitting on 22 minutes, Middleton was reinserted with just over five left, after sitting for over 12 minutes of gameplay. The Bulls tied it again, though, so things went back and forth for the next few minutes. With 1:11 left, a Giddey corner three put Chicago ahead by a point, and a Middleton turnover 17 seconds later led to a Patrick Williams fastbreak, making it 111-108 with 50.6 on the game clock. Out of the timeout, Lopez rattled in a three to tie, but Coby White sunk a 17-footer with 31.1 left, putting them up two. Middleton’s baseline pullup hit the rim with 12 to go, and Milwaukee had to play the foul game with 10 seconds left, to no avail.
Stat That Stood Out
Unlike some of the Bucks’ other recent losses, this one didn’t get away from them on the margins, as they weren’t too far below water in terms of fastbreak points and were even in second-chance opportunities. But despite having seven more attempts from the field, Milwaukee made four fewer buckets, and shot just 25% from three in the fourth. Even with Chicago shooting just 0.2% percent better from the field in that frame, this was the second game in the row where Milwaukee couldn’t muster enough points after half. After scoring 46 on Thursday, the Bucks only had 51 tonight.
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