You know what, let’s just try and have fun tonight!
Chicago Bulls (0-1) at Milwaukee Bucks (1-0) – 7:00 p.m. CT on Chicago Sports Network (TV) and 670 The Score (Radio)
Projected Lineups
Chicago Bulls
- Josh Giddey
- Coby White
- Zach LaVine
- Patrick Williams
- Nikola Vucevic
Milwaukee Bucks
- Damian Lillard
- Gary Trent Jr
- Taurean Prince
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Brook Lopez
Odds
Chicago comes into today’s game as 9.5-point underdogs against Milwaukee at DraftKings Sportsbook.
What To Watch For
- I’ll be honest, I know it’s only game two, but this one feels like it could be a tough watch! The Bulls, to their credit, took a whole lot more threes in the opener against New Orleans, buuuuuut that didn’t mean they really hit a lot more. They went just 10-34 from beyond the arc and if you remove Zach LaVine’s 5-8 performance, the rest of the team went just 5-26. Not great! To make matters worse, Milwaukee went 16-37 from deep in their opener – a 124-109 throttling of Philly – and Chicago’s three-point defense (and defense in general) was pretty awful. The good news is Coby White can’t shoot much worse from deep, and Ayo also didn’t connect from long range. If those two shoot better, hopefully, the team numbers look better as well.
- Patrick Williams just needs to be better. He was so disappointing on Wednesday night. He was passive and at times just appeared to be floating out there (if I had a dollar for every time that was written in the past few years). He’s got his work cut out for him going up against Giannis tonight, so Chicago is going to need him if they want any chance to hang around. Doesn’t feel too great to be writing this about a guy who just inked a five-year, $90 million deal but here we are!
- If you were looking forward to watching Lonzo Ball tonight, I do apologize. He’ll be getting the night off as a part of his knee injury management process. For the foreseeable future, back-to-backs are out of the question for Lonzo, and with the home opener tomorrow night Billy Donovan opted to have him play at the United Center.
- Can Zach LaVine continue to stack good performances on top of each other? I really hope so. He was outstanding on Wednesday night and looked like the healthy version of himself. If he can shoot like that, cut the turnovers down a bit, and look like an All-Star as he did against the Pelicans, he’ll have some suitors eventually. Gary Trent Jr is on the injury report tonight with a quad bruise. If he’s out or slowed, that’s a nice opportunity for LaVine to have another good night. Let’s Go Zach!
Chicago Bulls:
- Lonzo Ball OUT (knee management)
Milwaukee Bucks:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo PROBABLE (right patella tendinitis)
- Brook Lopez PROBABLE (right quadriceps contusion)
- Gary Trent Jr QUESTIONABLE (calf)
- Khris Middleton OUT (ankle)