The Bulls and Bucks didn’t quite look like they knew the game had started. Both teams approached the first few minutes as a shootaround, leading to some quick offensive fouls and six straight misses.
For the Bulls, it took a motivated Torrey Craig to kick things into high gear. The veteran received his first start of the night with Patrick Williams ruled out due to left foot inflammation. And he ran with it. Craig scored seven of the team’s first 13 points, helping the Bulls overcome a scary slow start.
Meanwhile, the Bucks had their own role player stepping up. AJ Green looked more than comfortable in the first half, scoring 11 points off the bench on 3-4 shooting from downtown. One of those 3s came immediately after Coby White knotted the game up at 30 apiece. This ignited a 16-0 run for Milwaukee that stretched into the second quarter.
Zach LaVine did what he could to keep the Bulls within striking distance. He had one of his signature hot stretches, scoring 12 points in the final 5:07 of the half. He practically single-handedly carved the Bucks’ 18-point lead down to single digits heading into the locker room.
Unfortunately, that is also when someone reminded Giannis Antetokounmpo of who he is. The Greek Freak reached maximum freaky levels in the third quarter. He scored the first 12 points for Milwaukee in the frame, finishing with a mind-boggling 25 points on 11-13 in the quarter. While few teams around the league have an answer for Antetokounmpo, the Bulls proved especially vulnerable this evening without Williams on the floor. Whether it was Craig or Julian Phillips, anyone the Bulls threw at Antetokounmpo looked like a third-grader playing varsity.
Nevertheless, the Bulls managed to stay within arm’s reach thanks to a 21-3 advantage behind the arc in the third quarter. They got some strong play from the second unit that carried into the final 12 minutes. Ultimately, Phillips splashed a corner 3 with 7:56 to go, which cut the Bucks’ lead to just 104-102. Were the Bulls really about to steal another at the Fiserv!?
Damian Lillard didn’t think so. He hit a nasty stepback over Nikola Vucevic before AJ Green splashed another huge 3. Then, another three from Lillard and one from Brook Lopez made it a 115-102 game in the blink of an eye. With Antetokounmpo already getting anything he wanted at the rim, the Bucks knew how to close out this game.
Milwaukee would walk out of there with 122-106 victory. Chicago scored only 16 points in the fourth quarter. Over the course of the night, they also were outscored by 20 in the paint and allowed the Bucks to shoot 24 more free throws.
Players Grades
Torrey Craig – A
Stats: 15 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL
Considering Torrey Craig had only three appearances before tonight and played less than 12 minutes in all of them … how can I not give him an A? He brought the Bulls to life in the beginning and kept them alive through most of the game. Starting cold off the bench like that isn’t easy, but Craig made it look that way. The dude deserves to be the Ankin Law: “Making it Personal” Player of the Game.
Zach LaVine – A-
Stats: 27 PTS, 6 AST, 5 REB
All things considered, it’s hard to have many complaints about Zach LaVine’s performance. In many ways, this felt like a game from 2018. LaVine hit the shots he needed to hit, but the Bulls couldn’t find anyone else to help him.
Dalen Terry – B
Stats: 10 PTS, 1 AST, 1 STL
Maybe my eyes deceived me, but I feel like this had to be Dalen Terry’s best game of the year. He was extremely active from the moment he stepped on the floor and even shot 4-5 from the field. Also, this was nasty!
Coby White & Nikola Vucevic – D+
Stats: 28 PTS, 8 AST, 8 REB
Neither Coby White nor Nikola Vucevic seemed to find their footing tonight. They shot a combined 12-30 from the field and simply didn’t have their normal touch. Vucevic, in particular, couldn’t seem to connect on his normal turnaround push shots that have been so effective this season.
Josh Giddey – D-
Stats: 5 PTS, 3 AST, 6 REB
Yeah … so it might be time to worry.
Box Score
Check out the full box score here.