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    • Big nights for Giannis and Lillard weren’t enough as the Bulls defeated the Bucks 133-122.
    Albany

    Big nights for Giannis and Lillard weren’t enough as the Bulls defeated the Bucks 133-122.

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

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    The Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t keep up with the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, losing 133-122 in the Bucks’ home opener at Fiserv Forum. It was the first win of the season for the Bulls (1:1), the Bucks lost 1:1.

    Milwaukee now travels to New York to face the resurgent Brooklyn Nets (0-2) on Sunday evening.

    Here are some takeaways from the Bucks’ loss:

    Giannis and Damian Lillard are having big nights, but the rest of the Bucks are quiet

    One game after combining for 55 points in a win over Philadelphia, Milwaukee’s All-Star duo crushed Chicago’s defensive attempts and combined for 66 points.

    But how it happened and what it looked and felt like was different.

    “It’s funny,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers began, “we scored 122 points and shot almost 50%, and we didn’t play like we were supposed to play offensively.” I thought a lot of that trickled down to the other end . That wasn’t the same ball-moving team you saw the other night (in Philadelphia). I think it leaks both ways.

    “It was a disappointing game for us tonight. But you have to give them credit. They shot the ball full. They played hard. They pushed the ball and the pace. I thought they had more endurance than us. You could see that.’ So give them a lot of credit.”

    In recent seasons, the Bulls have been a team that could overwhelm Antetokounmpo with good defensive positioning, but this new iteration of the team had no real answer for the MVP candidate. Antetokounmpo’s night was interrupted in the first half by a nasty poster dunk to the head of Bulls center Nikola Vučević, and the Bucks big man finished the game with 38 points and 11 rebounds.

    BOX score: Bulls 133, Bucks 122

    Unfortunately for the Bucks, the only blemish on Antetokounmpo’s night came at the free throw line, where he was just 8-for-16.

    Chicago also had no real answer for Lillard, as the point guard scored 28 points. Chicago wanted the ball out of their hands to start the offense, doubling the point guard in the backcourt so another player could initiate things, but for Lillard it was often just a temporary break in the momentum.

    The problem with the two stars having such productive nights was the fact that the other Bucks players were often watching just as much as the Bulls. For example, when Chicago built an 84-81 lead midway through the third quarter, Antetokounmpo and Lillard had combined for 47 points and 30 shots. The other seven Bucks had combined for 34 points on 30 shots.

    On the night, Antetokounmpo attempted 23 shots and Lillard 21. The other six rotation players combined for 43 field goal attempts and 45 points.

    Citing the numerical breakdown, Rivers admitted that “yeah, yeah, that was part of it” when it came to the lack of flow on offense.

    The imbalance proved to be too much for the Bucks, as secondary scorers like Gary Trent Jr. (3-for-8), Brook Lopez (2-for-10) and Bobby Portis Jr. (4-for-9) never really found a rhythm on offense side of the ball.

    “I think we didn’t stick to the script and trust what we were doing,” Lillard admitted. “I think we had moments of that, but I think we just got away from what we did in the last game. “It’s early days and you just have to keep getting those habits. Even if it doesn’t go well, you still have to be able to trust and want it to work out and get good shots. It also means everyone is involved and the game flows more naturally.”

    On the other side of the court, every Chicago starter scored in double figures and Jalen Smith scored 11 points off the bench. Coby White had 35 points to lead the Bulls, who also got 25 from Zach LaVine and 22 from Vučević.

    The fourth quarter was a turning point for the Bulls

    AJ Green came off the bench and hit two three-pointers early in the fourth quarter to put the Bucks up 102-101, but after that Antetokounmpo missed two shots and the Bulls made three to force a Bucks timeout.

    Coming out of the break trailing 110-102, the Bucks turned the ball over in the backcourt, but Bulls guard Coby White turned away a rushed corner three-pointer. Jalen Smith returned in time to grab the offensive rebound for another three-point attempt, but it was offline. But Dalen Terry grabbed a second straight offensive board between four Bucks defenders. He drew a foul and made two free throws, giving his team a 112-102 lead with nine minutes to play.

    Antetokounmpo followed with his third turnover, which led to a three-pointer from White and a 13-point Chicago lead.

    The Bucks were unable to return to the game after that point.

    “We should have relied more on AJ,” Antetokounmpo admitted. “That possession, when he knocked down two three-pointers, we walked away. We should have used it more, even when he comes off the handoff and takes the ball and goes to the rim or shoots it behind the pick-and-roll. Great. If not, we’ll have to use him more as a decoy because they’ll make him shoot twice. Now they have to respect him, so we have to play him more.

    “I don’t think we succeeded. We have to continue to play smarter. Next time we find ourselves in this situation, we need to take advantage of the hot hand, try to get attention and maybe we can create something different for our offense.”

    The Bucks’ turnovers kept the Bulls in the game

    Rivers wants his team to make the extra pass and not rely on his one-on-one talent too often, and the Bucks were looking for their teammates against the Bulls. But in many cases Friday, the Bulls were also looking for the extra pass, leading to deflections, steals and erratic ballhandling that led to 15 Bucks turnovers when the starters were in the game.

    “I mean, every time you turn the ball over, you give yourself one less opportunity to shoot at the rim and score, and you also give them the opportunity to attack without compromising your own defense,” Lillard said. “There is no way for the offense to know when a turnover is going to happen. So it’s often the case that there’s someone in the corner and two people are behind the game because they’re in the game. And then they come out and throw you off balance, and that leads to easier baskets, it leads to us getting confused and out of position.

    “I thought we turned the ball over too many times, especially because they were taking shots and we didn’t have a good flow offensively in the game. If I start with myself, I think that if I have the responsibility of handling the ball, I can’t turn the ball over five times.”

    Chicago scored 24 points on those extra possessions, allowing them to not only stay in the game but build a double-digit lead in the second half.

    “If you turn the ball over and they go the other way and knock down their three, that kills you. It kills,” Antetokounmpo said. “You’re trying to find a rhythm, get a momentum going, and you don’t care about the ball, and they go the other way and can find the open man and knock down a three-pointer, it wears you out.” And that They did this several times this evening.”

    Coby White set a career-high with four steals and led the Bulls’ defensive effort, which tallied 10 steals.

    Five numbers

    9.5: According to BetMGM, the Bucks were favored by the header advantage.

    39: Points scored in the third quarter by the Bulls. Chicago built a 10-point lead in the period by shooting 63.6% from the field overall – including 60% from behind the three-point line (6 of 10).

    Antetokounmpo: “They moved the ball really well, they played fast. Our transition defense wasn’t that good. They scored in the first five seconds, seven seconds in several games. I think they did a better job setting the tone.” Third Quarter: They came right out of the gate, it didn’t matter if we scored, they just ran the ball to the other end and hit the open guy.

    45.7: Three-point rate for the Bulls (21 to 46) when the starters were in the game. Coby White shot 7 of 13 from behind the arc for Chicago.

    Lillard: “We started by just not focusing on the bodies that we talk about every day at shootarounds. We went through the staff. We talk about how they want to hit a lot of threes this year. We talked about how they got the guys to realize that there are more options and that they’re going to be aggressive, and they were even in preseason. I think in this league if you don’t pay attention to details or respect the details, you see a couple go in and everyone can have a night. And we came up short too often in this first half. They saw one, two, three come in and then they just felt good about it. And at that point we started arguing and the shots just kept coming in. But I think it was because we didn’t take up that space to begin with and allowed them to see enough of those threes coming in and feel good about themselves.”

    April 7, 2024: The last time Giannis Antetokounmpo attempted a 3-pointer was before a 28-footer in the first quarter against the Bulls. His last attempt from distance was on March 21st.

    17,990: Thursday night’s attendance was the largest ever for an opening night event at Fiserv Forum.

    Bucks injury report

    • Khris Middleton is out (surgery on both ankles)
    • Gary Trent Jr., available (right calf contusion)
    • Brook Lopez, probable (right quadriceps contusion)
    • Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (right patella tendinitis)

    Bucks starting lineup

    • Guards: Damian Lillard, Gary Trent
    • Forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bull Prince
    • Center: Brook LopezInactive: Khris Middleton, Liam Robbins, Stanley Umude.

    Bucks vs. Bulls odds, over/under

    According to BetMGM, the Bucks are 9.5-point favorites to win against the Bulls. The over/under is 234.5 points.

    Bucks 2024-25 Schedule

    Here are the Bucks’ first five games on their 2024-25 schedule:

    Wed, Oct 23rd Bucks 124, Philadelphia 76ers 109. Box score

    Fri, Oct 25th vs. Chicago Bulls, 7 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin, formerly Bally Sports Wisconsin)

    Sun, Oct 27th @ Brooklyn Nets, 5 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin)

    Mon, Oct 28th @ Boston Celtics, 6:30 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin; NBA TV)

    Thu, Oct 31st @ Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin)

    Here is the Bucks’ complete schedule.

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    Madoc Meredith
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