The Bulls were riding high coming into Monday’s game against the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Bucks, and they rode that wave through a dominant 38-point first quarter that saw them go up by as many as 14 points. But with the Bulls playing without Otto Porter Jr. (leg) and Kris Dunn (migraine), their lack of depth showed up in a big way against a ridiculously deep and talented Bucks squad. The end result was a 117-106 Milwaukee win and the end of the Bulls’ three-game winning streak. The Bucks also finished off a 4-0 season sweep. The Bulls jumped out to their big lead thanks to, who else, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine. After their monster performances against the Celtics, Markkanen poured in 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting in the first quarter, while LaVine did it all with 10 points, four assists and four rebounds. The Bucks’ starters really struggled without their outside shooting, and they didn’t have Giannis to bail them out with dunks. The Bucks’ bench completely flipped the script, though. Milwaukee used a 16-2 run to start the second quarter to take the lead, and those minutes featured some truly appalling Cristiano Felicio minutes. Behold: We haven’t seen much of this tomfoolery lately. pic.twitter.com/EASbJE40tt — jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) February 26, 2019 All of the Bulls’ momentum was gone, and Khris Middleton took things from there to give the Bucks a 63-54 lead heading into halftime. The Bulls hung around in the third quarter thanks to Robin Lopez and spot starter Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who combined for 21 of the 26 Bulls points scored in the frame. But the Bucks were just too much, pulling away in the fourth quarter and going up by 20 points with just over three minutes left when Jim Boylen pulled the plug. Milwaukee had six players score in double figures, with Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon scoring 22 points apiece. The Bucks were a bit streaky with their 3-point shooting, but they poured in 17 triples on 49 attempts and won the bench scoring battle 42-24. Old friend Nikola Mirotic had 13 points off the bench and hit several key treys in the fourth quarter as Milwaukee pulled away. While the Bulls were outgunned in this one, Markkanen showing out yet again was great to see. It has been really fun watching his development this month, especially his off-the-dribble work, finishing and playmaking. The big man notched another double-double with 26 points (11-of-22 shooting) and 12 rebounds, and he added three dimes for good measure. He made some really nasty passes in this game: Are you kidding me? Unreal pass from point Lauri pic.twitter.com/6jhlTVH4Bc — Will Gottlieb (@wontgottlieb) February 26, 2019 Markkanen had several wraparound passes like this on the night, and I was also really impressed with a few of his floater finishes: Lauri Markkanen High Floater pic.twitter.com/VGAlCz22Av — Gustavo Vega (@iamvega1982) February 26, 2019 Markkanen has been showing really nice touch around the basket as he continues to build out his complete game. While Markkanen had a terrific night, LaVine’s wound up being a bit strange. The guard nearly finished with a triple-double (nine assists, eight rebounds), but he only scored one point after the first quarter to finish with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. He was clearly hunting assists in the fourth quarter and not really looking to score, to the detriment of the team. Then there was Lopez, who continues to play as well as he ever has in his career. He matched Markkanen with a season-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, even knocking down his lone 3-point attempt to hit that season high. RoLo soundly outplayed his brother, Brook Lopez, who missed all seven of his 3-pointers and seemed pretty miffed about it. After Robin hit his triple, Brook took his anger out on the rim with a monster and-1 dunk. To his credit, Brook did block five shots, but Robin won the individual battle on this night as he hit 17-plus points for his career-high sixth consecutive game. The only other notable performance was TLC, who had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and he was somehow a plus-15 (garbage time helped). TLC is athletic and active and could be interesting, but he plays so out of control that it hurts him. It was a wild ride watching him try to do a lot in that third quarter. The Bulls are now 16-45 and have a day off before playing Joakim Noah and the Grizzlies on Wednesday. The Grizzlies have been struggling, but they did just beat the Lakers ... though that’s not much of a feat these days.<doc-sep>It’s that time again to throttle our neighbors to the South, the Chicago Bulls, and take our rightful place as kings of I-94 rivalry. Yes, let’s hope that even with Otto Porter Jr. finally able to fully play a game after going through warm-ups, his team shall fall to the Milwaukee Bucks. As a reminder, no Giannis tonight: Just got the official thumbs down: Giannis Antetokounmpo is out tonight vs the Bulls. — Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) February 25, 2019 Here’s a link to the preview and the game information is below .<doc-sep>
It was a battle of two banged up teams in Chicago, but the Bucks, featuring debuts by Isaiah Canaan and Bonzie Colson, secure a road victory and a season series sweep. Not that it looked like it’d be easy right out of the gates. Milwaukee seemed unable to match Chicago’s energy and keep the likes of Zach LaVine contained on numerous possessions. The Bulls would put up 38 points in the first, but the Bucks charged right back with 38 of their own in the second quarter on the way to a 63-54 lead at the half. After the break it was a bit of chaos ball with turnovers leading into turnovers, blocks generating haphazard fast-breaks, and plenty of scoring to get it up to 90-80. Milwaukee would smack Chicago with a barrage of threes a few minutes in the fourth to extend their lead to a comfortable margin allowing them to ease their way into a much-needed 117-106 road win. More importantly we got this Brook Lopez dunk: THAT BROOK DUNK That bench reaction #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/5RoceglR6s — Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) February 26, 2019 Stat That Stood Out It shouldn’t come as a surprise when the Bucks simply decide when to make other teams’ lives hell, yet here we are. After the opening frame an offensive outburst like last Saturday’s sprint with the Timberwolves seemed in the cards. Instead the Bucks put the clamps on and prevented Chicago from scoring 10 points in the second quarter until 1:55 before the half, all while scoring 29 points of their own. Those kinds of stretches should strike fear in hearts across the league. The Bucks also gifted those fans in the United Center free Portillo’s hotdogs for the second time this year. You’re welcome for your only season highlights, Bulls fans.