Bulls fail to land knockout punch in loss to Bucks
The goal for the Bulls on Friday was not to get pushed around.
First of all, that's a requirement to compete against Milwaukee, and the Bulls obviously wanted some payback for the flagrant foul that knocked Alex Caruso out of the lineup for several months the last time these teams met.
They answered the bell reasonably well, but couldn't deliver a knockout punch when the game was on the line. The Bucks did a better job of execution on both ends while pulling out a 118-112 victory at the United Center.
"That's just a starting point, in my opinion, in terms of what you have to do," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. "I thought we really competed and were physical and tried to match that as well as we could."
With their fourth straight loss, the Bulls (39-25) dropped below Philadelphia and into a tie with Milwaukee in the East standings, so at the moment, they are the No. 4 seed. The Bulls will play 10 of their next 12 on the road, beginning Monday against the Sixers.
The Bulls were at their best late in the third quarter, when they used some energetic plays and big dunks to pull off a 14-5 run and take the lead. Ayo Dosunmu lobbed an alley-oop to Zach LaVine on the fast break. Then off an offensive rebound, Dosunmu bounced one to Derrick Jones Jr., who showed off his bounce by getting a lefty jam past Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"Once I get in the lane, I'm not even going to lie, honestly, I don't think nobody can jump with me in this world," Jones said. "That's just how much confidence I have in my athleticism and how much confidence I have in my finishing ability."
Antetokounmpo piled up 34 points and 16 rebounds, which is typical for him, but Jrue Holiday was likely Milwaukee's player of the game. He scored 26 points, including 10 in the last five minutes, and made DeMar DeRozan work hard for every shot.
LaVine led the Bulls with 30 points. DeRozan scored 29, but hit just 11 of 30 shots from the field.
"Jrue is a heck of a defender, but I'll take every last one of those shots again and bet my money on it I'll knock them down again," DeRozan said. "Just one of those nights. They'll fall next time."
The Bulls led 102-100 after Javonte Green hit a corner 3 with 6 minutes left, but the Bucks scored on their next six possessions. When the Bulls finally got a stop and defensive rebound, they trailed by 5 points.
LaVine knocked down a 3 to make it a 2-point game, but the Bulls lost track of Maywood native Jevon Carter, who got loose for a breakaway lay-in with 19.5 seconds remaining.
LaVine drew a 3-shot foul on Khris Middleton, but the Bucks challenged the call and it was overturned. Antetokounmpo won the resulting jump ball and that was it.
The Grayson Allen revenge angle was mostly a nonfactor. But he was knocked to the ground by Derrick Jones Jr. on a baseline drive at the 8:21 mark of the fourth quarter. The foul didn't look like much live, but after a replay review, it was ruled a Grade 1 flagrant and Jones did connect with an elbow to Allen's head.
"I don't think that was a flagrant," Jones said. "They said I hit him in his head, I didn't feel it. I just felt him bump my hip and fall. It's basketball, I want to get a stop as much as they want to get a stop on the other end. What happened in Milwaukee, we didn't like it. It's obvious we didn't like it, nobody likes it, but I'm not going to go out there and take a man out. That's not who I am."
Naturally, the former Duke star was loudly booed during introductions and every time he touched the ball. The last time these teams played on Jan. 21,
Allen's flagrant foul resulted in a broken right wrist for Caruso, who has not played since. Allen finished with 7 points Friday.
Bulls center Nikola Vucevic added 19 points, while the big-two starting lineup with Tristan Thompson fizzled. Thompson was in foul trouble and contributed just 4 points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. The official box score had Thompson at minus-25, which means the Bulls were outscored by 25 points while he was on the floor.
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