The Milwaukee Bucks were zeroed in on a big-time road win over the Chicago Bulls, but all it took was one defensive slip-up to end their upset bid.
The Bucks trailed 88-84 with 2:39 to go in the game, but they let Chicago shooter Mike Dunleavy open for a three that stretched the gap back to seven. Milwaukee never overcame that deflating trey and fell 100-90.
“It was a four-point game, defensively we made a big mistake and gave up a wide-open three to Dunleavy in the corner, and we just never could recover,” Jason said. “He made open shots. He had a lot of them. So we have to do a better job recognizing our opponents’ shooters. We just didn’t do that tonight.”
Milwaukee saw double-double efforts out of Giannis Antetokounmpo (12 points, 10 assists), Jabari Parker (18 points, 11 rebounds), and Greg Monroe (11 points, 14 rebounds), as well as a 20-point game from Jerryd Bayless off the bench, but it wasn’t enough to overpower Chicago.
All five of the Bulls starters were in double figures, led by 22 points and seven dimes from Derrick Rose, as well as an impressive triple-double out of Pau Gasol: 12 points, 13 assists and 17 rebounds.
“He just lets the game come to him,” Jason said of Gasol. “He’s a playmaker. He can do a lot of different things on the floor. He can shoot it, he can drive it, he can pass it, and he did all three of those things well tonight. Defensively I thought he was good too.”
Gasol was distributing incredibly well from the start, which kept the Bulls offense humming, even without star two-guard Jimmy Butler, who sat with a knee strain. Gasol had seven dimes in the first quarter alone, which put Milwaukee into a 25-16 hole.
In the second quarter, the Bucks bench stuck back. With 9:34 remaining in the second quarter, Bayless knocked down his first of five threes to pull Milwaukee within 10 of the lead, trailing 31-21. A little over a minute later, Bayless assisted on a Rashad Vaughn trey, and the Bucks were only behind 31-27.
The Milwaukee bench, worn thin by injury, played just three players—Bayless, Monroe and Vaughn—on Monday night. But the Bucks’ reserves still combined to outscore their Chicago counterparts 34-20.
“Bayless has been great for us all year when he’s healthy. We have to keep him healthy. Coming off the bench, he has been a big plus for us,” Coach Kidd said. “Moose and Jerryd were both good tonight. We have to get more people involved and get more scoring, but at the same time, we have to get better on the defensive end.”
Chicago led 47-40 at halftime, but the Bucks used their offensive firepower to continue to chip their way back in it. Khris Middleton, who finished with 18 points, hit a key three-pointer off a feed from Giannis to cut the Bulls lead to six, 55-49, with 9:04 to play in the period.
The Bulls didn’t relinquish the lead all quarter, but another Bayless 25-footer put Milwaukee just three points from the lead with just over a minute to play in the third quarter. Parker led with way with 10 points in the period while Bayless added eight, and the Chicago lead was down to just four, 73-69, at the end of the third quarter.
“Offensively, we’re not going backwards. We have guys who can put the ball in the basket. But defensively we’ve got to get better,” Jason said. “We’re short-handed and guys are playing
[big] minutes here, but we’ve got to figure out ways to get stops when needed.”Jason’s crew kept giving itself chances with strong offensive play in the fourth. Middleton, Bayless and Monroe each hit baskets to bring the Bucks within two points in the final period, but Milwaukee never could get the defensive stop it needed to get over the hump.
As Chicago kept supplying a steady stream of points, a made free throw from Middleton brought the lead back down to four with 2:39 to go. But on the ensuing possession, Dunleavy came through with the dagger. The Bulls shot 50 percent from the floor and 4-of-7 from three in the final quarter, leaving Jason looking for more communication out of his Bucks.
“We have to communicate. We have to talk, especially late in the game,” Jason said. “These last two games we had breakdowns defensively. We can fix them and we’re going to do that and get ready for Miami on Wednesday.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks return home Wednesday to face the Miami Heat (37-26). The two teams have met twice this season. Milwaukee won the first meeting at home 91-79 on Jan. 19, and Miami won 10 days later 107-103 on its home court.
The game tips off at 7 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Wisconsin.
