I the first of a home and home series the Milwaukee Bucks easily beat the Chicago Bulls 108-97. Milwaukee had a 24 point lead at one point in the game and they cruised to an 11 point victory at home. Milwaukee got back to .500 with the win at 12-12 while the Bulls are still a game over .500 at 13-12.
The tone for the game was set right at the start as the first bucket of the game for Milwaukee was a 3-pointer by Giannis Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee never trailed after that first shot and the closet the Bulls got was 2 points at 10-8. The 1st quarter ended with Milwaukee ahead 30-18.
The 2nd quarter looked like it was going to go the same way as the 1st quarter did as Milwaukee built a 26 point lead after a Jabari Parker bucket made it a 56-30 game. The Bulls did what they could to cut into the lead the rest of the quarter, but they could only get it down to 19 points. The Bucks ended up taking a 64-45 lead into halftime.
The quarter started out as even as it could be one when one team has a big lead. Milwaukee started to add to the lead and when Jabari Parker dunked with 5:24 left in the quarter the Bucks had a 24 point lead at 78-54. That was Milwaukee’s biggest lead of the quarter. This time the Bulls could only manage to knock 2 points off the Bucks lead and the quarter ended with Milwaukee ahead 88-66.
With the game well in hand the Bucks where able to get their starters off the floor. The Bulls did manage to outscore the Bucks 31 to 20 in the 4th quarter, but it was too little too late as the Bucks lead was to big to overcome. Matthew Dellavedova put the finishing touches on the night with a 3-pointer to get the game to it’s final score of 108-97.
The Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo was the games high scorer with 30 points. Antetokounmpo was also the games top rebounder grabbing 14. Jabari Parker had 28 points while Mirza Teletovic came off the Milwaukee bench to add 13 points. Matthew Dellavedova just missed a double-double as he had 9 points and a game high 9 assists. John Henson also grabbed double digit rebounds for the Bucks getting 10.
The Bulls where led by Jimmy Butler who had 21 points. Dwayne Wade score points while Taj Gibson added 19. Rajon Rondo was the Bulls leader in assists with 8. Robin Lopez, Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio all grabbed 6 rebounds to tie for the team lead.
It’s a quick turn around for these teams as they’ll meet again tonight with the game being in Chicago tonight. Milwaukee is looking to get back over .500 with a win while the Bulls would like to stay over .500. The Bulls are 7-4 at home while the Bucks are 3-6 on the road this season.