Bucks vs. Bulls: Avenging past mistakes

Milwaukee takes out Chicago in rematch from earlier in the season

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Milwaukee Bucks got the result they hoped for when they hosted the Chicago Bulls for the second time this season: an absolute blowout. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 41 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, while AJ Green added eighteen points on 5/7 shooting from beyond the arc. Zach LaVine led the Chicago attack with 27 points, while late addition Torrey Craig had fifteen points.

Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below.

What Did We Learn?

The AJ Green defensive development is real. It’s no longer just a one-off game against Detroit or Charlotte, AJ Green is becoming one of the best perimeter defenders on the team. Don’t believe me? Just ask the former league MVP who scored 41 points last night.

“His defense is incredible. I think in the third quarter I saw him guarding Zach LaVine and GT (Gary Trent Jr.) was in the game and I was like ‘switch’ and then I thought about it and I was like ‘no’ stay because he’s been playing great,” Giannis said. “I think two years ago he (would’ve) gotten himself in foul trouble, he’d use his hands a lot, maybe jump a little bit on the pump fake, but now he’s just solid, he’s an underrated defender… He’s not a liability on defense he’s actually one of our better defenders on the team.”

LaVine was having himself a game midway through the third quarter. The former All-Star had 25 points and was seemingly on his way to much more than that. Then, in that same third quarter, Doc put Green on LaVine. From that point on, Green helped limit LaVine to two points for the rest of the night.

“I thought he did the best job of our guys tonight. He played defense for the most part without fouling. He slides his feet, and he makes you take shots over the top of him.” Rivers said. “One thing he did this summer was just knowing the defense off the ball has helped him be a better defender on the ball because he gets there quicker.”

Giannis’ Third Quarter

The third quarter is still a bit of a sore spot for the Milwaukee Bucks as they allowed the Bulls to get back into the game. However, thanks to Giannis scoring and assisting on 28 points of the 29 points the Bucks scored, the Bucks sustained an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter. Here are three of Giannis’ best and most important plays to keep the Bucks afloat.

The midrange of Giannis is just getting better with each passing game.

We all know how good Giannis is at driving to the basket and making plays at the rim. His midrange has sort of been there, but not to the extent it has been this year. Currently, Giannis is shooting 41.4% on non-three-point jump shots and 46% from sixteen feet to the three-point line, all easy career highs for Giannis. This allows the Bucks to be a bit more dynamic in his usage like this play in the third:

Lopez sets the screen, which forces Vucevic to switch onto Giannis at the top of the free throw circle. Giannis then quickly dribbles back to the three-point line, making Vucevic scooch back just enough to create room for Giannis to step into this mid-range jumper from seventeen feet. I’m not saying Giannis will become a good three-point shooter anytime soon, but if he can keep up this impressive run at the mid-range area, he can diversify his offense in the playoffs and extend his career by a couple of years with less wear and tear on his body. I think he is slowly inching toward that idealized version we were dreaming of, where he can hit a jump shot with some regularity while still being that dominant interior force.

The vision from Giannis and the off-ball movement from AJ Green is a thing of beauty.

The one non-Giannis field goal made in the third quarter came courtesy of AJ Green. After the Bulls’ Jalen Smith made a dunk on the other end from a bad rotation from Bobby Portis, the Bulls found themselves down by just two with 2:44 to go in the frame. In this play, they isolate Giannis on the short wing before he backs down the smaller LaVine into the post. Giannis makes a great move to spin to the lane, but Smith does a good job of recovering and cutting off the layup, but it forces Craig to help cut off the pass to Portis.

That leaves Green wide open in the corner, where Giannis fires a pass to score a key basket. That three led to Giannis outscoring the Bulls 11-8 to end the stanza, giving them an eight-point lead heading into the fourth.

“That’s amazing, that’s incredible, I didn’t even realize that,” Green said in the locker room after learning of Giannis’ 25 points in the third. “I mean, he carried us throughout that third quarter because we kinda had a rough start, and that’s where he carried us, and he did what he does.”

Watching Giannis in transition is still S Tier to watch.

It wouldn’t be a Giannis highlight night without his bread and butter: running and dunking in transition. Especially seeing this in person, it is a marvel to behold to see Giannis do what he does best. After a Coby White miss and a missed tip-in from Josh Giddey, Dame tipped the rebound to himself before finding Giannis in the middle of the floor in transition. The Greek Freak sped by the slow-footed Vucevic and threw down one of the hardest dunks I’ve seen from him in a while.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Giannis Antetokounmpo has passed Scottie Pippen (18,940) to move up to no. 65 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
• Giannis now has the most 40+ point games on 70%+ field goal percentage in NBA history.
• Those 25 points in the third quarter were the second-most points he has scored in a quarter in his career, and the second-most scored in a single quarter in franchise history.
• Damian Lillard tallied his second consecutive double-double, scoring 20 points and dishing out a season-high-tying ten assists in tonight’s game. It’s just the second time in his Bucks career that he’s had 10+ assists in consecutive games.
• Not only did Thansis Antetkounmpo make another appearance, but Patrick Beverley appeared wearing a Bobby Portis Bucks jersey. Beverley of course played for the Bulls and then for the Bucks last season.

• Just a fun moment post-game between Doc Rivers and friend of the site Monis Khan:

Up Next

The Milwaukee Bucks enter the second half of their four-game home stand on Friday, hosting another Central Division rival, the Indiana Pacers. You can watch all of the action starting at 7:00 PM on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin or with us on Playback.

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