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Bucks 126, Bulls 110: Bulls drop to 6-2 with NBA Cup loss in Milwaukee

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Will Gottlieb Avatar

Bulls' Matas Buzelis

MILWAUKEE — It doesn’t matter who’s out there with him; Giannis Antetokounmpo is an unstoppable force.

There’s no more Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday or Damian Lillard. The supporting starpower is gone. But these Milwaukee Bucks are equipped to make Antetokounmpo as unguardable as ever with all the shooting around him.

That space afforded Antetokounmpo the runway to score 41 points, along with 15 rebounds and nine assists, in Friday’s 126-110 win over the Bulls.

Antetokounmpo does what he does, and to the Bulls’ credit, they held him to 50 percent from the field, below his season average of 67.7 percent. But the Bulls got beat in the “controllable” areas: offensive rebounds, turnovers and fouls. The Bucks had 13 more offensive boards, on which they scored 20 second-chance points. The Bucks had 11 turnovers compared to the Bulls’ 14, and the Bucks outscored the Bulls at the line 14-12.

Josh Giddey (16 points, seven rebounds, 14 assists) was again effective as a driver and facilitator. But even with Ayo Dosunmu (quad) back in the lineup, the Bulls didn’t have enough paint pressure to really harm Milwaukee the way they needed to.

The Bulls are now 1-1 in NBA Cup Group Play. They’ll have matches with the Heat (Nov. 21) and the Hornets (Nov. 28) to round out group play. As a reminder, point differential is a tiebreaker in Cup play, and the Bulls are now (+10 in Knicks – Bucks) through two games.

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Up next: The Bulls head to Cleveland to complete a two-game road trip with a back-to-back against the Cavaliers.

Tune into the CHGO Bulls postgame live show:

Matas Buzelis has had a relatively quiet stretch in the scoring department over the last three games, with 13, 14, and 10 before finishing with 20 on 8-of-12 shooting on Friday.

Buzelis had three baskets in the first quarter: one in transition, one on a tough, left-handed layup driving the slot, and one on a split cut. While it was nice to see him more involved in that department, Billy Donovan reminded the media pre-game that there’s more that he needs to do to have an impact.

“I think that’s a problem, quite honestly, if he’s going to evaluate himself on having loud games offensively,” Donovan said. “Because the offense is going to come and go for a second-year player. You’re seeing it now.”

“He’s got that ability (to score),” Donovan said. “But as a second-year player, I think it’s really, really hard to hang your hat on scoring. Now, some guys can, I’m not saying that they can’t, but I don’t know if that’s the best thing for him, because there’s a lot of other things he can do.”

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Looking beyond the scoring is a better way to evaluate Buzelis’ growth and to measure the ups and downs. Buzelis had a pair of offensive boards on the same possession, but also had a pair of tough turnovers trying to do too much off-the-bounce. He had a total of eight rebounds, matching a season-high.

“He’s a good passer. He’s done a better job on the glass. He can get out in transition. He’s shot the ball well this year,” Donovan said. “But I would not want to put him in a box to sit there and say, ‘okay, his performance is going to be predicated on whether or not he gets between 20 and 25 every night, because he could go ahead and do that, and then there’d be a lot of other things that he maybe, wouldn’t necessarily do that would have a much more devastating effect on our team.”

It wasn’t just that Buzelis scored 20 points and shot 66.7 percent that made this a good game for him. Sure, there were hiccups, but his three assists and his three stocks (combined steals and blocks) match season-highs.

— Will Gottlieb

Love the immediate aggressiveness from Buzelis to start this one. Especially after getting a lecture and some quick hooks from Donovan over the past few games. He found opportunities to attack on cuts and closeouts, while also putting solid work on the glass. There were also a couple of hesitation moments from him on the ball, and not the “hesi” good kind. As Buzelis grows his offensive game, what I always want him to be is DECISIVE, even if it doesn’t work out every time.

Really nice to see Dosunmu back out there. He drilled his first three-point attempt and had some great moments on defense. I’m guessing Donovan will want to expand his 24-minute limit as soon as possible.

Underwhelming night from Nikola Vucevic (16 points, six rebounds), and not just because he couldn’t slow down Giannis in the paint. Nobody can, really. Just seemed disconnected from the offense compared to his recent stretch of dominant games.

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Giddey was slinging more incredible passes tonight. He also had a couple “what the hell was that?” drive/pass attempts. I’m slowly learning to live with those…kind of.

Also…Giannis is good. Yikes, Yowza, Sheesh.

— Matt Peck

This game was what I expected. Tough, physical and a battle from start to finish.

I LOVED that Buzelis was aggressive but I wanted a little more. I thought he left some points out there on the floor.

I don’t know if y’all know this, but that Antetokounmpo guy is pretty good. He’s got a future. That’s a hot take.

Isaac Okoro getting in early foul trouble was key. Felt like he couldn’t establish a rhythm.

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The Bulls struggled with the Bucks’ size, but I felt they let them dictate their play on a few possessions. A few of the players turned down layup attempts because Turner or Antetokounmpo was there. That made them pass out of other layup attempts when neither of those guys was in the paint.

You heard that new De La Soul song? It’s dope. Go check that out.

Great to see Dosunmu back out there. Wonder if he plays tomorrow.

Kevin Huerter has been super steady this season. A reliable scorer and defender for the team. He’s done a really good job.

— Big Dave

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