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An absolutely, unequivocally, monstrously disastrous—which still might be putting it mildly—second half by the Milwaukee Bucks snapped the Chicago Bulls’ 11-game losing streak Sunday afternoon at the United Center. The Bucks scored eight points in the fourth quarter. Eight. It’s the first win for Chicago since January 31. They went 0-for-February, for crying out loud! Bobby Portis led Milwaukee with 18, and Collin Sexton had 22 for the victors.
Game Recap
Myles Turner opened the game with back-to-back catch-and-shoot triples, propelling an early 8-0 Bucks run. Chicago tied the game midway through the period and were briefly in front, but Ryan Rollins and Cam Thomas splashed consecutive threes to stake Milwaukee ahead again. The Bulls knotted it up again twice inside the three minutes, though AJ Green and Cam Thomas answered each time to avoid falling behind. After one, the visitors led 32-30. Chicago took 21 shots in the first, and 18 came from deep.
Both sides mostly traded buckets in the opening two minutes before a 17-0 Milwaukee run gave them their largest margin yet at 16, forcing a Billy Donovan timeout at the 6:34 mark. All five of the Bucks’ field goals during that three-and-a-half-minute stretch were assisted. In the ensuing two minutes, the Bulls reduced their deficit to 10 thanks in part to two Bucks turnovers and a Bulls offensive rebound. Doc Rivers reassembled his starting lineup, and they suffered a couple similar miscues as Chicago cut it to seven… before a fast-break three from Green, plus the foul. He’d hit another in the final minute, part of an 11-2 Bucks run that cemented their 66-51 halftime edge.
After coughing the ball up seven times in the first half, the Bucks had six turnovers in the third’s opening five minutes. Chicago capitalized, whittling Milwaukee’s advantage to eight before Rivers finally called a timeout at 7:12. The starters kept bleeding points, and a couple missed layups by Kevin Porter Jr.—who got T’d up as he was subbed out—didn’t help, making it a one-point game inside five minutes, all part of a 22-7 Bulls run. A sloppy game at that: the Bulls made a number of gaffes too. Bobby Portis scored 11 in the next three-ish minutes, helping them rebuild an eight-point lead. But poor defense in the final minute made it 89-87 Bucks entering the fourth, a 36-23 quarter in Chicago’s favor.
Matas Buzelis immediately evened the score, and Collin Sexton’s jumper gave the Bulls their first lead since the clock read 10:57 back in the second. That was part of a 16-0 Chicago run spanning the quarter break, punctuated by Buzelis posterizing Ports at the rim, and Doc called his second timeout of the fourth exactly a minute after the first. The Bulls’ run extended to 27-0—twenty-seven to zero—before a KPJ free throw finally gave the Bucks their first points in 7:32 of gameplay. More stinky defense and shot selection put Chicago up 19 before Doc waived the white flag as Gary Trent Jr. and Gary Harris came to the scorers’ table with under five minutes to go. The Bulls kept mopping the floor with the Bucks, finishing the game on a 39-8 run going back to the final minute of the third.
Stat That Stood Out
There are several ways to go here, but we’re going with Milwaukee’s utter ineptitude shooting the ball in the second half: 10/47 from the floor. “Good” for 21.3%.