The Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, with a double-double of 27 points and 16 rebounds, gave this Sunday a hard-fought 93-86 victory over the milwaukee bucksreigning NBA champions, to get off to a good start defending their crown in the first-round playoff series against the chicago bulls.
The Bucks freaked out in the third quarter at the prideful reaction from the Bulls, who returned to the ‘playoffs’ after five years of absencebut they used their superior experience and technical prowess to take advantage of this first-round series in the East.
Giannis contributed 27 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and two blockswhile Brook López contributed 18 points and five rebounds, decisive in the fourth quarter to contain the momentum of the Bulls.
Without the Spanish Serge Ibaka, Bobby Portis contributed a double-double of ten points and twelve rebounds.
On a dim day of his rivals, the Bulls came to have options to take the matchbut they paid for DeMar DeRozan’s low percentages at the key moment.
The number 11 scored 18 pointscollected eight rebounds and dished out six assists, but was only 6-of-24 from the field.
The best of the Bulls was the Montenegrin Nikola Vucevic, with 24 points and 17 reboundseight of them offensive, supported by Zack LaVine’s 18 and ten rebounds.
Giannis, double-double in the first half
It started like a shot Giannis, who already had a double-double in the first half, with 17 points and eleven rebounds, against some Bulls who needed a few minutes to manage the pressure of the postseason.
They started with a two of twelve shots, but little by little they got into the game and, after accumulating a 16-point deficit and ending the first quarter losing 34-21, they came to savor an epic comeback.
Chicago Reacts
They cut five points behind in the second quarter, taking advantage of Giannis’ rest minutes, and in the third period sealed a resounding 13-0 run to take the lead 67-64thanks to five consecutive points from Coby White.
Mike Budenholzer called a time out for his players to regain their lucidity and the reaction was led by Gianniswith a great play against DeRozan, with an added foul, to launch a 10-2 run for the Bucks.
With the match even, Chicago had chances to regain the lead, but DeRozan, after a good start, could not find sensations with his jump shots (6-for-24 shooting).
The Bulls forgive, the Bucks sentence
Alex Caruso, key to keeping the Bulls in the game in the most difficult moments, supported the board with two points that put his team 86-87 with ninety seconds to go, and with a Giannis limited by fouls (5).
But the Bucks, despite their nine fourth-quarter turnovers, they managed to prevail in the paint thanks to an excellent Brook López and secured an important victory to open the series.
Despite not shining the Bucks got off to a good start defending their crown against some Bulls who fell short at the decisive moment.
The second game will be played next Wednesday.again at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, before the series moves to nearby Chicago, just 90 miles away.
The third and fourth games will be played at the United Center on next friday and sunday.