The Chicago Bulls couldn’t recover from a slow start and bowed to the Milwaukee Bucks, 97-113, on Friday night.
The Bulls suffered their fourth loss in the last six games as they couldn’t get a good follow-up to their 132-123 double-overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
DeRozan’s historic night spoiled
Chicago dropped to 28-32 in the season as the loss spoiled the historic night of DeMar DeRozan, who became the 35th player in NBA history with 23,000 points. DeRozan was just 5-of-13 from the field.
Coby White had 22 points, while Nikola Vucevic finished with 17 points and nine rebounds before he was tossed early in the fourth quarter after committing a hard foul on a driving A.J. Green.
A poor start saw Chicago fall to a 24-33 deficit at the end of the first quarter. The Bucks padded their lead to 58-24 at the bend as the Bulls struggled to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Giannis finished with 46 points, 23 of which came in the first half. Antetokounmpo also had 16 rebounds as he tallied his seventh game with 40 points or more this season.
Chicago’s rally fell short
The Bulls cut the deficit to just 72-82 at the end of the third period. They rallied within eight but went on a long scoring drought, giving up 17 unanswered points that enabled the Bucks to pull away.
Damian Lillard added 16 points for Milwaukee, while Patrick Beverley had 14 points. Brook Lopez chipped in 12 points, and Bobby Portis Jr. had 11 for the Bucks, who won their fifth-straight game and remained unbeaten since the All-Star break.
The Bucks won their regular-season series with the Bulls, 3-1. They are now 8-7 under coach Doc Rivers and are in third place in the Eastern Conference with a 40-21 record.
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