DeMar DeRozan became the first Bull since Michael Jordan to have a 41-point, 11-assist game, but that mattered very little in the end thanks to Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo putting the Bucks on his shoulders down the stretch.
The Bulls had shown a lot of positive signs the last few weeks.
Even more impressive, they’ve done so without two-time All-Star Zach LaVine (right foot) in the lineup.
The pace had picked up on offense, the intensity was back on defense, and the ball was hopping around rather than getting stuck in isolation.
All solid traits to have.
But what was yet another cruel reminder from Milwaukee on what the Bulls still don’t have? They don’t have a Giannis.
Thanks to former league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 20 of his team-high 32 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, the Bucks ended the visiting team’s four-game winning streak 133-129 on Monday.
Not that an Antetokounmpo takeover isn’t out of the norm when the Bulls play their division rivals. There are just some forces in the NBA universe that are difficult to stop, and no one does bully ball late in games better than the Bucks standout.
“He forced his way downhill, got to the free throw line, got layups,” Bulls veteran DeMar DeRozan said. “It’s tough. When he’s doing that, you got shooters out there so you kind of got to pick your poison.”
Speaking of poison, DeRozan had some deadly numbers of his own, becoming the first Bulls player since Michael Jordan to score at least 40 points and hand out 10 assists in the same game. DeRozan finished with 41 and 11.
“Oh, I mean anything with Michael Jordan in it is a helluva accomplishment,” DeRozan said. “I never take any of that for granted.”
That doesn’t mean this loss still didn’t hurt for the Bulls (9-15).
What couldn’t be ignored in this latest showing was the 14-point deficit in the second quarter.
Rewind to the start of the season and most of November, and double-digit deficits were a regular occurrence for this roster. Sure, they would usually put up a fourth-quarter last stand run, but urgency wasn’t in the script on most nights.
It was on Monday.
Malik Beasley hit the three-pointer with 3:38 left in that first half to put the Bucks up 14, but by the time the third quarter started that lead was cut in half just seconds in with a Patrick Williams jumper.
Whenever it felt like the home team was about to get on a run and pull away, a quick glance in their rear-view mirror showed the Bulls were right there, showing no signs of yielding.
With 9:02 left in the final stanza, Milwaukee was caught.
Thanks to a Coby White three-pointer, the game was tied. The Bucks (16-7) tried to pull away again, but with 5:25 left it was a Williams jumper that would again knot the game up.
The glaring issue, however, was slowing down Antetokounmpo.
Up by two with three minutes left, Antetokounmpo attacked the rim for the easy lay-up, plus the harm. White tried to keep the boat afloat with another clutch three, but it was Antetokounmpo yet again, with the slam.
White missed the three with 1:36, putting Antetokounmpo at the line where he split the free throws.
The Bulls, however, still wouldn’t go away.
DeRozan hit two more free throws with 29.1 seconds left, and then trailing by two, sent the game into overtime with a floater with 3.1 seconds left.
All that did was set the stage for more Antetokounmpo heroics, as the big man and his teammates controlled the final five minutes.
And while coach Billy Donovan has never been a moral victories type of coach, there were definite positives still going on with this team lately.
“You think about this, there’s going to be like 100 shots on offense, 100 shots on defense,” Donovan said. “Those shots take about a second. So in a 48-minute game, there is a lot of stuff going on that you have total control over. Those are the things we have control over and what we have to focus on.”
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