Chicago Bulls vs Milwaukee Bucks: Bucks destroy the Bulls on their way to Eastern Conference semifinals

Defending champions Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Chicago Bulls 116-110 in their first-round playoff series and progressed to the Eastern Conference semifinals where they will face the Boston Celtics.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points and had nine rebounds as the Bucks dismantled the Bulls in a comprehensive display. The Bucks were playing without All-Star Khris Middleton who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee won the last three games by an average of 23.3 points.

“After Game 2, we kind of talked about how we know what the deal was,” Antetokounmpo said. “The team knew what the deal was. We knew what we had to do. We had to be desperate. We had to go out there and compete at a high level, pay attention to detail as much as possible, help one another defensively. We’ve got to do it as a team.”

The Bucks have been through this before. They won their first title since 1971 last season despite losing Antetokounmpo for the last two games of the Eastern Conference finals due to a hyperextended knee

“We’ve been talking about the depth of the roster, the quality of the roster a lot this season,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Other guys have gotten opportunities and played well. Our defence has tightened up, and we’ve leaned hard on that these three games. We’ve got depth. We’ve got a good group.”

Giannis appeared to get his left wrist treated during the first half, but it clearly didn’t limit his effectiveness. Antetokounmpo said afterwards he felt “great,” and Budenholzer added that, “we think he’s fine.”

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Depleted Bulls had no depth

The Bulls played without the starting backcourt they used for the first four games because Zach LaVine was in health and safety protocols and Alex Caruso was in concussion protocol. Without them, the Bulls fell behind by as many as 29 points in the first half.

“This was a lot of our guys’ first rodeo, just understanding what it’s like to compete in a playoff series,” Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan said. “There’s so much you can learn from that experience, especially going against the defending champs.”

Milwaukee focused on containing DeRozan, who had scored 41 points in the Bulls’ Game 2 victory. DeRozan was held to 11 points Wednesday while shooting 5 of 10, though he also had seven assists.

DeRozan was scoreless in the first 26 minutes of the game and attempted just one shot in the first quarter as he tried to get his teammates involved.