Local Sports

Bulls Steal Game 2 From Milwaukee

DeMar DeRozan scored a career playoff-high 41 points and the Bulls outlasted the Bucks 114-110 on Wednesday night in Game 2. 

 

Nikola Vucevic added 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Zach LaVine had 20 points as the sixth-seeded Bulls beat the third-seeded Bucks for just the second time in their last 19 meetings.

 

Bobby Portis left the game with a right eye abrasion after the first quarter and Khris Middleton exited with 6:49 left after his left leg gave out while he tried to plant on a spin move.

 

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 33 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, putting him one assist from his second career playoff triple-double. Antetokounmpo increased his career postseason point total to 1,715 to overtake Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,692) for the most in Bucks history.

 

Brook Lopez had 25 points for the Bucks. Middleton scored 18 and Holiday 15.

 

DeRozan scored eight points during a 13-0 run that began late in the third quarter and gave the Bulls a 96-80 lead with 9:47 remaining. The Bulls still led by 15 before Milwaukee rallied in the final 7 1/2 minutes.

 

Lopez converted a three-point play to cut Chicago's lead to 112-109 with 56 seconds left.

 

But after Alex Caruso and Vucevic got offensive rebounds on the Bulls' ensuing possession, DeRozan's driving layup made it 114-109 with 18.2 seconds remaining.

 

Chicago bounced back from a 93-86 Game 1 loss and continued to show the grit that had been missing late in the regular season, particularly when the Bulls were facing top teams.

 

The Bulls lost 15 of their final 22 regular-season games. During the regular season, the Bulls went just 2-21 against the top four seeds in each conference.

 

Chicago closed the second quarter on a 15-4 run to grab a 65-4 halftime advantage.

 

The Bulls extended the lead to 18 early in the third quarter, before the Bucks rallied with a small lineup featuring Antetokounmpo, Middleton and reserve guards Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton and Jevon Carter.

 

Milwaukee went on a 15-2 spurt to cut the Bulls' lead to three late in the third period. But the Bulls responded with 13 straight points and stayed in front the reset of the way.

 

After shooting a season-low 32.3% and going 7 of 37 from 3-point range in a 93-86 Game 1 loss, the Bulls shot 49.4% and went 12 of 25 from beyond the arc Wednesday. DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic shot a combined 21 of 71 overall and 4 of 22 from 3-point range in Game 1. They were a combined 33 of 62 overall and 7 of 14 on 3-point attempts in Game 2.

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