Milwaukee Bucks news: The Chicago Bulls aren’t exactly the best defensive team in the NBA at the moment. In fact, their 115.4 defensive rating ranks 21st in the NBA.
(Although, that’s still better than the Bucks, who are ranked at 23 with a 115.8 defensive rating. That’s a different story, however, and I’ll just save that for another day.)
Regardless of what the numbers state, the Bulls were still able to put up an outstanding defensive effort on Giannis Antetokounmpo during Monday’s Central Division showdown. Well, at least for the first three quarters of play.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Reacts to Bulls’ Defense
It’s not very often that you see Giannis with just five attempts after three quarters played. Entering the final period, the former back-to-back MVP had just 12 points, which included six makes from the charity stripe.
As I said, the Bulls did quite a number on the Bucks talisman. Even Giannis himself agrees:
“I’ll be very honest with you, they were double-teaming and guys were open,” Antetokounmpo said, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “In the pick-and-roll they were showing hard, guys were slipping (screens), they were open again. When I got the ball in the pocket, they were coming and swarming me. Brook was open. Guys in the corner were open. I was just trying to make the right play. There’s going to be games and there’s going to be teams around the league that I’m going to draw so much attention, which sometimes me taking a shot over two guys is not the best shot. Me trying to play in the crowd is not the best shot. I think I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve accepted that.”
To be honest, though, it was more of Giannis deciding to give up the ball instead of forcing a play. Either way, you still have to give Chicago’s defense a lot of credit for the same.
The fourth quarter and overtime were an entirely different story for Antetokounmpo. He went into takeover mode and ended up with 32 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 14-of-18 from the line. He also logged 12 rebounds, six dimes, and two steals to round out another impressive all-around performance.
As much as the Bulls held Giannis back for the first three quarters, the seven-time All-Star was just on another level in crunch time. Chicago simply had no answer.
“At that point it doesn’t matter what they do, I tried to make something happen,” he admitted.
And that’s exactly what Giannis did. The Bucks emerged as the winners, 133-129.
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