MILWAUKEE — Zach LaVine attempted to buoy a short-handed and undersized Chicago Bulls roster against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, scoring 27 points as he danced through the paint and floated a shot over the backboard.
But the star’s heroics weren’t enough to bolster the Bulls over Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 41 points, and the Bucks, dropping a 122-106 loss.
Here are six takeaways from the game:
1. Torrey Craig was elevated in place of Patrick Williams.
The Bulls played without Patrick Williams, who will be sidelined for at least a week after undergoing scans on his left foot in Chicago on Wednesday. Coach Billy Donovan said those scans revealed severe inflammation which will require further consultation from the medical team before the Bulls can set a timeline for Williams’ return.
In the meantime, Williams will require at least a week without activity to reduce inflammation, which could be a byproduct of surgery earlier this year to treat a bone edema. Williams did not play any five-on-five basketball during the summer and was limited throughout training camp and preseason as a result of the recovery process.
Without Williams available, Donovan turned to backup forward Torrey Craig to tap into the starting lineup despite playing only 17 minutes across three games this season. Craig was tasked with the gargantuan defensive assignment of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is typically handled by Williams.
Craig immediately showcased the impact off the bench that made such an impression on the Bulls last season, scoring 15 points and sprinting full court on a fourth quarter play to smack a block out of Antetokounmpo’s hands and off the backboard. But the forward couldn’t finish the game for the Bulls after suffering an injury while crashing into the row of photographers on the baseline in the final two minutes of play.
And even in his minutes on the court, Craig was no match for the larger star, who dismantled the Bulls defense to drop 41 points.
2. The Bulls won the minutes without Giannis.
How could the Bulls nearly force another clutch finish when Antetokounmpo had 41? By beating the Bucks whenever he wasn’t on the court.
The Bulls won a crucial stretch of the game from the bottom of the third quarter to the top of the fourth, carving away at the 14-point Milwaukee lead. Julian Phillips splashed a 3-pointer to cut the lead down to two points shortly before Antetokounmpo checked back in with seven minutes and 31 remaining.
But the problem was that the Bulls couldn’t beat the Bucks with their star on the court. Less than two minutes after Antetokounmpo’s return to the court, the Bucks lead ballooned back up to 13 points as they stormed out on an 11-0 run that began with the final possession before the star returned to the court.
Although Antetokounmpo only scored three points in the fourth quarter, his presence disrupted the Bulls defense as they crash-landed to the final buzzer on an 18-4 skid in the final 7:56 of the game.
3. Josh Giddey struggled defensively — again.
After a lightly improved outing in Detroit against the Pistons on Monday, Giddey crumbled in another lackluster defensive performance Wednesday.
Throughout the first half, the Bucks relentlessly ran AJ Green through actions to exploit the matchup, making three consecutive 3-pointers over the guard in the first quarter alone. Giddey couldn’t create any friction for Green on these plays, fumbling in his attempts to fight over screens and flailing his arms in late contests at the perimeter.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half. After blowing a wide-open layup in the third quarter, Giddey stopped to put his head in his hands out of frustration. When Antetokounmpo drove to the rim a few plays later, Giddey didn’t even attempt to step into his path, simply turning to watch the former MVP thunder past him to the basket.
And Giddey didn’t fare much better on the offensive end, where the Bucks were content to allow him to take open 3s throughout the fourth quarter that clattered off the rim for wasted possessions. Giddey tallied only five points after going 1-for-4 from behind the arc and 2-for-9 from the floor, turning the ball over twice while registering only three assists.
4. Offense fueled — and flailed — at the 3-point arc.
No team in the league derives 50% of their average scoring from 3-pointers. The Boston Celtics come the closest, with 47.2% of their 121.5 points per game coming from 3-pointers. But the Bulls made more than half of their points in their last two games from behind the arc — a reflection of their greatest strength and greatest weakness on offense.
The Bulls scored 51 of their 106 points from behind the arc after going 17-for-45 from 3-point range. But after shooting 40% (8-for-20) from 3-point range in the first half and a mind-boggling 58.3% (7-for-12) in the third quarter, the Bulls cratered out to make only two of their 13 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter.
Scoring inside the arc has been a sore spot for the Bulls — who were outscored 54-34 in the paint — all season. But a lack of free throws stunted the Bulls offense even further. The Bucks made 11 points off free throws in the second half while the Bulls didn’t take a single shot from the penalty stripe.
5. Lonzo Ball will be sidelined for another week.
Guard Lonzo Ball is no closer to returning to the court for the Bulls as he continues to recover from a sprained right wrist. Ball has been sidelined since Oct. 29 after injuring his wrist in a road game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Although he was able to remove his wrist brace after a 10-day rest period, Ball is still experiencing discomfort while attempting to return to shooting and passing the ball.
Donovan said the Bulls will keep trying to ramp up Ball’s activity, but he does not expect the guard to be available until after Thanksgiving.
6. Doc Rivers memorialized Bob Love.
Bucks head coach and Chicago native Doc Rivers opened his pregame news conference with a tribute to Bulls legend Bob Love, who died Monday at 81.
Rivers immediately choked up as he spoke about Love, who he met at a park when he was a high school student in Maywood. At the time, Rivers was immediately impressed by the way Love made an effort to speak to him despite his stutter, which greatly limited Love’s speech for the first half of his life.
“I remember him talking to me and really struggling doing it and I thought how courageous that is,” Rivers said.
From that meeting, Rivers said that Love took an interest in his career, gifting him a pair of basketball shoes and offering advice. Rivers said that Love’s presence on the Bulls made an impact on young players throughout Chicago like himself, Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre.
“I think he epitomized Chicago in a lot of ways with his toughness and how we grew up,” Rivers said. “Bob was our guy and I think we all kind of took that from him — his toughness.”
