Bucks 118, Bulls 105
Playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee gets a victory at Chicago.
CHICAGO - With Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined by a sprained right ankle, the Milwaukee Bucks knew they would need contributions from up and down the roster on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls.
That‘s exactly what the Bucks got in a 118-105 victory at the United Center. However, there’s no way what transpired went exactly as planned.
In quite possibly the team’s strangest game of the season, the Bucks put up 70 bench points — their highest total this season and tied for the franchise’s ninth-most since 1985. They had four reserves in double figures before Khris Middleton became Milwaukee’s first starter to reach double digits on a three-pointer that put him at 12 with 6 minutes 39 seconds remaining in the game.
“Yeah, yeah,” Bucks coach Joe Prunty said with a laugh when asked if that’s how he drew this one up. “I loved what our bench did . ... Really impressed by what the bench did tonight and good win.”
Shabazz Muhammad led the Bucks with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting in just 20 minutes off the bench. It was Muhammad’s highest output since
the final game of the 2016-’17 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Since that game nearly a year ago, Muhammad had languished on Minnesota’s bench for most of this season and has played sparingly since joining the Bucks earlier this month. He didn’t play until the second quarter Friday, but quickly made an impact by cutting to the rim for multiple high-percentage shots before popping a corner threepointer to give Milwaukee its first lead since the opening minutes after trailing by as many as 12.
“Shabazz, I think everybody in the league knows what he can do and he got that tonight especially with Giannis out,” Bucks center John Henson said. “Hopefully that catapults him into playing well for the rest of the year and being a big contributor off the bench.”
Tony Snell was a perfect 6 of 6 from the floor, including four three-pointers, to tie his season high with 18 points. Jason Terry went 3 of 4 on three-pointers to improve to 7 of 10 at the United Center this season and had 10 points.
Not to be left out, point guard Brandon Jennings put up 16 points, five assists and four rebounds, with 15 of those points and four of those assists coming in the first half.
The Bucks, who had gotten into double-digit holes in the first quarter in three of their past four games, wasted no time doing so again as they went down 11 in less than four minutes and trailed by 10 at the end of the first quarter.
Things turned around in a big way thanks to the second unit in the following period as the Bucks made 5 of 6 three-pointers and brought the game back to even at halftime.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
Back soon? Antetokounmpo did not travel with the team after suffering a sprained right ankle during Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Antetokounmpo’s absence, however, may not necessarily signal a major issue. He recently underwent an MRI, which only revealed minor swelling in the joint.
“In all honesty, I can’t give you an honest answer and say this is exactly when he’s coming back, but I believe it will be sooner rather than later,” Prunty said.
Antetokounmpo’s absence marks his fifth missed game of the season, with the first four coming as part of a management plan revolving around Antetokounmpo’s right knee.
Big man with range: The Bucks went an impressive 15 of 30 on threepointers, with no shot being more incredible than center John Henson’s triple in the second quarter — the first of his career on 11 attempts. It came with the shot clock running down and bounced multiple times on the rim before falling.
“It wasn’t luck, man,” Henson said with a grin. “I work on it every day — shootaround every day, practice every day. I’ve got the touch, shooter’s touch. Years of preparation for that moment and it dropped.”
UP NEXT
Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (38-34) vs. San Antonio Spurs (43-30). When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: BMO Harris Bradley Center. About the Spurs: Despite drama surrounding star Kawhi Leonard and his inability or reticence to come back from tendinopathy in his right quadriceps, San Antonio hasn’t shown any negative signs on the court of late. The Spurs pushed their win streak to six games with an overtime win over the Utah Jazz on Friday. In the first five games of that streak, Spurs all-star LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 29.6 points and 9.0 rebounds. He nearly reached that average in the first half on Friday with 28 points and finished with 45 in the victory.