Antetokounmpo, Parker give their all but come up short

Giannis Antetokounmpo knew it would take something special to knock off the Chicago Bulls once he learned teammate Khris Middleton would not play on Sunday night.

Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker did their best to make up for Middleton’s absence, but the Bucks’ spirited second-half rally came up short and the Bulls prevailed, 102-98, before a BMO Harris Bradley Center crowd of 15,768.

Chicago (39-38), clinging to hopes of making the Eastern Conference playoffs, trails both seventh-place Indiana and eighth-place Detroit by two games with five games remaining in the regular season.

The Bucks (32-45) had a two-game winning streak snapped despite Antetokounmpo’s career-high 34 points and a 24-point, 11-rebound effort from Parker.

Middleton was a late scratch with a left thigh injury and Damien Inglis was inserted in his spot in the lineup. Inglis had not played in three of the previous four games.

“We knew our top scorer was missing and both of us had to be aggressive,” Antetokounmpo said. “I talked before the game to Jabari and told him, ‘We’ve got to push the team; we’ ve got to make the other guys play

hard and just try to compete.’ ”

Antetokounmpo and Parker combined for all 24 Bucks points in the first quarter, and the game was tied entering the second quarter.

But the Bulls took advantage of the Bucks bench to lead by 19 points late in the second quarter and grabbed a 57-41 halftime lead.

Milwaukee outscored the Bulls, 32-22, in the third quarter. Three times the Bucks cut their deficit to one point in the fourth quarter but they never could take the lead.

Jimmy Butler hit three huge shots in the final quarter and also played a key role in slowing down Antetokounmpo after Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg finally put the former Marquette star on the Bucks point guard.

“Giannis was unbelievable tonight,” Hoiberg said. “We had to get Jimmy on him.”

Butler, who wore a Marquette jersey in the Bulls locker room after the game, finished with 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds.

“I’m just happy to stay in the playoff race,” Butler said. “Old stomping grounds or wherever we play Tuesday (at Memphis), we need to win that one, too.”

The Bulls won the season series with Milwaukee, 3-1, and have won nine of their last 11 regular-season games against the Bucks. They also won a first-round playoff series last season, 4-2.

“We tried our best,” said Parker, the Chicago native. “We were just one guy away from beating them.

“Hopefully next year we get ’em.”

The Bulls played without injured starters Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson but got a boost from their bench, which outscored the Bucks reserves, 4222. Nikola Mirotic led the Chicago bench crew with19 points and six rebounds.

“We lost, obviously,” Antetokounmpo said. “But it’s a big step for our team because we didn’t stop fighting. And it was young guys, basically.

“Rashad (Vaughn) came in, Tyler (Ennis) and JOB (Johnny O’Bryant) and we didn’t stop fighting. We were playing hard to get back in the game.”

Antetokounmpo said Butler’s defensive prowess made it tougher for him to get to the basket.

“We had to figure out other things to do,” Antetokounmpo said. “We had to go through Jabari a lot.”

Parker posted his third double-double of the season and his third straight game with 20 or more points. But Bucks coach Jason Kidd was even more impressed with his defense.

“On the ball he was great,” Kidd said. “Late in the game they were trying to hand the ball off to Butler and he (Parker) just takes it away. His defense since the all-star break has improved, and it’s going to keep improving because he’s working on it.

“And offensively, that’s just a gift that he has. He can score the ball with the best of them, and that’s going to get better, too.”

Antetokounmpo’s 16 points in the first quarter were the most scored by a Bucks player in a quarter this season. He was 14 of 22 from the field and added nine assists and five rebounds in 43 minutes.

Kidd said he knew the Bulls would play with urgency while trying to chase down a playoff spot in the East. Chicago lost a 94-90 decision at home to Detroit on Saturday night.

“We knew how important it was and we tried to make it tough on them,” Kidd said.