Bucks vs. Bulls Final Score and Summary: Milwaukee falls short again in fourth place

On December 29, 2024By Littum

Without Giannis Antetokounmpo for a fourth straight game due to illness, Damian Lillard returned for the Milwaukee Bucks, but poor shooting plagued them as they fell 115-111 to a Chicago Bulls team they beat just five days earlier without Dame. Still, Lillard scored a game-high 29 as each team had three men over 20 points. Josh Giddey and Nikola Vucevic paced Chicago with 23 each.

NBA.com Box Score

Summary of games

Although the Bucks shot the three-ball decently in the opening minutes, they struggled to change looks inside as the Bulls jumped ahead by 13. In fact, they shot an outlandish 4/14 on their twos and missed all of their limited-area looks, struggling to finish despite ordinary interior defense from Chicago. Meanwhile, the Bulls were 9/9 inside 12 feet, resulting in a 20-2 edge in the paint, and led 33-25 after one.

Milwaukee closed within two right after an early Chicago timeout, but that was as close as they would get in the opening minutes of the second. Defensive miscues allowed the Bulls to hit two open threes, and Doc Rivers reset the defense with a timeout at the 5:26 mark. Finding themselves down 13 again, the starting lineup rallied and cut the deficit to three after a four-point play by Khris Middleton, part of an 11-2 run. The violation was upgraded to a flagrant due to Lonzo Ball’s completion when Middleton went down hard and walked gingerly to the bench, appearing to move toward his left ankle. He stayed in the game at first, but sat for the final minute and the Bucks trailed 62-60 heading into the locker room.

Middleton was back on the floor to start the third, but started 0/3. Milwaukee finally took their first lead with a 9-0 run that was capped by a Bobby Portis three just past the midpoint of the quarter. It was short-lived as a quick 7-2 Bulls run put them up by a basket and sent the Bucks into a bind with three and a half left in the frame. A bench-heavy lineup held serve in the closing minutes, and the Bucks clung to an 84-83 advantage heading into the final period.

While Brook Lopez came back in at halftime, Doc Middleton and Lillard bought a few more minutes of rest. Unfortunately, Chicago stretched out to a seven-point lead with a 10-2 run to begin the fourth. Lillard came back first with just over ten to go and it was soon Dame Time. A personal 11-0 run put the Bucks back up by four with 7:16 left. After sitting 22 minutes, Middleton was reinstated with just over five remaining, having sat for over 12 minutes of gameplay. However, the Bulls tied it up again, so things went back and forth for the next few minutes. With 1:11 left, a Giddey three put Chicago ahead by one point, and a Middleton turnover 17 seconds later led to a Patrick Williams fastbreak, making it 111-108 with 50.6 on the clock. Out of the timeout, Lopez rattled in a three to tie it, but Coby White sank a 17-footer with 31.1 left to make it two. Middleton’s baseline pullup hit the rim with 12 left and Milwaukee had to run the foul play with 10 seconds left, to no avail.

State that stood out

Unlike some of the Bucks’ other recent losses, this one didn’t get away from them on the margins, as they weren’t too far underwater in terms of fastbreak points and were even second-chance. But despite having seven more attempts from the field, Milwaukee made four fewer shots and shot just 25% from three in the fourth. Even with Chicago shooting just 0.2% better from the field in that frame, this was the second game in a row where Milwaukee couldn’t muster enough points after halftime. After scoring 46 on Thursday, the Bucks had just 51 tonight.