The Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks 91-82 in Game 2 of their first round Eastern Conference match up. Jimmy Butler scored 14 of his career-playoff high 31 points in the fourth quarter. After surging for 23 points in Game 1, Derrick Rose finished with 15 points. Khris Middleton had a team-high 22 points for the Bucks.
After the Bulls started on a 4-0 start to the game, the Bucks responded with a 7-0 run of their own to gain the lead for the remainder of the quarter. The Bulls had more turnovers (6) than made fields goals (5) in the first quarter and shot 1-for-8 from the three-point line. The Bucks used their length and quickness to disrupt the Bulls defensively and found timely offense from different contributors.
An example of the Bucks defense in the opening quarter. Giannis’ block on Pau:
Beautiful Giannis block! https://t.co/jmXPvtBYRu #BULLSvBUCKS #NBAPlayoffs
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) April 21, 2015
The offense picked up in the second quarter as both teams combined for 50 points. Milwaukee’s lead in the first quarter lasted through the second quarter until the last few minutes. Things got chippy in this quarter:
Jimmy Butler & O.J. Mayo fighting about who has better hair? I hope. https://t.co/xF1WApyCCE #BULLSvBUCKS #NBAPlayoffs — NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) April 21, 2015
Four technicals were called as a result.
Nikola Mirotic scored 8 points in 13 minutes in the first half off the bench. The Bulls committed 10 turnovers in the first half where Derrick Rose went scoreless (0-for-7 from the field). The Bucks had eight different players score in the first half and had eight steals with only two turnovers. The Bulls were +13 on the glass at the half.
Rose scored 12 of his 15 points in the third quarter, where the Bucks would put up their highest point total (30). The Bulls countered with 32 points of their own in the quarter to hold off the strongest rally from Milwaukee during the game. The Bucks fizzled in the fourth quarter where they would only score 14 points, the same amount as Jimmy Butler scored in the quarter. Butler’s big two-handed dunk capped a 10-0 Bulls run that helped put the Bucks away for good.
Things got chippy again in the fourth quarter:
Mirotic vs. Pachulia is round 2 of chippiness in this #BULLSvBUCKS game https://t.co/tJU3bmCUDQ #NBAPlayoffs
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) April 21, 2015
The Bulls won the rebounding battle 64-48 and had 26 assists on 31 made shots. Since starting 1-for-8 from the three-point line the Bulls finished 11-for-25 from behind the arc with makes from six different players. Milwaukee had more points in the paint (36-30) and was +11 in bench scoring, but only shot 35 percent from the floor including 4-for-17 from three.
Game 3 of Bulls-Bucks will be on Thursday at 8 PM EST on NBA TV.
