For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Milwaukee Bucks start the year 0-2 after dropping a (very) winnable home opener to the Chicago Bulls 132-125. Tyler Herro continued his strong start in a Bucks uniform with 34 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Seven Bulls scored in double figures, led by Norman Powell (25) and Caleb Wilson (21).
Game Recap
The new-look Bucks made a strong first impression on the Fiserv crowd against their I-94 rivals. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyler Herro got hot early, scoring five and four points each as Milwaukee jumped out to a 16-6 lead. However, the two young squads then got very sloppy, combining for seven turnovers, and neither team scored for a long while until Norman Powell hit an eight-foot bank shot. Still, the Bucks led by a lot at that point (26-13). Milwaukee added another triple from AJ Green and went into the second quarter up big, 32-17.
Chicago responded well out of the break, starting with a 10-4 run. As the Bulls crept back in, second-year guard Kasparas Jakučionis flashed some high-level offensive potential; he threw a great lob pass to Ware, drained a corner three, and then found a wide-open Ryan Rollins for another bomb. That stretch put the Bucks up 13, forcing Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter to call a timeout. And man, Chicago came back with a vengeance after the timeout, going on a ridiculous 21-7 run to take the lead, capped by a Leonard Miller triple; it was their first lead since they were up 2-0. Kyle Kuzma, of all people, helped right the ship for the home side, scoring five points in the final minute to put Milwaukee back in front at the half, up 62-61.
Tyler Herro carried his strong start into the second half, adding five more points and an assist on a three by Kuzma in the opening minutes. Both sides were cooking on offense: at one point, the Bucks shot 8/12 from three, while the Bulls hit 8/11. Both offenses kept humming with little resistance, but a nice pass from Jakučionis to Brayden Burries for three, followed by a hook shot from Ware, gave the Bucks a five-point lead with under three minutes left. The two divisional rivals largely kept pace for the rest of the third, but the Bucks closed poorly. After Jaquez hit a fadeaway jumper with eight seconds left, Milwaukee allowed Chicago to score at the buzzer as Jalen Smith slipped the pick and slammed it home. That final basket gave Milwaukee a razor-thin lead heading into he fourth, up 104-102.
The Bucks’ offense hit a wall in the fourth; five minutes in, they were just 2/10 from the field. That rut let the Bulls pull away, and they went up by eight after another three from Hield. However, hometown kid Tyler Herro refused to give in, going on an electric run to score 10 of Milwaukee’s next 12 points and put Milwaukee back up by one with just under four minutes remaining. The Bulls responded with two consecutive buckets to regain the lead, but Myles Turner cleaned up a Rollins miss on the offensive glass to put the Bucks back up 123-122. Then, in a controversial call, the officials called a blocking foul on a retreating Jakučionis when he appeared to be in legal guarding position. Wilson proceeded to hit both free throws with 1:16 left to give his team a one-point lead, and the Bucks overthought their final few possessions, losing a very winnable game.
Stat That Stood Out
In a close loss, missed free throws are often what do you in. The Bucks left 12 points at the line, going 14/26, while the Bulls went 26/28. That is rough.
Obscene Overreaction
Kasparas Jakučionis has already made the Bucks win the Giannis trade. Whenever the Bucks struggled on offense, Jakučionis settled things down and made crucial plays. Crucially, KJ wasn’t just scoring; he had five assists too! #ExtendKasparas
