Giannis Antetokounmpo returns to lead Bucks past Bulls
In a return from injury, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a game-high 29 points to help the visiting Milwaukee Bucks earn a 112-103 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
Antetokounmpo had missed eight straight games with a right calf strain for Milwaukee, which had dropped four of its last five games. Ryan Rollins added 20 points, while Bobby Portis had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Myles Turner chipped in 13 points and Kyle Kuzma scored 12.
Nikola Vucevic and Coby White led Chicago with 16 points apiece, while Josh Giddey tallied 13 points, nine assists and seven boards. Ayo Dosunmu had 11 points off the bench for the Bulls, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
After holding a four-point halftime lead, Milwaukee doubled the margin to 71-63 on Turner and Rollins' layups with 6:31 left. Giddey then scored five of Chicago's 7-0 run, pulling Chicago within a point.
Giddey's three-point play and Zach Collins' layup knotted the score at 75 with 3:12 remaining in the third. Antetokounmpo split a pair of free throws with four seconds left in the quarter, giving Milwaukee an 85-80 edge entering the fourth.
Antetokounmpo's alley-oop dunk on an assist from Porter extended the Bucks' advantage to 90-83, before Vucevic's back-to-back layups cut the lead to three.
Rollins' fourth trey gave the Bucks a 95-91 lead with 5:14 left in the fourth. After Giddey responded with a 3-pointer of his own, another Rollins 3-pointer pushed the lead back to four.
After Turner's put-back layup and AJ Green's triple extended the lead to nine, six straight Chicago points pulled the Bulls within three with 1:31 remaining. From there, Antetokounmpo's four straight points gave the Bucks a 107-100 lead with 45.7 seconds left.
After Chicago led by seven early, Rollins' 3-pointer with 33 seconds remaining in the opening quarter gave the Bucks a 28-26 lead entering the second.
Milwaukee opened the second quarter on an 8-3 run, taking a seven-point lead on Porter's pullup jumper. After Chicago pulled within five, Antetokounmpo's three straight dunks stamped an 8-0 Bucks run to give the visitors a 44-31 edge.
Collins' layup and Tre Jones' 3-pointer finished the first half, trimming the Bulls' halftime deficit to 54-50.