MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks took care of business on Wednesday.
The defending NBA champions made sure not to prolong their first-round series and finished off the Chicago Bulls with a 116-100 victory in Game 5 at the Fiserv Forum.
The best-of-7 matchup started off inauspiciously for Milwaukee with a lackluster performance in Game 1 and then a 114-110 loss in Game 2. Despite a knee injury to star Khris Middleton that will keep him out For at least two weeks, the Bucks looked much sharper as they won three in a row, including two in Chicago, to eliminate the Bulls.
The third-seeded Milwaukee will face the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Celts, who swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first roundthey have home field advantage and will host the first two games of the series.
Chicago wasn’t expected to give Milwaukee much of a challenge given the 3-1 series deficit and the absences of key shooting guards Zach LaVine (health and safety protocol) and Alex Caruso (concussion protocol).
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points, with 32 in the first three quarters as the Bucks pulled away. Bobby Portis added 14 points and 17 rebounds for his fourth straight double-double in the series. The seventh-year pro hadn’t posted a double-double in his previous 26 playoff games.
Pat Connaughton and Grayson Allen combined for 33 points off the bench, including 9-of-15 shooting from beyond the arc.
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The Bulls just didn’t have enough firepower, making a franchise-record 52 3-point attempts but shooting just 15 of them.
There wasn’t much urgent energy in the Fiserv Forum with the crowd arriving late for seats. The Bucks got off a slow start, but took control on a 12-0 run for a 20-7 lead.
Antetokounmpo scored 15 points in the first quarter. There was some concern among home fans when he was left on the pitch clutching his left wrist after a hard fall with 30 seconds remaining.
However, Antetokounmpo stayed in the game, making both free throws after his fall and then adding a three-point play in the closing seconds of the first quarter. He bandaged his wrist on the sidelines while scoring the Bucks’ first two baskets of the second.
Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic had a layup 22 seconds into the second quarter, but then the Bulls didn’t score for more than four minutes. The Bucks scored 15 unanswered points and took a 49-20 lead on Wesley Matthews’ 3-pointer.
Chicago looked like it was going to retire, but summoned enough energy to pull within 57-42 before Allen hit a 3-pointer before halftime.
Antetokounmpo made his first seven shots and scored 23 points in the first half on 8-for-9 shooting.
The Bulls had renewed energy coming out of the locker room, with Vucevic and Ayo Dosunmu hitting 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 66-55.
Portis answered for the Bucks by nailing back-to-back 3-pointers from the right corner. Matthews added a 3-pointer a few minutes later and Milwaukee’s lead increased to 79-57.
Connaughton added back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 85-61, and Chicago coach Billy Donovan called a timeout at 3:47 of the third quarter with his team’s season in trouble.
Connaughton’s layup gave the Bucks a 93-68 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Bulls couldn’t get close to 15 points and the reserves saw a lot of playing time in the fourth.
Reference-www.usatoday.com