MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 16 rebounds, and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks bounced back after blowing a 16-point lead to beat the Chicago Bulls 93-86 in Game 1 of their playoff series. first round on Sunday.
Jrue Holiday hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:03 left as part of an 8-0 run that gave the Bucks an 85-78 lead. The Bulls cut the margin to 1 but were never able to regain the lead as Zach LaVine missed a potential tying 3-pointer from nearly 30 feet with 29 seconds remaining.
The Bucks have won 17 of their last 18 meetings with the Bulls, including all five meetings this season. The Bulls’ only win during this stretch came in the tail end of the 2020-21 regular season when the Bucks rested all of their starters.
Milwaukee continued that pattern Sunday by holding Chicago to the lowest single-game point total of any Bucks opponent this season. But the Bucks also continued their habit of struggling in the opening games of the series.
The Bucks won last year’s title despite losing Game 1 in three of their four series. They had lost the first game in five of their last six playoff series before Sunday, with the exception of Khris Middleton when he hit a 3-pointer in the last second of overtime against the Miami Heat last season.
Brook Lopez scored 18 points, Holiday had 15, Khris Middleton had 11 and Bobby Portis added 10. Portis also had 12 rebounds.
Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 17 rebounds for the Bulls, making his first playoff appearance in five years. LaVine had 18 points and 10 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan had 18 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
After the Bucks took a 32-16 lead and threatened to put this game out of their grasp early, the Bulls pulled away and eventually took the lead by scoring 13 straight points late in the third quarter. Coby White scored the last 5 points of the streak, including a 3-pointer that gave the Bulls their first lead 67-64 with 3:11 remaining in the third.
White’s layup made it 69-64, but the Bucks finished the third quarter on a 10-2 run to take the lead.
Vucevic’s inside basket put Chicago back ahead 78-77 with 5:56 left. The Bucks regained the lead on Holiday’s 3-pointer, which was only Milwaukee’s second basket of the fourth quarter.
Lopez made it 83-78 with 4:34 remaining by converting a three-point play for his first points since the opening period. Holiday capped the 8-0 streak with a jump shot with 3:58 remaining.
The Bulls cut the lead to 87-86 on Alex Caruso’s layup with 1:36 left, but they didn’t score again.
With the two cities separated by only about 90 miles, the Bulls will head back to Chicago after Game 1 before heading back to Milwaukee for Game 2 on Wednesday.
“If we had to play from Sunday to Tuesday, I think we definitely would have stayed here,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said before the game. “But I think because we have two days, we have a chance to get home at a decent hour, those guys can sleep in their own bed, practice. [Monday]practice on Tuesday and then go back up.”
The Bulls were missing assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter, who had both tested positive for COVID-19.
“They’re still in protocols right now with the league,” Donovan said before the game. Donovan added that “they’ve never really been in a situation where any of them felt bad, so that’s been a positive.”
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