The Milwaukee Bucks will enter the NBA playoffs with the league’s best record after defeating the Bulls 105-92 at home without star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee were led by Bobby Portis’ game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds on 6-of-9 from three whilst Jrue Holiday dropped 20 points, eight rebounds, and 15 assists.
Brook Lopez added 26 points and seven rebounds whilst Jevon Carter put up 16 points on 4-of-8 from behind the arc.
Milwaukee enjoyed a fast start building a double-digit lead in the first quarter before the Bulls went on a 52-31 extended run to craft a double-digit lead of their own midway through the third quarter.
The fourth quarter belonged to Milwaukee, however, with the home team holding Chicago to just 16 in the period en route to their third-straight win and 58th of the season.
The Bucks outshot the Bulls from three (18-of-46 to 11-of-33), won the rebounding battle (53 to 38), and forced more turnovers (15 to 12) to pull off a strong win.
The Bulls were led by Nikola Vučević’s 21 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists whilst Coby White added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting off the bench.
Zach LaVine was the only other Bull to finish in double-figures with the two-time All-Star adding 13 points on just 1-of-8 from three.
DeMar DeRozan endured a rough night shooting the ball finishing with just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.
The Bucks have just two games remaining before the start of the postseason – they will host Memphis on Saturday before traveling to Toronto on Monday.
They will, in all likelihood, opt to rest several of their key players.
The Bulls also have two games remaining before their play-in tournament matchup – they are in Dallas Saturday and hosting Detroit on Monday.
