The NBA season’s halfway point is still about a month away, but Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo’s patience is already wearing thin.
After being knocked out of the NBA in-season tournament in the semifinals, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will look to bounce back when they face the visiting Chicago Bulls on Monday.
Milwaukee has had three days of rest following a 128-119 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday. Chicago enters Monday’s contest on a four-game winning streak after beating the San Antonio Spurs 121-112 on Friday.
Antetokounmpo had 37 points and 10 rebounds in the Bucks’ loss to Indiana, which scored 37 points in the decisive fourth quarter. The Pacers bench outscored Milwaukee’s reserves 43-13.
“We have to come together as a team,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is Game 22. We have 60 more games. We’ve got to keep on coming together as a team. We’ve got to keep on spending time together. We’ve got to keep watching film together. We have to keep getting on the court together.”
Damian Lillard scored 24 points in the loss, while Khris Middleton added 20 and Brook Lopez chipped in 18. While the Bucks had several impressive individual performances against the Pacers, Antetokounmpo said the team’s cohesiveness needs to improve.
“Obviously, the talent level that we have is incredible, but we have to be more organized,” Antetokounmpo said. “I feel like sometimes we’re not organized at all. We don’t know what we’re trying to get from our offense, or sometimes defensively, we’re not sprinting back.
“We had a lot of situations (Thursday) that they got a lot of dunks, open threes, early threes. We have to be better.”
Milwaukee has split its first two meetings against Chicago this season, including a 120-113 overtime loss on Nov. 30.
Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 29 points to lead the Bulls in that meeting.
With guard Zach LaVine out for three to four weeks due to right foot inflammation, the Bulls have received a welcome spark from fourth-year pro Patrick Williams.
Chicago ended a seven-game road losing streak on Friday, when Coby White scored 24 points and Vucevic added 21 points and 16 rebounds against San Antonio. Williams and DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points apiece, and Torrey Craig had 16.
Guard Alex Caruso exited the game in the fourth quarter with a sprained left ankle, but the Bulls were able to hold on for the win.
“I feel like this team is built with guys who are waiting on their opportunity,” Craig said. “We have some guys out, guys went down and guys made the most of it. Patrick played unbelievable all night. I was able to make some tough shots down the stretch, and Coby and Ayo (Dosunmu) and (Vucevic) and (Andre) Drummond, all those guys did their thing and we got a win.”
Williams has averaged 14 points and 6.3 rebounds in his past three games. He turned in a complete effort in the win over San Antonio with six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.
“I think (Williams) really believes he’s going to figure it out,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. “The energy and the motor has to come from him, and he’s always said it’s there.
“But sometimes as he’s mentioned to you (media) guys he can overthink things, which takes away his aggressiveness. So it’s good to see how consistently he is playing.”
–Field Level Media