I wasn’t expecting much from the Bulls heading into this first-round series against the Bucks, and they quickly fell into a 16-point hole in the first quarter of Game 1 on Sunday night. It looked like they were about to get embarrassed yet again by a top-notch opponent, which would have just been continuing a trend from after the All-Star break.
Instead, the Bulls battled in this game, locking down on defense and making life difficult for the defending champions. The Bulls forced 21 Bucks turnovers and held them to 40.5% shooting. The Bucks missed their share of good looks from 3-point range (10-of-38), but the Bulls did a good job of making life difficult for them, especially when Giannis Antetokounmpo was off the floor (he was plus-19 and only played 34 minutes).