It was a tough game for Milwaukee Bucks fans to watch as they saw their team fall to a 133-122 defeat to the Chicago Bulls, but there is no reason to panic.
Giannis Antetokoumpo looked good with his 38 points, 11 rebounds and five assists along with Damian Lillard's 28 points. Taurean Prince and Gary Trent Jr. added double-figure points themselves, but it still wasn't enough as they lost by 11 to their divisional rivals. AJ Green was a shining light off the bench after his struggles in preseason, scoring nine points by hitting three of four shots from 3-point range.
Their opponents were lights out from deep, hitting 21 of their 47 attempts (44.7 percent). This was a huge outlier for them. Coby White dropped 35, while Zach LaVine 25 and Nikola Vucevic scored 22, with three other players all hitting double figures. The Milwaukee Bucks needed more behind Giannis and Lillard, but there is no reason to panic after this one.
Bucks shouldn't panic as the Bulls were just lights out
Those 21 threes for the Bulls were their most in a game since they hit a team-record 25 back in 2021. It is only the eighth time in franchise history they have made more than 20 shots from beyond the arc. Last season, they were the 20th-ranked 3-point team, hitting 35.8 percent of their shots, so this is an outlier of the Bulls being very much on with their shooting Friday night.
- Coby White hit 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) - a career .369 shooter from three. He hit seven or more threes in just four games last season.
- Nikola Vucevic hit 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) - a career .341 shooter from three and was .294 last season. At no point did he hit four threes in a single game.
- Josh Giddey hit 2-of-2 (100 percent) - a career .312 from three and just .337 last season.
- Jalen Smith hit 3-of-5 (60 percent) - a career .338 shooter from three, and his career high is four threes in one game.
To add to this, the Bulls shot 10-of-34 (29.4 percent) from three in their opening-game defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans, so they clearly found their groove last night. The Bucks couldn't quite shake it. After what was a really solid defensive performance in the opening game against the Sixers, this at least gives the Milwaukee Bucks something to work on and fine-tune, whether that be rotational or schematically defensively.
These kinds of games happen all the time in the NBA, where a team just gets hot, and there isn't anything you can do about it. The Milwaukee Bucks will have plenty of time and will have their nights similar to what the Bulls had. For now, there is no need to panic with the Bucks; they will be just fine.
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