MILWAUKEE — The Bulls have shown a lot of positive signs the last few weeks.
Even more impressive, they’ve done it without Zach LaVine (right foot) in the lineup.
The pace had picked up on offense, the intensity was back on defense and the ball was hopping around rather than getting stuck in isolation.
But the Bulls don’t have a Giannis.
Thanks to former league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 20 of his team-high 32 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, the Bucks snapped the Bulls’ four-game winning streak with a 133-129 victory Monday.
An Antetokounmpo takeover is never out of the norm when the Bulls play their division rivals. There are just some forces in the NBA that are difficult to stop, and no one does bully ball late in games better than Antetokounmpo.
“He forced his way downhill, got to the free-throw line, got layups,” Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan said. “It’s tough. When he’s doing that, you got shooters out there, so you kind of have to pick your poison.”
DeRozan had some hefty numbers of his own, becoming the first Bull since Michael Jordan to have at least 40 points and 10 assists in a game. DeRozan finished with 41 and 11.
“Oh, I mean anything with Michael Jordan in it is a hell of an accomplishment,” DeRozan said. “I never take any of that for granted.”
But this was a painful loss for the Bulls (9-15), who were down by 14 in the second quarter.
Rewind to the start of the season and most of November, and double-digit deficits were a regular occurrence. The Bulls would usually put up a fourth-quarter last-stand run, but urgency wasn’t in the script on most nights.
It was on Monday.
Malik Beasley made a three-pointer with 3:38 left in the first half to put the Bucks up by 14, but by the time the third quarter started, that lead was cut in half just seconds in on a jumper by Patrick Williams.
Whenever it felt like the Bucks were about to get on a run and pull away, the Bulls refused to fold.
With 9:02 left in the fourth quarter, Milwaukee was caught.
The score was tied on a three-pointer by Coby White. The Bucks (16-7) tried to pull away again, but a jumper by Williams knotted the game up again with 5:25 left in regulation.
The glaring issue, however, was slowing down Antetokounmpo.
Up by two with three minutes left, Antetokounmpo attacked the rim for an easy layup plus the foul. White tried to keep the boat afloat with another clutch three-pointer, but Antetokounmpo answered with a slam.
White missed a three with 1:36 left, and Antetokounmpo split two free throws.
The Bulls, however, wouldn’t go away.
DeRozan hit two free throws with 29.1 seconds left and sent the game into overtime with a floater with 3.1 seconds left in regulation.
But that only set the stage for Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, who controlled the overtime.
Coach Billy Donovan has never been a moral-victories type of coach, but there were definite positives.
“You think about this, there’s going to be, like, 100 shots on offense, 100 shots on defense,” Donovan said. “Those shots take about a second. So in a 48-minute game, there is a lot of stuff going on that you have total control over. Those are the things we have control over and what we have to focus on.”
