“We have to win the ugly games,” said Jrue Holiday, whose 3-pointer with 5:03 remaining gave the Bucks a one-possession lead. “I had the impression that today was unpleasant. It was a struggle, a difficult one, but a nasty one.”
Holiday’s three-pointer was part of an 8-0 run by the Bucks to take an 85-78 lead. The Bulls closed the gap to one but were never able to reclaim the lead, as Zach LaVine missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer from over 30 feet away with 29 seconds remaining.
“I felt that was an excellent shot,” LaVine explained. “We were three down. I have a really clean appearance.” Milwaukee overcame its offensive woes by restricting the Bulls to their lowest single-game point total of the season. In their first playoff appearance in five years, the Bulls shot a season-low 32.3 percent from the field. They converted seven of their 37 three-point shots.
The Bulls shot 6 of 28 and 1 of 12 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter. “Every shot I took tonight felt fantastic,” DeMar DeRozan said after scoring 18 points on 6-of-25 shooting. “I can assure you that neither me, Zach, nor Vooch (Nikola Vucevic) will miss that many shots again.”
The Bucks, who have won 17 of their past 18 games with the Bulls, jumped out to an early 32-16 lead and appeared to be on their way to putting this game out of reach. However, they struggled to score the remaining goals.
