MILWAUKEE, WI (LEARFIELD-WSAU) The Milwaukee Bucks showed a lot more fight in Game-Two — but they still lost at Chicago last night 91-to-82, to trail their Eastern Conference quarter-final series two-games-to-none.
Bucks’ center Zaza Pachulia was ejected with 2:48 left after his second technical foul, a shoving match with Bulls’ forward Nikola Mirotic. The Bucks heeded coach Jason Kidd’s call for much better defense, holding Chicago to 38-percent shooting from the floor. However, Milwaukee kept struggling on offense, missing a number of layoffs and shooting just 35-point-six percent. They only had 13 assists — which Pachulia called “terrible.”
Still, it was a relatively tight game until the fourth quarter, when former Marquette star Jimmy Butler led the Bulls on a decisive 13-0 run. He scored 31 on the night, with nine rebounds. Bulls’ center Joakim Noah had 19 boards. Khris Middleton scored 22 to lead the Bucks. Michael Carter-Williams added 12 points and five rebounds. No other Milwaukee players scored in double figures.
Bulls’ guard Aaron Brooks committed a foul in the second quarter that resulted in two altercations and five technicals among both teams. In the end, Milwaukee lost its eighth straight playoff game dating back to 2010.
The best-of-seven series now shifts to Milwaukee, with Game-Three on Thursday night.
