Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Shorthanded as they were with Derrick Rose out of the lineup with knee soreness, the Chicago Bulls were still able to fend off the visiting Milwaukee Bucks Saturday, 95-87.
After scoring 20 in the opening period, Pau Gasol thrived as the offense's focal point, finishing with a career-high 46 points on 17-of-30 shooting. His previous high of 44 had stood since March 28, 2006, set during a game against the Seattle Sonics.
The Bucks remained within striking distance all game long and briefly took the lead in the third quarter. But careless mistakes, coupled with Chicago's effectiveness on both ends, sealed the victory for Chicago.
| Brandon Knight | B |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | C- |
| Jared Dudley | B |
| O.J. Mayo | B+ |
| Rest of Team | C |
| Pau Gasol | A |
| Joakim Noah | B- |
| Jimmy Butler | B- |
| Kirk Hinrich | A- |
| Rest of Team | B- |
Milwaukee Bucks
Brandon Knight: B
Brandon Knight is neither a true point guard nor a primary offensive catalyst, though Milwaukee has the fourth-year guard filling both roles. After persevering through a few ankle scares in the third quarter, Knight finished with a respectable 20 points and five assists.
Lined up against Kirk Hinrich, filling in for Rose, he allowed the Bulls point man to have relative success from the field, draining seven of his 13 shots.
Knight was able to get to the basket often with nifty moves, but finishing once he got there was an issue. He connected on a pretty floater early on and later a flashy reverse layup in the third quarter, and he held onto the ball well, posting a goose egg in the turnover column.
As it turned out, though, Knight needed to convert on a few more positive plays to get Milwaukee a W on the road.
Giannis Antetokounmpo: C-
Tonight was one of the more forgettable nights of the Giannis Antetokounmpo experience.
The Greek Freak put up an extremely quiet four points and six rebounds. He was in foul trouble most of the night, getting whistled for his fifth midway through the third quarter.
He shot 2-of-6 and missed his only free-throw attempt. Antetokounmpo was active on defense, but without logging significant minutes until the closing stretch of the game, it was difficult for him put together an extended stretch of positive play.
Jared Dudley: B
Jared Dudley was one of four Bucks to score in double figures, finishing with 15 points on 50 percent shooting Saturday. He was able to knock down a couple of clean looks from mid-range but struggled from beyond the arc, failing to hit any of his three attempts.
Dudley was one of the team's only sources of offense through the first half—he was the lone Buck in double-digit scoring at halftime.
O.J. Mayo: B+
Coming off the bench, O.J. Mayo finished with 12 points, shooting better than 50 percent from the field over his 24 minutes. He made a few noticeable, encouraging plays within the offense, finding teammates on the floor in positions to find looks—though it translated to just one assist, he didn't turn the ball over.
He airballed a corner three in the first half with the shot clock winding down but nailed the rest of his attempts from downtown. On defense, he came away with a steal and blocked two shots.
Rest of the team: C
The Bucks' group of roleplayers didn't play especially poorly but was never able to close the gap, with Chicago leading by a comfortable margin almost all night.
Newcomer Kenyon Martin played his role by committing two fouls in his six minutes. John Henson finished up with six points and seven boards, while Khris Middleton shot 4-of-9 for nine points to go along with six boards.
Perhaps the most glaring empty stat line belonged to Jerryd Bayless, who salvaged a two-point performance by getting a pair of baskets late to push his total to eight on 3-of-6 shooting over 25 minutes.
As a team, the Bucks were outrebounded 51 to 37. The temporary loss of Larry Sanders was clearly evident here, as Pau Gasol and Chicago's bigs had whatever they wanted on the inside.
Chicago Bulls
Pau Gasol: A
Plain and simple, it was a career night for Gasol. After scoring 20 points and grabbing six boards over the game's first quarter, he posted a new career high with 46 points, exceeding his previous high of 44. With no true rim protector in for the Bucks, he was able to get away with whatever he pleased from in close.
He finished with 30 field-goal attempts, draining 17 of them. The veteran also grabbed 18 boards and came away with a steal.
He was the recipient of a number of useful feeds, from players such as Kirk Hinrich and Jimmy Butler, who led the team in assists.
Tonight symbolized the difference between this Bulls team and the ones from years past, sans Rose. There's now a legitimate scoring option outside of the former MVP point guard, and when Gasol is performing like he did tonight, Chicago is downright scary.
Joakim Noah: B-
Fouls had Joakim Noah playing fewer minutes than he would have liked, and he wasn't able to make much of an impact at all.
He finished with just two points and five rebounds, though thankfully for him the Bulls were able to get away with one stinker from their center. He did make one nice feed to Pau Gasol in the first half, and though the Spaniard wasn't able to connect, he did get the follow-up attempt to go.
Jimmy Butler: B-
It's been a fascinating year for Jimmy Butler, but tonight was one the 25-year-old would like to forget. Butler shot just 2-of-9 from the field, including three misses on as many tries from beyond the arc. Instead of playing scorer, Butler filled the role of facilitator, leading Chicago with 10 assists.
The ball found Butler plenty of times for open looks in makable areas, but the shots just weren't falling tonight. Gasol would make sure it wouldn't have much of a factor on the final score, though.
Kirk Hinrich: A-
Filling in for Derrick Rose, as he's done so often over the last pair of seasons, Kirk Hinrich actually gave some quality minutes for Chicago against the Bucks. His jumper was working, shooting 7-of-13 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers.
He logged three assists and turned the ball over just once. A final stat line of 16 points, three dimes and three boards over 34 minutes is about all the team can ask from the 34-year-old these days.
Rest of the team: B-
Gasol made sure this one was hardly ever in doubt for the Bulls, which was good for Chicago since its reserves didn't add anything particularly extravagant. Nikola Mirotic played just 13 minutes but nailed a three-pointer en route to his seven points.
Taj Gibson was a factor defensively in the middle, though he shot just 3-of-12. He managed to come away with five offensive rebounds as well.
Aaron Brooks put on his typical display of overdribbling and jump shooting, though he finished just 1-of-7 from the floor. He made his only attempt from beyond the arc, but fortunately for the Bulls, Hinrich managed the starting point duties well enough to render Brooks' struggles irrelevant.
Tony Snell got the start but made just one of his seven attempts over 32 minutes.
Up next
The Bucks, still over .500 in a putrid Eastern Conference, are off until Thursday, when they take on the lowly New York Knicks. They then host the Toronto Raptors, before plenty of winnable games come up on the schedule, including ones against the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic.
For Milwaukee to solidify itself as a legitimate playoff team this season, it'll need to make light work of the conference's bottom feeders.
Now in a virtual tie for second place in the Eastern Conference, Chicago stands at 26-12, looking as intimidating as it has in years.
It hosts the Magic at the United Center on Monday, followed by tough tests against the Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors to end the month.
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