CHICAGO — With the recent news that Milwaukee Bucks forward Khris Middleton will likely miss the remainder of the series against the Chicago Bulls with a sprained MCL, the main storyline heading into Game 3 on Friday night was who would step up for the Bucks in Middleton’s absence. We’ve certainly seen Giannis Antetokounmpo win games on his own by putting up absurd numbers, but asking him to do it all can’t be Plan A.
Luckily, Milwaukee never really needed Giannis to go completely nuclear on offense. In the first five minutes of the game for the Bucks, center Bobby Portis drained two 3-pointers, Brook Lopez netted a triple of his own and Jrue Holiday had two smooth finishes at the rim. It was the bulk of what resulted in a 17-9 lead for the Bucks, forcing the Bulls to take their first timeout of the game. That early onslaught from the role players ended up being a taste of what was to come for the rest of the night as Milwaukee rolled Chicago to a 111-81 win.
Giannis finished the game with a modest stat line of 18 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, while only taking 12 shots and playing 29 minutes. The reason for that “quiet” night from the two-time league MVP was because of the production the Bucks were getting from everyone else. Grayson Allen finished with a playoff career high of 22 points, Portis tacked on 18 points, Holiday had 16 and Pat Connaughton finished with 11 points. It was the exact type of effort Milwaukee needed as it faced a raucous United Center crowd without its second-best player available.
“The whole group played well tonight,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game. “The guys off the bench were great, the starters were great. It takes all of us.”
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