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Malika AndrewsESPN
MILWAUKEE – The vicious shot of Giannis Antetokounmpo marked the beginning of the end of the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls held a 22-point lead with 1 minute and 30 seconds left in the first half – their biggest game of the game. This advantage was 18 at halftime.
It would not last.
Milwaukee beat Chicago by 29 points (46-17) in the third quarter for a 123-104 win. The last time the Bucks overcame such an important half-time deficit, it was November 26, 1999 in Boston. Antetokounmpo was 4 years old.
The turnaround on Friday night began with a powwow at halftime.
"We know we are not playing hard enough," said Antetokounmpo. "Coach [Mike Budenholzer] came and let us know that we were not putting enough effort and energy into the game. "
After getting lost at half-time, the Bucks exploded out of the break, scoring a 12-4 run to open the third quarterfinal to put the crowd on the Fiserv Forum.
0:21
Khris Middleton invents a flight, separates himself from the basket and leaps a pass to Eric Bledsoe for a dunk.
"Once we started shooting, they disappeared," said Bledsoe. "We started running, attracting our crowd, I guess they started to panic a bit."
0:24
Khris Middleton's 3-pointer is not up to par, but Giannis Antetokounmpo rises for a dunk-bottomed monster that puts the crowd on the run.
The Antetokounmpo dunk, who had just missed a 3 missed by Middleton, gave the Bucks the advantage. They would not follow the rest of the game.
To top off the quarter, Bledsoe nailed a three-bell warning buzzer on Shaquille Harrison. He finished with a high of 25 points.
0:25
Eric Bledsoe reverses a 3-pointer to give the Bucks 46 points in the third quarter.
The match ruined the Bulls striker, the return to town of Jabari Parker, as well as the team that placed him second overall in 2014. As a member of the Bucks, Parker was a fan favorite. On Friday, the crowd booed at the presentation and the first basket. Like the Bulls, Parker had a strong first half, scoring 17 points on 7 out of 12 shots. But Parker finished with just 21 points, pulling 2 of 7 from the field in a second half of four points. The Milwaukee crowd mocked him when he swung a corner pointer in the third quarter.
"You can ask the smallest person in the building," Parker said after the loss. "I knew each other's name and I always had good relationships with everyone – it was my home – it was a family for me – that's how it goes." to be, nothing has changed I always do a lot of work here The city of Milwaukee definitely has my heart They are so good for me I'm so happy for all these guys. "
With this victory, the Bucks are now at 11-4 and they continue to lead the league by outperforming their opponents by 11.4 points per game average. No other team outperforms teams by more than 8.0 points per game. Friday night, the Bucks needed only 13 minutes to show the Bulls how strong they were.
"We believe in the approach of every game and every match in the same way," Budenholzer said. "No matter what people perceive as big games, we are approaching the same games that people may perceive as if we have the advantage, we are approaching the same thing. There is a coherence in the way we approach the game, the practices and all these things – we become a very mature, professional and very competitive team.
"But it's easier said than done."
Antetokounmpo admitted that the match was not enough for the Bucks and he told his teammates that there was still work to be done. As a newcomer Christian Wood left the locker room, Antetokounmpo called him: "Work left!"
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