AP – Giannis Antetokounmpo had 35 points and 11 rebounds and Bobby Portis also had a double-double in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 118-109 victory over the Chicago Bulls yesterday.
Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard returned to action after missing two games with a calf injury, though he shot just three of 17 while scoring 12 points. The Bucks lost both games they played without the seven-time all-NBA guard.
The Bulls were playing for the second straight night after beating the Detroit Pistons 119-108 at home on Sunday.
Bobby Portis had 19 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs.
Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton scored 13 points to enable him to overtake Michael Redd for fifth place on the Bucks’ career scoring list.
Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Zach LaVine scored 20, Coby White 16, Patrick Williams 13 and DeMar DeRozan 11. DeRozan shot just three of 14.
Milwaukee scored the game’s first nine points and outscored Chicago 35-18 during an opening period that ended with a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Antetokounmpo, the 500th of his career. Chicago missed 16 of its first 19 field-goal attempts.
The Bulls chipped away at that 17-point deficit and finally took their first lead on an Andre Drummond putback with 5:15 left in the third. The lead changed hands three more times over the next minute or so, with a Portis basket putting Milwaukee back ahead for good.
Portis’ basket started a 12-0 run that helped the Bucks regain a double-digit advantage at 81-70. The Bucks carried an 83-74 advantage into the fourth quarter and didn’t allow the lead to drop below eight.
