The NBA first-round scramble continued, with the East facing a battle of focus as defending champion Bucks traveled on the road to challenge the Bulls.
The Bulls, as the big dark horse in the East this season, successfully took advantage of the sudden injuries of Portis and Middleton in the last game after losing to the Bucks in G1, rewriting the big score to a 1-1 draw.
On the Bucks side, Middleton suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and is expected to miss at least 2 weeks, but Portis can return at G3, but he needs to play with goggles.
As soon as the game began, the Bucks showed their determination to win, and despite the road game, the Bucks showed a completely different hardness and momentum from the first two games in the first quarter.
Establishing a double-digit lead early and limiting the Bulls to just 17 points on the offensive end, the first quarter was already establishing a huge 16-point lead.
In the second quarter, the Bucks continued to exert their strength, quickly pulling the point difference to 20 points, fortunately, the Bulls offensive feel picked up in the second half, but at the end of the half, the Bulls were still 19 points behind.
Yi Bian fought again, the Bucks firmly suppressed the Bulls, did not give the Bulls the slightest chance, and the point difference was further stretched to 30 points.
At the end of the third quarter, the Bulls, who played at home, scored only 59 points, and with Portis's three-point whistle, the Bucks entered the final quarter with a huge 31-point lead, and the suspense of the game ended.
The final quarter was also reduced to garbage time, the two teams put the players at the end of the bench on the field for training, and finally the Bucks beat the Bulls 111-81, winning a 30-point victory, sweeping away the haze of the last upset and the doubts brought by injuries.
Throughout the game, despite the absence of second-in-command Middleton, the Bucks still showed a strong lineup depth of the defending champions, and in the case of three quarters of the clock, there were still 5 people who scored in double figures.
Among them, Portis, who played with injuries, became a miracle soldier, shooting 7 of 14 from the field, bombing 18 points and 16 rebounds, with a personal plus-minus of +20.
The 16 rebounds in a single game also set a career playoff rebounds record, after 12 rebounds in a single game.
In addition, Allen also became a wizard, shooting 5-of-7 from three-point range, efficiently scoring 22 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block, without any mistakes or fouls.
Holliday had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Connaughton had 11 points and 4 rebounds, and Alphabet Brother made 7 of 12 shooting, easily handing over 18 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists.
Although the three-point shot was all deflected, the performance of the alphabet brother was still remarkable, with a personal plus-minus of the game's high of +36, and once again completed the transformation, contributing 9 assists, so that his offensive threat was further amplified.
On the other hand, the Bulls, as a dark horse team, the team has exposed a fatal shortcoming, that is, the core players lack mental hardness, and the strength of the core players often determines how far a team can go in the playoffs.
Vucevic had 19 points and 6 rebounds on 8-of-17 shooting, DeRozan had 4-of-9 shooting, 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4-of-13 shooting, and LaVine had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
If as a role player, or a scoring point to consider, all three players have good strength, but in the playoffs, scoring ability and technical details are only the foundation, if the core has no momentum, there is no determination to win in the face of difficulties, then this team is difficult to win in the playoffs.