It was an ugly game in the box score, made even uglier on a third-quarter Flagrant 2 by Milwaukee’s Grayson Allen, when he all but threw Alex Caruso to the ground and was ejected from the game.
To call Friday’s showdown with Milwaukee ugly would be underselling it.
If the Bulls had any chance to win, however, it would have to be one of those grimy January games that only a defensive-minded coach like Billy Donovan could embrace.
He would have to hold off the hugs for now, as the Bulls lost 94-90.
Where did the first meeting between the Bucks and Bulls of the season sink to? Hard to ask a player like Grayson Allen, especially after he was ejected.
With 5:45 left in the third quarter, Alex Caruso took to the air for a layup, and was met by Allen, who appeared to swipe aggressively at the ball with one hand, but tried sending Caruso into Row 3 with the other. The Flagrant 2 saw Allen exit stage left with the ejection, and seemed apropos to an already muddy game.
“It was really bad,’’ Donovan said of Allen’s play. “For Alex to be in the air like that, for him to take him down like that, he could have ended his career. And he has a history of this. That to me was really dangerous, and I really hope the league takes a hard look at something like that.’’
Veteran forward DeMar DeRozan had a similar take.
“I felt like the refs made the right [call],’’ DeRozan said. “The angles you can take when guys are in the air … it was tough.’’
As for Caruso, he took somewhat of a high road, especially considering he now has a sore wrist to deal with because of the play.
“Didn’t really know what happened during the play, but afterwards looking at it, dude just grabbed me out of the air,’’ Caruso said. “Kind of bulls—t, I don’t know what else you can do about it. Just glad that I didn’t have any major, major, scary injuries right away.’’
Not the only tough watch in the game.
By the way, a game that saw the Bulls shoot 31-for-85 (36.5%) from the field and 7-for-38 (18.4%) from three-point range, while Milwaukee went 34-for-89 (38.2%) from the field and 6-for-31 (19.4%) from three.
A game in which the 6-foot-5 Caruso actually spent some time guarding the 6-11 monster that is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
A game in which the Bulls (28-16) just didn’t have the size up front, and the experience in the backcourt in the end.
Donovan’s young fill-in backcourt of Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White looked overwhelmed in the landscape of another nationally televised game, but this time against the defending World Champions.
Really the first time that the two have played poorly filling in for an injured Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine.
At least for Dosunmu he recognized his poor shooting night and tried to impact the game in other ways, finishing with five rebounds and six assists.
“I have a pretty good relationship with [Dosunmu’s Illini coach] Brad Underwood, and when the draft took place I spoke to Brad, and Brad never even talked about his game,’’ Donovan said of Dosunmu. “All he talked about was his make-up. Is he a worker, how is he going to handle adversity, how is he going to handle setbacks, how is he going to handle a role, how is he going to be as a teammate? Those are the things that ultimately make to me great players, besides the talent. If people thought he was this unbelievable talent he would have gone in the first round, and probably if the draft was done over again with the way he’s played he would go in the first round.
“When I spoke to Brad all he talked about was his habits, his competitiveness, what a teammate he was. When you start hearing those types of things, that’s what gets you excited, where you feel like, ‘You know what, we got a really good player here.’ Ayo has tried to earn his way.’’
And was still trying to.
But for Milwaukee, this isn’t a roster looking to earn its way. The Bucks are looking to repeat on greatness.
That was on full display in the final seven minutes, as Antetokoumpo gave his team a three-point lead with 7:12 left, and did everything they could to try and take control of the game, getting the lead up to seven with 2:32 left.
The Bulls, however, had one last fight in them, cutting it to two with 1:10 left.
After winning a jump ball, DeRozan had the chance to play hero, but missed the three-pointer with 23.3 seconds left. That ended up leading to Khris Middleton making two free throws with 15.8, all but putting the visiting team on ice.
DeRozan finished with 35, while White went the other way finishing 3-for-15 from the field and 0-for-9 from three.
“The last two games we’ve really battled and scraped,’’ Donovan said. “That’s the disposition we’re going to have to have.’’