How the Bulls Can Beat the Bucks
The Bulls will take on the Milwaukee Bucks at 5:30 p.m. Sunday on TNT.
The Bucks are not a team to mess around with. They finished the season at the №3 seed, while the Bulls finished with the sixth seed, struggling along the way to end the season.
Nobody believes the Bulls can beat the reigning defending world champs.
But can the Bulls do the unthinkable and dethrone the Bucks in Round 1? There are a few ways the Bulls can help themselves and maybe pull out the upset. I have four keys:
Rule 1: Don’t let Giannis dominate the game
The Bulls must not let Giannis Antetokounmpo live on an island by himself in the paint. We saw last year what Antetokounmpo did to Suns center Deandre Ayton. That didn’t do the Suns any favors as Antetokounmpo made Ayton look like he’s 5-foot-11.
Play team defense, it’s all about talking and communicating offensively and most importantly defensively. Help defense is the key.
Building the wall no longer works. Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and even Brook Lopez will hurt you from the perimeter.
Rule 2: Make Vooch crash the boards; let P-Will be the third primary scorer
If the Bulls wish to beat this Bucks team, they must not give up any second-chance points. Obviously, Nikola Vucevic and Patrick Williams both have to play a key part in the rebounding department, but Vucevic has to be the main leader for the Bulls to have any chance.
Williams showed that he can be a really good rebounder, and we know what he can do defensively. The Bulls ranked as the 28th-best rebounding team this year. That’s not going to get you wins against a great rebounding team like the Bucks.
Williams also proved that he can be a focal point on offense the last few games of the 2021–22 season. He scored 35 points in the final game of the regular season against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and you can just tell he was a player oozing with confidence.
Needless to say, get him more involved.
Rule 3: The bench most show up
We all know the Bucks have the better bench. Guys like Coby White, Troy Brown Jr., Derrick Jones Jr. and even Tristan Thompson must show up for the Bulls to have any chance.
Once either DeMar DeRozan or Zach LaVine exit the game to get rest, these guys will have to match the Bucks’ bench and complement either LaVine or DeRozan. That’s a tough task especially when the Bucks have guys coming off the bench like Bobby Portis and Grayson Allen, who have played their roles well.
As we’ve seen, both guys have hurt the Bulls this season. Not an easy task, but those guys must be on point.
Rule 4: LaVine Must Cook
We all know what LaVaine can do when he is healthy. Unfortunately, for the majority of the '21–22 season, that hasn’t been the case.
LaVine almost has to be sensational in order for the Bulls to have any chance. He has to have that mindset like the late great Kobe Bryant. We all know what DeRozan is capable of doing.
The key has to be LaVine. Recently, Thompson challenged him to be the best guard in the series.
Lavine has to be the one to accept that challenge and come up big. In these big-time games, we know what he is capable of. He just has to have the right mindset to know he can do it.
