The Milwaukee Bucks cruised to a 111-81 victory over the Chicago Bulls in game 3 of the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Grayson Allen led all scorers with 22 points on 8-12 shooting and 5-7 from three. The first two games, Allen was not aggressive looking for his shot as he had 0 points in game 1 on two shot attempts, and three points in game two on four shot attempts. With the absence of Khris Middleton, Allen will be an x-factor to help the Bucks offensivley.
Bobby Portis was inserted into the lineup to replace Middleton, and the offense didn’t miss a beat as Portis had 18 points, 16 rebounds on 7-14 shooting. Portis played the game with protective goggles after taking an elbow from Tristan Thompson on Wednesday night.
The Bucks dominated the entire game, with their largest lead being 37 at one point in the game. It’s not surprising that the Bucks offense was prolific, as they still have Giannis who dropped in 18 points on 7-12 shooting and Jrue Holiday who had 16 points on 7-14 shooting. With the arsenal of offensive weapons at their disposal, this was the most complete performance the Bucks have put together so far in the playoffs.
The Bucks as a team, shot 47 percent from the field and 15-41 (36.6 percent) from the three-point line, and held the Bulls to 39 percent shooting from the field and 9-34 from the three-point line (26.5 percent).
The Bulls meanwhile, were led by Nikola Vucevic who scored 19 points on 8-17 shooting. Chicago couldn’t get anything rolling offensivley as DeMar DeRozan scored only 11 points after his 41 point outburst in Game 2. Zach Lavine only had 15 points on 6-13 shooting after his 20 point performance in Game 2.
Despite the Bulls not winning the game, they won our hearts with this moment in tonight’s game
Justin Hardy plays college basketball for Washington University in St. Louis. Hardy scored 928 career points for the WashU Bears but since last April, has been battling Stage 4 stomach cancer but played most of the season with the Bears. In 21 games, Hardy averaged 11.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and shooting 43.3 percent from three.
Next game is Sunday, April, 24 in Chicago, tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m.
