In what may be a first-round playoff preview, the sizzling Chicago Bulls can sweep the season series and win a 10th consecutive game at Milwaukee over the struggling Bucks Wednesday night.
The Bucks were defeated by the Atlanta Hawks 101-88 Monday night as DeMarre Carroll dropped 23 points on 9 of 13 shots, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out five assists and blocked two attempts. Al Horford contributed with 18 points.
Midway through the third, the Hawks held a 56-51 lead until Kyle Korver went off and scored 11 points in 65 seconds to make it 67-51 and the Bucks never challenged the rest of the way. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 18 to lead five Bucks in double figures.
After the game, Jason Kidd was unhappy with his team's effort, saying the team lacked effort and failed to show up.
Chicago, having won five of their last six games, has been on a tear, averaging 108.3 points on 52 percent shooting in their last three wins versus Charlotte, Toronto and New York.
Against New York, the Bulls annihilated the Knicks 111-80 as Nikola Mirotic totaled 24 points, Pau Gasol tallied 19 points and 12 boards and Jimmy Butler poured in 18. They led by 20 at halftime and fell four points short of their most lopsided victory of the season. The Bulls were also highly efficient as they had 28 assists compared to 14 turnovers, hit 43 of 84 shots and outscored New York 50-22 in the paint.
Sitting at third place in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls have gone 9-8 since Derrick Rose underwent knee surgery in February but Rose took physical contact for the first time since surgery at practice this week.
Mirotic has been picking up the offensive slack in Rose’s absence, averaging 20.8 points in 15 games in March and could create mismatches with his length and outside shooting for the Bucks.
Gasol, who leads the league with 48 double-doubles, has also been a thorn in the side of Milwaukee. In three games versus the Bucks this season, he has averaged 27 points and 14 boards.
The Bucks, who are trying to avoid being swept by the Bulls for the third time in five seasons, have been struggling mightily, losing eight of ten and going 5-15 since Feb.22. Moreover, Milwaukee is just 1½ games in front of Miami (34-39) and three games ahead of Boston (33-41) and Brooklyn (32-40), who are deadlocked for the 8th seed.
Plus, Michael Carter-Williams has been in a slump, averaging 7.3 points on 26.7 percent shooting and committing 15 turnovers in his last four games. He had four points and four turnovers in their loss at Atlanta.
In their last matchup against each other, Milwaukee set season lows for points and shooting (33.7 percent) in an 87-71 loss at Chicago on Feb. 23. Tony Snell had 20 points, Mirotic accumulated 16 points and 14 rebounds, and the Bulls pounded the Bucks 62-41 on the boards. Chicago seized control in the first half and led by double digits for the majority of the final three quarters. Ersan Ilyasova scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
Jared Dudley remains questionable with a lower back injury for Wednesday’s game.
Tip-off will be at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time.