Bulls Outlast Herro's 34-Point Night, Escape Milwaukee 132-125
Chicago walked out of Milwaukee with a 132-125 win despite Tyler Herro dropping 34 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists for the Bucks. The story of the night was a Bulls team that absorbed an early double-digit deficit and kept coming.
Milwaukee looked like it had this one locked up early. After Jalen Smith's opening layup gave Chicago a quick 2-0 lead, the Bucks went on a sustained run — Myles Turner hitting a 24-foot three, Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. trading buckets in a two-man game — that pushed the lead to 19-6 by the 7-minute mark of the first quarter. Herro's 25-foot running pullup made it 19-6, and it felt like Milwaukee was setting the terms. Norman Powell answered with a three of his own, and Isaac Okoro chipped in a pair of free throws, but AJ Green's back-to-back buckets — a 24-footer and a 10-foot pullup — had Milwaukee up 26-11 heading into the final two minutes of the first. Powell closed the quarter with two quick baskets, and Jalen Smith added a tip shot, but Milwaukee still led 32-17 after one.
The second quarter is where things got genuinely strange. Chicago clawed back — Smith hit a 24-foot three to open the period, Powell converted four straight free throws, and then Norman Powell made three technical free throws in a row at the 9:46 mark to suddenly make it a 36-27 game. Milwaukee kept responding — Kel'el Ware with an alley-oop dunk, Kasparas Jakucionis drilling a 23-footer, Ryan Rollins adding a 25-foot three — and the Bucks appeared to be in control at 44-29. But Chicago clearly found something in that second quarter stretch, and the Bulls' depth and activity — Caleb Wilson's tip-in dunk, Matas Buzelis's running dunk — kept the deficit from becoming a rout.
The fourth quarter is where Chicago finished the job. With Milwaukee's win probability sitting at 49% — essentially a coin flip — Caleb Wilson stepped to the line with 1:16 remaining and made his free throw. That single make swung Milwaukee's win probability from 49% to 21%, a 28-point collapse in one shot. Wilson finished with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Leonard Miller added 19 points and a block. Jalen Smith was a force all night — 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 steals. Powell led Chicago with 25 points. For Milwaukee, Herro's 34 were brilliant and ultimately not enough, and Jaquez Jr.'s 19-point, 11-rebound, 5-assist line looks like the kind of performance that deserved a win. It didn't get one. Chicago's collective depth appears to be a real problem for opponents, and Milwaukee — with Caris LeVert, Gary Trent Jr., and Kevin Porter Jr. all sitting as coach's decisions — will want to revisit its rotation before the next one.