What I Feared

On Tuesday, the Bulls were able to handle Joel Embiid, still recovering from knee surgery. But a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo? Not when it counted. Last night in Milwaukee, the Bulls made a game of it for three quarters and were only down at the start of the fourth. Enter Antetokounmpo, who scored nineteen of his 41 points in the final frame. If Billy Donovan had a answer to the Bucks’ biggest weapon for 36 minutes, he lost it in the final twelve. Milwaukee 126 Chicago 110. The Bucks may not be a great team, but they have a great player, and in the NBA, great players can elevate the people around them (see Jordan, Michael). The Bulls are a team comprised of good and a few very good players. They’re deep, but they can’t dominate in crunch time the way Antetokounmpo did last night. That, I fear, will be an ongoing problem. Let’s see how Donovan and company respond.