Milwaukee Bucks 'win ugly,' survive Chicago Bulls rally in Game 1

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During the playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks became a defensive powerhouse, finishing as the top team in defensive efficiency.

The No.14 ranking in defense was achieved by the Bucks during the regular season. They once again turned up the intensity for the start of the playoffs on Sunday, smothering the Chicago Bulls offense en route to a 93-86 Game 1 victory in Milwaukee.

Mike Budenholzer said that sometimes you have to win ugly.

After sweeping their division rival in the regular-season series, Milwaukee jumped out to a 9-0 lead and built a 16-point first quarter advantage over them. The Bulls fought back and even took a lead in the third quarter, but the Bucks came back to win the game.

They made a couple more winning plays than we did, according to Bulls guard LaVine.

The Milwaukee Bucks have lost five of their past six Game 1s during their last two playoff runs, with their only win coming against the Miami Heat in the opening round of the playoffs last year. They came away with a victory on Sunday despite a poor performance from Khris Middleton, who was 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611

The game was ugly because of so many reasons, said Antetokounmpo, who finished with 27 points and 16 rebound. Both teams, not just for us. I think not playing the game for a few days gets you out of shape. A win is a win. We really didn't want to be down 0-1.

Milwaukee got defensive contributions from all over the floor on Sunday.

Antetokounmpo battled foul trouble that limited his minutes during the fourth quarter, but he continued to be a disruptor defensively whenever the Bulls came near him. The closest defender for Chicago was Antetokounmpo, who went 3-for-11.

On the perimeter, Jrue Holiday and Wesley Matthews combined to slow down DeMar DeRozan and LaVine, who together shot 6 of 25 whenever one of those two players were the primary defender. The Big 3 of Chicago's DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic combined to shoot 21-for-71 from the field and 4 of 22 from 3.

"I don't know what the hell was going on, it just wasn't me." All of us. We are not going to miss that many shots again. We have to keep doing what we have been doing and try to take that to another level.

He said he was happy with most of the shots he took.

He said he would live with them again.

The Bulls shot 32.3% from the field and 18.9% from 3.

The defense of Holiday helped make the difference in the fourth quarter with Antetokounmpo and LaVine both having foul trouble.

The Bulls went 0-for-7 in the fourth quarter with Holiday as the primary defender and Holiday contesting all seven shot attempts.

Guys like Wes, Jrue and Khris take pride in playing good defense and stepped it up at the end of the game. They were locked in and we got the job done because they knew we needed the stops.

Chicago has had issues competing against the top teams in the East this season and putting together a competitive game against Milwaukee is a step forward compared to their last two regular season games.

The Bulls had a chance to win Game 1 down the stretch, so it felt like a missed opportunity.

They did what they were supposed to do. We want to steal home court now. We have a lot to digest from this game, to be able to come in and look over a lot of stuff tomorrow, try to clean up and be better at it. We got one more chance in Milwaukee before we go back to Chicago.