Why the Chicago Bulls can pull off an upset over the Milwaukee Bucks
The Bulls have shown in both games thus far that they can hang tight with Milwaukee, and that this series will not be easy as many predicted. Now they will head back to Chicago tied 1-1 with the defending champions with an excellent opportunity to put some major pressure on the Bucks in Game 3.
After rewatching Game 2, I picked up on a few major ways in which the Bulls are punishing the Bucks’ defense. In the second game, the Bucks used a consistent pick and pop with Nikola Vucevic, which put some major strain on Bucks big man Brook Lopez. Because of his lack of mobility, Lopez often plays in drop coverage.
In a traditional pick & roll, this may work due to the Bulls’ lack of size. However, because of Vucevic’s ability to shoot the three-ball, the Bulls can create loads of space by deploying a pick and pop against Lopez.
In this play, for example, watch as Vucevic comes to set a screen for Alex Caruso. As Brook Lopez responds by dropping back, it triggers Vucevic to pop back out to the three-point line. To defend against this shot, Giannis is forced to bring help from the opposite wing. This shifting clears out a wide-open lane for Patrick Williams to cut to the basket for an easy dunk.
Actions like this will be very difficult to defend with Lopez on the floor, especially when DeMar DeRozan is the ball handler. Due to the injury of Bobby Portis, I expect Chicago to continue to exploit the Bucks’ defense with the pick and pop set.
When the Bulls get three impressive performances from their Big 3 (DeRozan, LaVine, and Vuc) they will be very difficult to beat. Wednesday night, we saw the three-headed monster take over at times during the game.
Milwaukee is very talented defensively, however, without Khris Middleton, they lose a key wing defender and will have their hands full with Chicago. As mentioned with Lopez, the Bulls provide some matchup issues for Milwaukee. If they put Jrue Holiday on him, Zach LaVine becomes a problem, and if you use Giannis against him, the defense near the rim suffers.
The offensive strategy from Chicago appears to be working, especially in Game 2, but will it be enough for them to win three more games? The Bulls’ defense doesn’t have to shut down the Bucks to have a chance in this series, they just need to defend enough that their impressive offense can carry them to wins.