Low-scoring, physical Game 1 was a thing of beauty to Bulls
Alex Caruso made his reputation on the defensive end, so maybe he's a little biased.
But Caruso opened Monday's interview session by disagreeing with the perception Game 1 of the Bulls-Bucks series was an ugly game or not well-played.
"I thought both teams executed kind of what they wanted to do, left their imprint on the game," Caruso said at the Advocate Center. "Making or missing shots doesn't necessarily mean you played well or played bad. To hold that team to 93 points, bunch of turnovers, not a lot of teams this year did that."
The Bulls lost Game 1 in Milwaukee 93-86, while shooting 32.3% from the field and 18.7% from 3-point range. They'll practice twice in Chicago before returning to Fiserv Forum for Game 2 on Wednesday.
"It was definitely a poor shooting night," Caruso said. "I don't think either team shot particularly well from the floor, but I don't think the teams played bad, is what I'm trying to say."
But while the Bulls have lost 17 of their last 18 games against the Bucks and five in a row this season, an argument could be made they accomplished one mission by matching Milwaukee's physicality in Game 1.
This Bulls team will always be fighting an uphill battle in that regard against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the defending champs. With Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez guarding the rim, the Bulls hit just 16 of 35 shots in the paint Sunday.
But the Bucks hadn't scored 93 points or less since Dec. 18 during a loss in Cleveland. So whether or not the teams had bad shooting nights, the Bulls were doing something right.
"What we did physically is just the price of admission," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. "You don't do that, you have no chance. So we've got to build off of that, but we've also got to clean up the mistakes we made."
Donovan saw the contest from a typical coach's perspective. He was more interested in how the Bulls followed the game plan rather than whether shots fell. Four Bulls (Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu) made their playoff debuts Sunday, while another, Javonte Green, saw the second postseason contest of his career.
"The focus to me, for our team, should not be on shooting the ball," Donovan said. "We've got to live with good shots. Once the ball leaves a player's hand, it's out of everybody's control. It can't be about that.
"I don't think the game for us was lost because we didn't shoot the ball well. Would that have helped? Absolutely. There's still enough things I think we can clean up and get better say that we have control over and I'm sure they feel the same way."
When guarding Milwaukee it all starts with preventing Antetokounmpo from building up a head of steam, because once that happens he's impossible to stop. Giannis was the best player on the floor, finishing with 27 points and 16 rebounds, but he also finished with 5 fouls and 5 turnovers in Game 1. As a team, the Bucks piled up 21 turnovers.
"I thought our physicality was really good," Caruso said. "I thought our willingness to compete on every possession, to have a next play mentality, to not worry about makes, misses; being impartial to the noise and just doing your job. I thought we did a good job of that.
"It's the playoffs. You lose, you go home. If you can't get up for that, then you shouldn't play basketball."
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