Bulls get heated, but not in time to beat Milwaukee

Adjusting to the temperature of the Bulls has been a real challenge this winter.

They started hot, turned ice cold, went back to hot again. They're like the shower control in a cheap hotel.

The latest hot stretch faded away Saturday as the Bulls couldn't deal with the return of Giannis Antetokounmpo and lost to Milwaukee 112-103, snapping a five-game win streak.

The Bucks star returned after missing eight games with a right calf strain and scored 29 points in less than 25 minutes. He punctuated his night by dribbling the length of the court and throwing down a windmill dunk with 1.9 seconds on the clock.

As he walked back to midcourt, Giannis was met by Bulls center Nikola Vucevic, then Coby White, who took exception to the exclamation point, which is generally frowned upon in the NBA.

“(Vucevic) didn't say much,” White said. “He said, 'Bro come on, you're better than that.' And it just broke out. Nothing crazy. Just an NBA scuffle, nothing ever really happened.

Former Bull Bobby Portis bumped into White from behind and several Bucks escalated the discussion before coaches from both sides pushed players toward the locker rooms.

The Bulls should have gotten hot a few minutes earlier, when they still had a chance to flip the result in the final few minutes.

“I just think you're all up, you won the game, the game over with. Why you got to do that for?” White said. “The game over with. I think it's a respect thing, toward the opponent, the game in general. Why would you do that? I just didn't understand it and I wanted to understand it.”

Antetokounmpo seemed healthy and energetic in this game, which meant the Bulls had few options to slow him down. The Bulls played one possession of zone defense to start the game, then used 6-foot-4 Isaac Okoro to guard the 6-11 Antetokounmpo. The results weren't great, but no one on the Bulls roster had much luck with this matchup.

“I thought (the Bulls defense) was like a parting of the Red Sea,” coach Billy Donovan said. “We've got to be able to stick our nose in there and be a lot more physical than that. I think there was four straight possessions he dunked.

“We've got to be better. I thought in the second half we had a little bit more physicality at the basket, made it a little bit more difficult for them, but I didn't think we did a great job in the first half.”

This game further emphasized what's been obvious with the Bulls all year — there's not enough size on the roster, especially when power forward Patrick Williams barely plays.

The return of Zach Collins from a broken wrist allowed the Bulls to use a bigger lineup, something they used often Saturday, with Collins and Jalen Smith playing together with the second unit. But no one had an answer for Antetokounmpo.

The Bulls trailed 103-94 with 2:57 left, then tried to make it a game by scoring 7 in a row. But Antetokounmpo responded with free throws, then a driving layup to boost the lead back to 107-100.

White hit a 3 to cut the lead to 107-103 with 33 seconds left and the Bulls followed by forcing a five-second inbound violation. But White tossed up an errant 3-point shot on the next trip and that was the end.

This was the first time White played in back-to-back games this season, and he admitted he's still trying to recover from missing the first several weeks of the season with a calf strain.

“I'm getting there,” he said. “I still feel like I've got a ways to go in terms of stacking games together. I didn't get a September, October, so I'm still trying to get my legs up under me in terms of my timing, my decision-making.”

These teams have plenty of similarities with their ups and downs. Milwaukee (13-19) came into this game having gone 4-14 over the previous 18. The Bulls started the season 6-1, then went through a 4-14 stretch, before winning the last five in a row.

The Bulls (15-16) have four more home game this week, beginning Monday against Minnesota.