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Early Bulls-Bucks action a real shooting gallery

For a few minutes, anyway, Game 1 of the Bulls-Bucks series defied all logic.

During four regular-season meetings, Milwaukee shots 39.1 percent against the Bulls. The Bulls shot 40.8 percent against the Bucks and neither team ever reached 100 points.

On Saturday at the United Center, both teams played like they were auditioning to join the Western Conference. At halftime, the Bulls led 60-51.

"The first quarter was fool's gold," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "We're not an offensive team. That set a tone in a bad way for us in the first half, giving up 60 points. We'll go back and look at the tape and see what we can do better."

Milwaukee shot 59 percent in the first quarter, hitting 13 of 22 shots. By the end of the night, though, the Bucks reverted to their regular-season form, finishing at 39.3 percent.

"We're not an offensive team. We rely on our defense," Kidd said. "We just fell in a trap of scoring the ball in that first quarter and felt we were going to outscore Chicago with our offense and not play defense. That kind of put us behind there."

The Bucks shot 29 percent in the second quarter, 28 percent in the fourth quarter.

"Once we settled down a bit, we did a better job of getting back (on defense) and getting ahead of the ball," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "They put a lot of pressure on you. They're a terrific team."

Kidd keeps quiet:

Most NBA observers were surprised and bewildered when Jason Kidd jumped to Milwaukee last summer after spending just one year as head coach in Brooklyn.

It seems like pure genius now that the Bucks progressed from 15 to 41 wins. Kidd gave an interesting description of his coaching style to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"For me, I never want to show disappointment," Kidd said. "I never want my guys to feel pressure or feel like they've done something wrong, which snowballs into something else. Yeah, there's probably a lot of things going through my head. There could be some screaming. Might be a lot of 'Wows!'

"But I can remember doing those same things. I've been in some of those situations. You're trying to make a play and it just didn't turn out right. If you show disappointment or discouragement, I think my team feeds off that and I never want them to feel that way.

"The game of basketball, you're going to make mistakes. It's how you handle it, how you go on to the next play."

Hinrich misses opener:

Kirk Hinrich was unavailable for Saturday's Game 1 because of the hyperextended left knee that originally happened on April 1 at Milwaukee. Hinrich has missed five of the last eight games and his status for Monday's Game 2 is unknown.

"(The rehab progression) has sort of plateaued," Thibodeau said after Saturday's shootaround. "So he's been stuck for a few days now. Hopefully we can find something to get him better."

One injury of note during the game was Taj Gibson suffering a right knee strain in the fourth quarter. He was riding the stationary bike during the final minutes of the game and seemed to be feeling OK.

Bull horns:

The Bulls have now won eight straight home games, which includes the end of the regular season. Their second-best home streak this year was six from Dec. 10 to 27. ... The Bulls are 30-7 all-time in Game 1s played at home. Last year, they lost their first-round opener at the UC to Washington.

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