Milwaukee Bucks continue to bully Chicago Bulls, take 3-1 series lead

The Milwaukee Bucks bullied the Chicago Bulls in Games 3 and 4. Now they head home aiming to close out their first-round  NBA Playoff series. 

The 2022 NBA Playoffs have been impacted throughout the first round by various injuries. In a different series, in the opposite conference, New Orleans Pelicans’ CJ McCollum provided a quote that also applies to the Milwaukee Bucks.

"McCollum: A wounded animal is more dangerous, than a healthy animal"

McCollum of course was referring to the Phoenix Suns being without their superstar Devin Booker. The metaphor fits the Chicago Bulls situation strikingly well. In the first two games of the series that the Bucks and Bulls split the total margin of victory was 11.

In Games 3 and 4, the Bucks’ combined margin of victory was a whopping 54 points. This was a display of pure dominance by Milwaukee. The final score on Sunday was 119-95.

What went right for the Milwaukee Bucks?

It would be oversimplifying the situation to say Giannis Antetokounmpo is the reason why the Bucks are up 3-1. Giannis was commanding in Game 4 putting up 32 points on 22 shots and pulling down 17 rebounds, it took a true team effort to obliterate the Bulls.

Fellow starter Jrue Holiday added 26 points and Grayson Allen chipped in another 26 points off the bench. The Bucks bombed away from beyond the arc connecting on 17-35 from distance good for 51.5 percent.

Milwaukee’s 3-point percentage on Sunday afternoon ranks among the highest of the postseason thus far.

What went wrong for the Chicago Bulls?

As hot as the Bucks were from distance, the Bulls were equally as cold. Chicago went 9-36 from distance which equates to 25 percent on the nose. The Bulls are now owners of three of the five worst (minimum 30 attempts) 3-point shooting performances during the playoffs. It gets worse, the Bulls’ 3-point percentage in Game 4 was not their worst percentage of the series.

That came in Game 1 where they managed a putrid 7-37 from 3.

It is up for debate whether or not Chicago’s poor 3-point performance can be linked directly to head coach Billy Donovan or not. However, the stats suggest it could be because during Billy D’s tenure with the Oklahoma City Thunder OKC finished in the bottom five in 3-point percentage in three of Donovan’s five seasons at the helm and now the Bulls are experiencing similar hardships.

This series is trending in the direction of being a gentlemen’s sweep so long as the Bucks handle business at home, after Games 3 and 4 all indications suggest they will end Chicago’s season in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

For a bonus stat, because the Bulls were able to secure at least one win versus the Bucks if the Boston Celtics do not close out the Brooklyn Nets this evening it will be the first time in nearly 20 years (2003 to be exact) no teams swept in the NBA quarterfinals.