Bucks at Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are supposed to be racing to the bottom to ensure themselves the best chance at a top draft pick but instead came out of the All-Star break hot with back-to-back wins over playoff contenders. The Bulls will try to make it three straight wins out of the break and four in a row overall when they host the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.
Chicago scratched past Orlando 110-109 on the road Friday and returned home Saturday with a 126-116 victory over the Boston Celtics, avenging a 56-point home loss to the Celtics from Dec. 8. "We had it in the back of our minds, but we didn't talk about it too much," power forward Lauri Markkanen told reporters of the previous loss to Boston. "We've had a ton of adversity, and the only way you can fight through it is come together. That's what we've been doing." The Bucks earned their own win over Boston coming out of the break and followed that with a 140-128 triumph over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday as the All-Star duo of Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined for 55 points. "Not very happy with our defense, but credit to our guys for finding a way to kind of have a pretty decent defensive fourth quarter and make enough plays to win a game," Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters. "Certainly not our best tonight. ... I guess it's hard to argue with 140 points."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee), NBCS Chicago
ABOUT THE BUCKS (45-14): Milwaukee allowed 109 points through the first three quarters on Saturday before locking down in the fourth quarter. "We'll take a win, even an ugly win, a nice win; we'll take any win," Antetokounmpo told reporters. "But at the end of the day though, we've got to get better because when playoff time comes, when the games count the most, when we play really, really good teams, you got to play defense." Antetokounmpo and center Brook Lopez combined for six blocked shots in the win and each had a key swat during the fourth-quarter run that put the game away.
ABOUT THE BULLS (16-44): Guard Zach LaVine scored a career-high 42 points on 17-of-29 shooting in Saturday's win while Markkanen added a career-high 35 to go with 15 rebounds. The double-double was the ninth in the last 11 games for Markkanen, who is shooting 49 percent from the floor and 92.6 percent from the line in eight games this month. LaVine is putting up 26.6 points in the last seven games and buried 10-of-17 from beyond the arc in the last two contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bulls SF Otto Porter Jr. suffered a lower left leg strain on Saturday and is day-to-day.
2. Bucks PF Nikola Mirotic scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench on Saturday - his second game since joining the team and recovering from a calf injury.
3. Milwaukee took the first three meetings this season, including a 112-99 win at Chicago Feb. 11.