CHICAGO — Bulls guard Alex Caruso exited in the second quarter of Game 4 on Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Bucks after getting hit in the face by an inadvertent elbow from Bucks guard Jevon Carter.

Caruso was fighting through a screen set by Giannis Antetokounmpo when Carter’s elbow hit him on the nose with 1:44 remaining in the second quarter. Caruso fell to the floor and was bleeding from his nose before coming out of the game.

Ayo Dosunmu started the second half in place of Caruso before the Bulls eventually announced that Caruso would not return with a facial injury. Caruso was being examined for a possible concussion during the second half, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Caruso did not score but contributed four assists, four rebounds, a steal and two blocks in 17 minutes during the first half of Game 4.

Earlier this season, Caruso fractured his left wrist after a flagrant foul from Grayson Allen during a Jan. 21 game against the Bucks that would sideline for the next two months.

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History is filled with surprises, and an intriguing one underlies Chicago Opera Theater’s world premiere of “Quamino’s Map,” which opened Saturday evening at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building.

It turns out that thousands of enslaved Americans fought on the side of the British in the Revolutionary War with the promise of freedom and a pension across the Atlantic Ocean when the hostilities ceased.

Belizean-born British composer Errollyn Wallen and American librettist Deborah Brevoort took this virtually unknown historical episode and ran with it, creating a 90-minute opera loosely based on S.I. Martin’s “Incomparable World: A Novel.” Despite its compact running time, it is a large-scale work with 29 singers in the cast and chorus and a 40-piece pit orchestra.

At its heart, “Quamino’s Map” is a story of ultimately impossible love between Juba Freeman (tenor Curtis Bannister), a formerly enslaved man who has just arrived in England, and Amelia Alumond (soprano Flora Hawk), a bighearted member of London’s Black gentry.

But more broadly, the opera examines the notion of freedom, not just from physical enslavement but also from societal and economic encumbrances, issues that all the main characters face in one way or another.

Nowhere is this truer than for Freeman, who journeys to London thinking that he has escaped slavery only to discover a new set of shackles: the British reneging on their promise of a pension and a law banning new Black arrivals from work.

It is a fresh, engrossing story told in an intelligent and often captivating way. But at the same time, this narrative comes off as a little too easy. That Freeman arrives in London, becomes engaged with a rich woman and is nearly hanged for thievery seemingly all within a matter of a couple of weeks stretches the bounds of believability.

And it is hard to accept the opera’s upbeat conclusion. Quamino Dolly (bass-baritone Damien Geter), an ex-slave and now mapmaker (a metaphorical flourish) who becomes Freeman’s protector, encourages the new arrival to chart a new future by pursuing his love of fiddling. He scraps together enough money to buy the young man an instrument, but how does this help if employment is impossible?

Stage director Kimille Howard makes the most of this fast-paced story, maintaining a sense of continuity and nicely energizing the ensemble scenes, especially those in London’s red-light district.

Designer Steven Kemp’s scenery is simple but effective enough. The opera opens at the London docks, which is suggested via brick building walls on each side with an angled ramp running between them and an enlarged historical map of London as a backdrop. With just a few added set pieces and changes in lighting, this arrangement adequately accommodates the changes in settings.

Wallen has written 22 operas, and it’s clear here that she knows what she is doing in this appealing score, with its compelling melodic lines and lush, ever-variegated orchestrations, all nicely realized by conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson.

What is most impressive is Wallen’s ability to shift styles one scene to the next, from harpsichord and baroque effects for the Alumonds’ high-society gatherings to Broadway-tinged numbers for the red-light scenes, with jazzy riffs, blues hints and hard dissonances along the way. The only thing lacking is just a bit more emotional depth, which might have been provided by more traditional, full-bodied arias instead of what often comes off as extended recitatives.

Chicago Opera Theater put together a strong cast, starting with Bannister, a focused, technically secure singer who possesses the stage presence to anchor this production and the acting chops to convey both Freeman’s joy and pathos.

More than holding her own with him is Hawk, who lights up the role of Amelia with her strong, radiant soprano voice. One of the opera’s high points is when she shows up late for an engagement party, and Wallen humorously conveys a quarrel between Amelia and her mother, Grace, and sister, Elizabeth (ably portrayed by soprano Kimberly E. Jones and soprano Joelle Lamarre respectively), with zingy exchanges of exaggerated, baroque-style vocal ornamentations that require some impressive vocal dexterity to pull off.

Geter’s resonant, sure voice serves the role of Quamino well, but it is odd that the character is described as an “old man” at one point, but no effort is made in terms of his bearing or his look to suggest his age.

Other standouts include mezzo-soprano Leah Dexter, who makes the most of her showy role as the whimsical dominatrix Mistress Paddington, and tenor Tyrone Chambers II. He animates the role of Dele Piebald, a mysterious beggar who is also a kind of seer who intervenes in this story.

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Billy Donovan laid out a simple goal for his Bulls players on Sunday.

“Weather” the storm.

“You want to keep pace with teams, but there’s going to be these swings in games,” the Bulls coach said. “It can’t bleed into where it builds up and we start pressing on offense. Where every shot becomes critically important. We have to be able to handle the emotional swings in games.”

That was yet another fail for this roster, as Milwaukee again beat the Bulls in their own backyard, 119-95.

And now the weather moving forward is very cloudy.

The Bulls will face elimination on Wednesday night in Milwaukee, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series to the defending NBA champions.

They only have themselves to blame.

The first quarter? They checked the boxes they needed to, keeping the United Center crowd into it, and trailing by just three. Zach LaVine looked engaged and his old athletic self with 12 points in the quarter, the defense was doing a better job accounting for shooters, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was held to a quiet five points.

The one disturbing trend? Grayson Allen again feeling way too comfortable with his offense. After lighting up the Bulls for 22 in Game 3, Allen got loose in that opening stanza on Sunday for two baskets, setting the scene on what was to come.

What came was Public Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of Bulls fans finishing with 27 points on 10-for-12 shooting, including 6-of-7 from three.

The same Allen who altered the entire regular season for the Bulls when his Flagrant-2 tackle of Alex Caruso left the best defender on the roster sidelined for months with a fractured right wrist.

Now he was inflicting pain again, this time with his shooting.

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CHICAGO — Bulls guard Alex Caruso exited in the second quarter of Game 4 on Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Bucks after getting hit in the face by an inadvertent elbow from Bucks guard Jevon Carter.

Caruso was fighting through a screen set by Giannis Antetokounmpo when Carter’s elbow hit him on the nose with 1:44 remaining in the second quarter. Caruso fell to the floor and was bleeding from his nose before coming out of the game.

Ayo Dosunmu started the second half in place of Caruso before the Bulls eventually announced that Caruso would not return with a facial injury. Caruso was being examined for a possible concussion during the second half, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Caruso did not score but contributed four assists, four rebounds, a steal and two blocks in 17 minutes during the first half of Game 4.

Earlier this season, Caruso fractured his left wrist after a flagrant foul from Grayson Allen during a Jan. 21 game against the Bucks that would sideline for the next two months.

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Righty Alec Mills (low back strain) made his first rehab appearance Saturday at Triple-A Iowa, throwing three innings and allowing three earned runs. Mills, who was back at Wrigley Field on Sunday, called the outing a “step in the right direction.” Importantly, he said he got through the appearance without feeling anything.

Mills is expected to make another rehab start later this week, but he didn’t want to put an exact timetable on his return to the Cubs.

“I feel good,” Mills said. “I obviously need to get to a position where I can throw multiple innings. Go out there and get another outing under my belt and feel good again [and] see where it goes from there.”

Mills is being built up to start, but is up for any role when he joins the Cubs.

“Whatever happens when I get back is what I’ll do,” Mills said. “I think it’s a broken record, I say it every time, I’ll do whatever.”

As for pitcher Wade Miley (left elbow inflammation), he threw around 50 pitches in a bullpen session that went well, and is expected to throw live batting practice Wednesday in Atlanta. Unlike Mills, whose versatility allows him to be slotted in different parts of the staff, Miley will be a starter when he’s past his injury.

“Depending on personnel, where we’re at, health and concerns about a lot of things and optional pieces, all those things [are] a factor in how we fit things together,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “I know Millsy’s done multiple roles, so that’s always an option, but I think the main thing for me is just that we get him built up to start.”

Putting it in perspective

The Cubs’ 21-0 win Saturday was the franchise’s most lopsided shutout victory ever, surpassing a 20-0 win in Washington on May 28, 1886. It was also the Cubs’ biggest home win since a 29-run victory over Louisville on June 29, 1897, at the West Side Grounds.

The historic nature of the win didn’t reach Ross until after the game when he was informed by Cubs media relations.

“We were joking yesterday, everybody’s enjoying the 21-0 game and I still have to give the green light 3-0 to swing or not to swing,” Ross said. “Managers’ decisions don’t end until the game ends, and then there’s more to be made. I don’t know that I ever sit back and enjoy.”

Ross was more focused on watching lefty Sean Newcomb make his Cubs debut and who he could rest in the middle of the blowout, which he did by pinch-hitting for right fielder Seiya Suzuki in the fifth.

The Cubs also lived up to their contact-first ethos by scoring 21 times and hitting just one home run. Those 21 runs were the most by the club in a game with one or no homers since beating the Boston Braves 24-2 on July 3, 1945.

“The homers are nice. I like home runs,” Ross said. “I think everybody likes home runs, but I think we’re built to be contact-based and hopefully that’s a strength of ours.”

Thoughts on Cabrera

Ross knew pretty early that Miguel Cabrera, who picked up his 3,000th hit Saturday would be special. When he was asked about the future Hall of Famer, Ross remembered Cabrera’s Aug. 14, 2003, opposite-field home run off a splitter from Dodgers starter Kevin Brown, which was just the seventh homer of his career.

“I was like, who the heck is this?” Ross said. “Nobody does that.”

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