The Chicago Bulls played their first playoff game in five seasons on Sunday night against the Milwaukee Bucks opening up the first round with with a loss.
Although they suffered a 93-86 loss, they showed a level of determination that fans haven’t seen in months. Something that quickly jumps out about this game is how poorly Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic shot from the field. These poor shooting percentages can easily be pointed to as the reason for dropping game 1. That should be encouraging for the fans that expected the reason to be a lack of energy and effort.
The Bulls are also going to need more production from Patrick Williams.
His defensive presence is crucial as he is the best option the Bulls have for matching up with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Beyond that, the Bulls need Patrick Williams to become more aggressive offensively to have a chance in this series. In the regular-season finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Williams showed us how offensively skilled he is as he dropped a career-high 35 points. On Sunday night against the Bucks, Williams only recorded 5 points and shot 2-3 from the field.
All too often, Williams passes on open shots. The star players sitting against the Timberwolves was a big reason that he was able to take 21 shots and score 35 points. Three field goal attempts is far too little for someone as skilled as him. It is crucial that the 20-year-old learns quickly and adjusts by becoming more aggressive. Also, his teammates must be able to accommodate him in terms of field goal attempts.
Patrick Williams.
Coming off a career high 35 point game.
23 minutes – THREE shots.
Can’t happen
The Bulls proved on Sunday night that Bucks are a beatable team. The Bulls will have to play as close to perfect as possible to have a shot against them. Part of that is making sure that Patrick Williams can impact the game offensively.
Game 2 of this first-round series is Wednesday, April 20th. The Bulls must steal one game on the road before coming home to the United Center for games 4 and 5.
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