Nikola Vucevic had 29 points and 10 rebounds and Coby White scored 23 points to help the shorthanded Chicago Bulls beat the visiting Milwaukee Bucks 120-113 in overtime on Thursday to stop a five-game losing streak.
DeMar DeRozan (left ankle soreness) and Zach LaVine (right foot soreness), the Bulls’ top two scorers, missed the game with injuries that forced them out of Tuesday’s lopsided loss at Boston.
Still, Chicago stuck around behind eight double-figure scorers. Ayo Dosunmu (14 points), Patrick Williams (12), Jevon Carter (11), Alex Caruso (11), Torrey Craig (10) and Andre Drummond (10) rounded out the balanced attack.
Drummond snagged 14 rebounds.
Giannis Antetokounmpo notched a double-double of 26 points and 14 boards for Milwaukee, while Brook Lopez followed with 20 points.
Chicago led by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter. The Bucks stormed back before White drilled a step-back 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining to extend the advantage to seven points.
Milwaukee responded with a 10-0 run, including Lopez’s fifth trey of the second half to give the visitors a 104-103 lead with 21.4 seconds to go. Antetokounmpo hit two free throws to stretch the lead to three, but Caruso forced overtime with a buzzer-beating trey.
Malik Beasley scored 19 points for the Bucks, and Damian Lillard had 18 points and 13 assists.
Chicago led after one quarter, overcoming an early 9-0 deficit by using quick ball movement to dictate the pace.
Milwaukee recovered to take a 55-49 advantage into halftime. Lillard (17 points) and Khris Middleton (nine) helped offset early struggles from Antetokounmpo, who navigated three first-half fouls and scored just four points.
Vucevic (16 points) and White (10) led the Bulls, who committed 13 turnovers before intermission but were plus-10 under the boards.
Chicago snapped a three-game skid against Milwaukee, which defeated the Bulls by nine on Nov. 13 in the first meeting between the teams this season.
Vucevic had a season high in scoring to go with six assists, one shy of White’s team high.
Chicago shot 45.9 percent compared to 44.9 percent for Milwaukee.
–Field Level Media
