In Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first appearance of the 2025 NBA preseason, the Milwaukee Bucks improved to 3-0 in the preseason, taking out the Chicago Bulls at United Center. Giannis scored 13 in a 21-minute
debut, but it was Myles Turner who paced the visitors with 19 points on 5/8 shooting, all threes. Kyle Kuzma had 19 as well off Milwaukee’s bench, while Ayo Dosunmu poured in 22 for Chicago.
Game Recap
This game saw the first appearance of a starting lineup many fans have clamored for: Giannis alongside AJ Green, Gary Trent Jr., Kevin Porter Jr., and Turner. While it took them a few possessions to find their footing on both ends, a pair of Trent triples highlighted an 11-0 run to put Milwaukee ahead 16-7 at the first timeout, just after the eight-minute mark. Giannis checked out for Bobby Portis about a minute later, but the Bucks extended that run to 14-0 over the ensuing two minutes, punctuated by a Turner block that induced a big gasp from the Windy City crowd. Ryan Rollins and Cole Anthony took over in the backcourt as Doc Rivers dipped further into his bench, as Kuzma and Taurean Prince entered with three minutes left in the period. After Chicago closed within two, the B team staked Milwaukee to a 35-29 lead through one.
That group stuck for the opening minutes of the second, building their advantage to 10 before two unforced errors on consecutive possessions led directly to three Bulls points. Giannis re-entered for Portis as the nominal five, which opened up some cutting lanes a bit for Kuzma and Anthony. Up 47-43, the Bucks’ starting lineup began piecing back together and remained until half, but they were unable to regain much separation. Still, spacing out Turner to the corner with the trio of guards making up the rest of the weak-side arc proved effective at opening up seams in the Chicago defense for Giannis to exploit. It also afforded clean looks for the shooters, and Milwaukee finished the first half a cool 13/26 from deep and led 65-61.
For the first time this preseason, the Bucks’ starting five also started out of halftime (same for the Bulls) and kept firing away. But converting just two of their first seven three-point looks, it was a five-point game when Doc began pulling starters just past the third’s midpoint. Briefly down to three, Milwaukee reestablished a nine-point edge utilizing the same group that closed out the first. A Kuzma charge underneath with 1:38 to go was overturned, and some successful Bucks fast breaks in the next minute made it 102-93 game entering the last frame. Before the buzzer, though, some extracurriculars beneath the rim led to Prince and Dalen Terry resulted in four technicals between both squads and an ejection for Terry, who tried throwing a punch.
Rotation players stayed on the floor to begin the fourth as Chicago kept things close, before we got our first Jericho Sims and Amir Coffey sightings of the evening. Though the Bucks got it back to 10, the Bulls cut it back to four with 6:57 left and less than a minute later, they had their first lead since it was 7-5, thanks to a 13-4 run. Rollins marshalled a two-big lineup with Sims and Pete Nance back in front, though, before two-way guards Jamaree Bouyea and Mark Sears took over. That group managed to hold off the end of Chicago’s bench in somewhat of a feverish final minute.
Stat That Stood Out
Another hope for fans entering this season was that the Bucks, who topped the league in three-point percentage last year, would up their volume this year after finishing middle-of-the-pack in 2024–25. Through two preseason games, they certainly looked like they’d do that, shooting 41 and 36. Through the 10:19 mark of the fourth, when Doc went beyond the 10-man group who’d played to that point, Milwaukee put up a whopping 42 shots from behind the arc. Once the final horn sounded, their line read 20/48, compared with 45 two-point attempts. That’s a .516 three-point rate, nearly at the level of last year’s Celtics, who set a regular season record in that regard.
