Some of the action was close in the first three games of the series, but all of the action went in the favor of the Chicago Bulls, as they built up a 3-0 series lead. Historically, teams don't blow 3-0 series leads ever. They're undefeated when a team goes up like that in a seven-game series. That didn't stop the Milwaukee Bucks from challenging the Bulls into making them flex their muscles to close out this series. The Bucks came back with great performances in Game 4 and Game 5 to put pressure on the Bulls.
However, Chicago showed up with a closeout on their minds in Milwaukee in Game 6 and that's exactly what they delivered early in this game. By halftime, it was simply academic and the Bucks didn't have a chance to put one last breath of life into their season. Instead, the Bulls rolled to a 120-66 victory and move on to the second round.
Here are the three things to take away from Game 6.
1. THE BULLS PUT THIS ONE AWAY EARLY, AS THEY SHOULD HAVE
The starting lineup of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy, Pau Gasol, and Joakim Noah galvanized the Bulls from the start and in the blink of an eye built up a 20-point lead on the Bucks. They were up 18 after the first quarter and took a 32-point lead into halftime after leading by as many as 34 points. What's crazy is their first half score of 65 points was one point away from the Bucks' game total of 66. This was a truly dominating performance and exactly what the Bulls needed.
They didn't need the pressure of playing guys big minutes and having to gut out another victory in this series. Butler (32) and Gasol (30) were the only starters to crack 30 minutes in the game, but I'm not sure how you count Rose's 25 minutes in addition to the time he spent on the exercise bike after he exited the game for good. The Bulls did everything correctly in this game and even their 12 turnovers only yielded four points off those turnovers. This is how you close out a series.
2. THIS BLOWOUT SHOULDN'T DEGRADE THE SEASON THE BUCKS HAVE HAD
As bad as Game 6 was for the Milwaukee Bucks and they didn't have one single player get to double digits in scoring, it shouldn't tarnish the season they had after posting the worst record in the NBA a year ago. The Bucks were dealt a ton of injuries and drama last season, and only won 15 games because Larry Drew and the players couldn't find a way to persevere. Under Jason Kidd as coach this year, they were still given drama and injuries, but they found a way to work through it.
Larry Sanders ended up being waved and needing to step away from basketball. Their No. 2 pick in the draft Jabari Parker tore his ACL early into the season. They traded their All-Star caliber point guard in Brandon Knight for a younger, less talented point guard in Michael Carter-Williams (for now) and still managed to work their way to a 41-41 record and the 6-seed in the East. Some of their success was due to it being the East, but they cultivated a defensive-minded culture and put some serious foundation down for the future of this organization. They walk away in an embarrassing loss, but should have their heads held high.
3. MIKE DUNLEAVY WAS SNEAKY DIRTY IN THIS GAME FOR ALMOST NO REASON
The only drama in this game came in the first half when Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected for a flagrant-2 foul. It came against Mike Dunleavy on a 3-point attempt in which Antetokounmpo leveled him with a shoulder. Perhaps the Greek Freak was trying to get himself in the mood for the NFL Draft, but whatever the reason, he decided enough was enough with Dunleavy.
What did the Bulls' wing do to draw the ire of Giannis? Well, he had a couple of shots in this game that weren't very basketball related and were kind of dirty of him to do. The first one came early on against Carter-Williams when he may have "accidentally" clocked him in the face with his hand. MCW left to go to the locker room for a bit before returning to the game.
Then as if that wasn't enough, Dunleavy pushed Antetokounmpo around the head and knocked him over on a "box out" situation. It really just looks like he was pushing Giannis in the chin and going high for no reason.
That was enough for Giannis to decide to go full Andrew Bynum and end his season early with a shoulder check.
The Chicago Bulls head to Cleveland to start their semi-finals series on Monday.
SERIES SCHEDULE
Game 1 – Sat April 18
Chicago 103, Milwaukee 91
Game 2 - Mon April 20
Chicago 91, Milwaukee 82
Game 3 – Thu April 23
Chicago 113, Milwaukee 106 (2OT)
Game 4 – Sat April 25
Milwaukee 92, Chicago 90
Game 5 - Mon April 27
Milwaukee 94, Chicago 88
Game 6 - Thu April 30
Chicago 118, Milwaukee 66 -- Bulls win series 4-2
