Bulls punish Bucks turnovers and hit 20 threes in 125-104 win

Matas Buzelis made five 3-pointers, and Chicago used a turnover-heavy first half to build a lead Milwaukee never recovered from in a 125-104 preseason victory Wednesday at Fiserv Forum.

Buzelis scored a team-high 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-7 from deep. Leonard Miller added 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench, Norman Powell scored 16, and Jalen Smith contributed 15 points and seven boards. Chicago made 20 of its 50 3-point attempts and finished with 35 assists.

The ESPN box score and full play-by-play show a game decided well before the final substitutions. The Bulls led 24-15 after one quarter, outscored Milwaukee 38-24 in the second and reached halftime ahead 62-39. Chicago then scored 40 points in the third to enter the fourth up 102-78.

The second-quarter progression was especially damaging. Milwaukee was within nine after Kam Jones’ free throw with 8:25 remaining. Chicago answered with Buzelis free throws and a Noa Essengue jumper, then kept extending the margin through its bench. A Tre Jones trip to the line pushed the lead to 45-27, and Powell’s short jumper made it a 20-point game with 4:42 left in the half.

Caleb Wilson closed the half with a 3-pointer off Josh Giddey’s pass, giving Chicago its 23-point cushion. Giddey finished with nine assists in 22 minutes; Tre Jones added seven assists in 17. The Bulls were getting scoring chances from several handlers rather than depending on Buzelis to create everything himself.

Brew Hoop’s game report documented Milwaukee’s unstable first half and its heavily changed lineup. The Bucks started Kasparas Jakucionis, Brayden Burries, Ousmane Dieng, Pete Nance and Jericho Sims. Established rotation players including Myles Turner, Tyler Herro and Kyle Kuzma did not play, making this more useful as an evaluation of younger options than a verdict on a full-strength lineup.

Jones led Milwaukee with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Burries had 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals, while Jakucionis scored 18 and handed out six assists. Jakucionis made all 11 of his free throws, and Burries went 8-for-8, helping the Bucks generate offense despite a difficult shooting night.

Those trips to the line could not overcome the lost possessions. Milwaukee committed 30 turnovers and shot 10-of-43 from 3-point range. Chicago was far from spotless, recording 22 total turnovers itself, but paired its pressure with much better outside shooting and 22 fast-break points to the Bucks’ six.

The NBA’s official recap confirms the result, with the league box score providing the individual detail. Chicago moved to 2-2 in the preseason and Milwaukee fell to 1-3. The win gives the Bulls a strong shooting performance to build on; the Bucks’ more immediate review is how their developing ball handlers can create chances without surrendering so many possessions.

Sources

Official NBA/team game report and record · Independent game reporting · ESPN final game record, full box score and play-by-play · NBA official recap