The Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t keep up with the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, losing 133-122 at Fiserv Forum in the Bucks home opener. It was the first win of the season for the Bulls (1-1) and the Bucks dropped to 1-1.

Milwaukee now heads to New York to take on the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets (0-2) on Sunday evening.

Here are some takeaways from the Bucks loss:

Giannis, Damian Lillard have big nights but rest of Bucks quiet

One game after combining for 55 points in a win over Philadelphia, Milwaukee’s all-star duo shredded Chicago’s attempts at defense for a combined 66 points.

But how it came about, and what it looked and felt like, was different.

“It’s funny,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers began, “We scored 122 and shot almost 50% and we didn’t play offensively the way we should play. I thought a lot of that leaked to the other end. That wasn’t the same ball movement team you saw the other night (in Philadelphia). I think it leaks both ways.

"That was a disappointing game for us tonight. But give them credit. They shot the heck out of the ball. They played hard. They pushed the ball and the pace. I thought they had more endurance than us. You could see that through the game. So give them a lot of credit.”

In the last few seasons, the Bulls had been a team that was able to jam up Antetokounmpo with some proficient defensive positioning, but this iteration of the team had no real answer for the MVP candidate. Antetokounmpo’s night was punctuated with a nasty poster dunk on the head of Bulls center Nikola Vučević in the first half, and the Bucks big man finished with 38 points and 11 rebounds.

BOX SCORE: Bulls 133, Bucks 122

Unfortunately for the Bucks, the lone blemish on Antetokounmpo’s night came at the free throw line where he was just 8 for 16.

Chicago similarly had no real answer for Lillard as the point guard scored 28 points. Chicago wanted the ball out of his hands to start the offense, doubling the point guard in the back court so a different player would initiate things, but it was often just a temporary pause in momentum for Lillard.

The problem with the two stars having such prolific evenings was the fact that the other Bucks players were often left watching as much as the Bulls were. For instance, when Chicago built an 84-81 lead halfway through the third quarter Antetokounmpo and Lillard had combined for 47 points and 30 shots. The other seven Bucks had combined for 34 points on 30 shots.

On the night, Antetokounmpo attempted 23 shots and Lillard 21. The other six rotation players combined for 43 field goal attempts and 45 points.

When cited that split in numbers, Rivers allowed that "Yeah, yeah, that was part of it," regarding the lack of flow on offense.

The imbalance proved too much for the Bucks to overcome, as secondary scorers like Gary Trent Jr. (3 for 8), Brook Lopez (2 for 10) and Bobby Portis Jr. (4 for 9) never really found a rhythm on the offensive side of the ball.

“We didn’t stick to the script I guess and trust what we’ve been doing completely," Lillard admitted. "I think we had moments of it but I think we just got away from what we were doing last game. It’s early and you just gotta continue to build those types of habits, even when it’s not going well you still gotta be able and wililng to trust that it’s going to work out and we’re gonna generate good shots. And also that way everybody’s involved and it’s a more natural flow to the game.”

On the other side of the court, every Chicago starter reached double figures and Jalen Smith scored 11 off the bench. Coby White had 35 points to lead the Bulls, who also got 25 from Zach LaVine and 22 from Vučević.

Fourth quarter was turning point for Bulls

AJ Green came off the bench and hit a pair of three-pointers to start the fourth quarter to pull the Bucks within 102-101 but after that Antetokounmpo missed two shots and the Bulls made three to force a Bucks timeout.

Coming out of the stoppage trailing 110-102, the Bucks turned the ball over in the back court but Bulls guard Coby White took a rushed corner three-pointer. Jalen Smith got down in time to get the offensive rebound for another three-point attempt which was offline. But Dalen Terry grabbed a second straight offensive board in-between four Bucks defenders. He drew a foul and made two free throws, giving his team a 112-102 lead with nine minutes to go in the game.

Antetokounmpo followed that with his third turnover, which resulted in a made White three-pointer and a 13-point Chicago lead.

The Bucks could never get back into the game after that point.

“We should have went more to AJ,” Antetokounmpo acknowledged. “In that possession when he knocked down 2 threes, we went away. We should have used it more in like, even if he’s going to come out of the handoff and take the ball and go all the way (to the rim) or shoot it behind the pick-and-roll. Great. If not, we’ve got to use him more as a decoy because they let him shoot two, now they gotta respect him so we gotta play off him more.

"I don’t think we did that. We gotta keep on playing smarter. Next time we’re in that situation we gotta take advantage of the hot hand, try to create attention and maybe we can create something else for our offense.”

Bucks turnovers kept Bulls in play

Rivers wants his team to make the extra pass and to not rely on their one-on-one talent too often, and the Bucks were looking for their teammates against the Bulls. But in many instances Friday, the Bulls were also looking for that extra pass and created deflections, steals and uncontrolled ball handling that led to 15 Bucks turnovers when the regulars were in the game.

“I mean, anytime you turn the ball over you’re giving yourself one less opportunity to get a shot up on the rim, to score, and you’re also giving them an opportunity to attack without your defense being set,” Lillard said. “There’s no way for the offense to know when a turnover is gonna happen, so a lot of times you might have somebody in the corner, you might have two guys behind the play because they in the paint. And then they get out and they’re running you off balance and it leads to easier baskets, it leads to us scrambling and being out of position.

"I did think we turned the ball over too much, especially with them making shots and us not having a great flow offensively consistently through the game. Starting with myself, I think when I have the amount of responsibility that I have handling the ball I can’t turn the ball over five times.”

Chicago scored 24 points off those additional possessions, allowing them to not only stay in the game but build a double-digit second half leads.

"When you are turning the ball over and they go the other way and they’re knocking down their three, it kills you. It kills," Antetokounmpo said. "You’re trying to get a rhythm, trying to get a momentum going and you don’t care of the ball and they go the other way and they’re able to find the open man and knock down a three it drains you. And they did that multiple times tonight.”

Coby White tied a career-high with four steals to lead the Bulls’ defensive effort that racked up 10 steals.

Five numbers

9.5: Points the Bucks were favored by heading in, per BetMGM.

39: Third quarter points scored by the Bulls. Chicago built a 10-point lead at one point in the period in which they shot 63.6% overall from the field – including 60% from behind the three-point line (6-for-10).

Antetokounmpo: "They were moving the ball really well, they were playing fast. Our transition defense wasn't as good. They were scoring in the first five seconds, seven seconds multiple plays. I think they did a better job setting a tone in the third quarter. They came out right from the gate, no matter if we scored, they was just running the ball down to the other end and hitting the open guy. They were making shots."

45.7: Three-point percentage for the Bulls (21-for-46) when the regulars were in the game. Coby White was 7-for-13 from behind the arc for Chicago.

Lillard: “We started ‘em off by just not closing to the bodies like we talk about every day in shootaround. We went through personnel. We talk about how they want to get a lot of threes up this year. We talked about how they got guys seeing that there’s more opportunity and they’re going to be aggressive and they have been aggressive, even in preseason. I think in this league when you don’t pay attention to details or you don’t respect the details, guys see a couple go in and anybody can have a night. And we closed short too many times in that first half. They saw one, two, three go in and then they just started feeling good about it. And at that point we started scrambling and the shots just kept going in. But I think it was us not taking up that space to begin with and allowing them to see enough of those threes go in and start feeling good about themselves.”

4/7/2024: Last time Giannis Antetokounmpo attempted a three-pointer before he pulled up from 28 feet in the first quarter vs. the Bulls. His last made attempt from distance was on March 21.

17,990: Attendance for Thursday night, the largest ever for an opening night at Fiserv Forum.

Bucks injury report

• Khris Middleton, out (surgery on both ankles)

• Gary Trent Jr., available (right calf contusion)

• Brook Lopez, probable (right quadriceps contusion)

• Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (right patella tendinitis)

Bucks starting lineup

• Guards: Damian Lillard, Gary Trent

• Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taurean Prince

• Center: Brook LopezInactive: Khris Middleton, Liam Robbins, Stanley Umude.

Bucks vs. Bulls odds, over/under

The Bucks are 9.5-point favorites to beat the Bulls, per BetMGM. The over/under is 234.5 points.

Bucks schedule 2024-25

Here are the Bucks' first five games in their 2024-25 schedule:

Wed, Oct. 23 Bucks 124, Philadelphia 76ers 109. Box score

Fri, Oct. 25 vs Chicago Bulls, 7 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin, formerly Bally Sports Wisconsin)

Sun, Oct. 27 @ Brooklyn Nets, 5 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin)

Mon, Oct. 28 @ Boston Celtics, 6:30 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin; NBA TV)

Thu, Oct. 31 @ Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin)

Here's the Bucks' complete schedule.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Big nights for Giannis and Lillard not enough as Bulls beat Bucks 133-122.