Matas Buzelis gave the Bulls exactly the kind of preseason burst that can stick in a coach’s mind. In Chicago’s 125-104 rout of Milwaukee on Wednesday night, he put up 19 points in 24 minutes and made five threes, including a blistering third quarter that tilted the game for good.
The Bulls didn’t just win because Buzelis got hot. They controlled the night with pace, ball movement and activity on defense, piling up 35 assists on 42 made baskets, knocking down 20 threes and forcing Milwaukee into 30 turnovers. Chicago also came away with 14 steals, while its bench supplied 59 points.
Buzelis was at the center of the best stretch. He scored 12 of his 19 points in the third quarter, when he went 4-for-4 from long range.
Three of those threes came in a 55-second burst that pushed the Bulls from a 73-47 lead to 82-50. He finished 6-for-9 overall, 5-for-7 from deep, added three assists and didn’t commit a turnover.
It was another encouraging step after he turned his right ankle against Memphis five days earlier. Buzelis had already logged 23 minutes in Denver on Sunday, and on Wednesday he posted a plus-17, the best mark among Chicago’s starters.
The rest of the roster kept feeding that rhythm. Josh Giddey dished nine assists in 22 minutes, highlighted by a no-look pass that the Bulls’ own account called “absolutely preposterous”, and Tre Jones added seven assists in 17 minutes off the bench. Chicago shot 20-for-50 from three, matching the kind of volume it showed three days earlier in Denver when it also went 21-for-50.
Leonard Miller kept extending his strong preseason run, scoring 18 points in 19 minutes on 7-of-11 shooting. He hit 3 of 4 threes, grabbed seven rebounds and finished plus-20, best on the team.
That followed 12 points and 11 rebounds against Memphis and 26 in Denver. Jalen Smith started and added 15 points and seven rebounds, including five offensive boards, while two-way guard Jaylin Sellers scored 10 in 15 minutes.
Chicago’s reserves kept the pressure on all night, and the game never really tightened after the opening minutes. The Bulls scored the first nine points, trailed only once at 10-9, and led the rest of the way. They were up 62-39 at halftime and stretched the margin to 34 in the third quarter.
Milwaukee’s lineup was short-handed, with Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma, Tyler Herro and Kevin Porter Jr. all out. The Bucks started Pete Nance, Ousmane Dieng, Jericho Sims, Brayden Burries and Kasparas Jakucionis, who finished with 18 points and hit all 11 of his free throws. Kam Jones led Milwaukee with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting.
Even with the comfortable scoreline, there was another issue Chicago couldn’t smooth out. The Bulls were called for 31 fouls for the second straight game, and Milwaukee got to the line 37 times, making 30.
Chicago went 21 of 30 at the stripe. The Bulls also turned it over 21 times, including four by rookie Caleb Wilson, who finished with 10 points after committing five turnovers in Denver.
Dailyn Swain also had a strange sequence when he checked in with the starters late in the third quarter and came back out for Norman Powell 36 seconds later. Tiago Splitter said afterward that the quick hook was “on him”, saying it came from a miscommunication because he thought Powell was done with his minutes. Swain returned shortly after and finished with four points in 10 minutes.
Chicago is 2-2 and wraps up the preseason Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the United Center at 7 p.m. CT.
The regular season begins Oct. 21 at Toronto at 6:30 p.m. CT.
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The production still came with uneven shooting and the usual growing pains that come with a young player trying to claim NBA responsibilities, but the broader takeaway was more encouraging than the raw numbers. For a team trying to sort out its future while staying competitive, Essengues preseason stretch offered a reminder that there may be a real role waiting if he can keep building on that momentum. [Read more 🡒]