CHICAGO (AP) — Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez each scored 21 points, Bobby Portis added 19 points and 13 rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 112-91 on Monday without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

Middleton set a season-high for the second straight game after scoring 18 points in Saturday’s win over Washington. The three-time All-Star missed the first 21 games due to surgery on both ankles.

Middleton and Lopez each made three of Milwaukee’s 18 3-pointers. Gary Trent Jr. scored four goals from long range and finished the game with 14 points.

Antetokounmpo missed his second straight game because of back spasms and his fourth game overall this season. Lillard missed his third straight game – this time due to a non-COVID illness. The eight-time All-Star missed the previous two games with a strained right calf.

Nikola Vucevic had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Chicago. The Bulls made just 10 of 48 3-point shots and lost for the second straight year.

Takeaways

Bucks: The Bucks continued to look more like the team they expected to be than the team that struggled early in the season.

Bulls: The Bulls were a little thin in the backcourt with Lonzo Ball out due to illness and Josh Giddey missing his third straight game with a sprained right ankle.

Key moment

Milwaukee led by 23 points in the second quarter and withstood a push from Chicago in the third quarter. The Bulls cut the score to 76-68 when Dalen Terry stole a pass and drained a layup to cap a 10-0 run. But the Bucks responded with 11 consecutive points, including back-to-back 3s from Trent and a floater from Delon Wright that extended the lead to 87-68 with just over two minutes left in the third period.

Key statistics

The Bucks made 11 of 24 3-point shots in the first half, while the Bulls made 6 of 28.

Next

The Bucks host Brooklyn on Thursday while the Bulls visit Atlanta that evening.

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