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Chicago Bulls vs. Milwaukee Bucks: 5 Takeaways from Monday’s Preseason Opener

By Michael Whitlow

Oct 3, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo (9) passes the ball against Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo (9) passes the ball against Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Rajon Rondo, PG, Chicago Bulls
Oct 3, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Rajon Rondo (9) dribbles the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /

3. The Bulls started hot … and then reality set in with the second unit

The Bulls scored the first eight points of the game, 14 of the first 17, and 16 of the first 21 points on Monday night against the Bucks.

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    • Then, it was bad for most of the night.

    (They did make it fun at the end, though!)

    As expected, the Bulls started Monday’s game with the “Three Alphas” — Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler — along with Taj Gibson and Robin Lopez. The first unit came out strong, but when things were handed over to the second unit, it didn’t go so well.

    Case and point: The Bucks, one of the league’s worst rosters in terms of shooting and scoring, dropped 30 points in the second quarter.

    Those kinds of things can’t happen.

    The bench trio of Nikola Mirotic (1-7), Bobby Portis (2-8) and Doug McDermott (5-10) — three key guys for the Bulls this season — shot a combined 8-for-25 from the field against the Bucks.

    Mirotic did the complete opposite of what he needed to in terms of gaining ground in the “open competition” for the power forward starting spot, Portis looked out of place at times, and so did McDermott.

    McDermott came on late with some nice floaters on offense to help the Bulls come back from a 15-point deficit in the second half, but overall, this trio (plus the rest of the bench) didn’t look strong for most of Monday night.

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