Chicago Bulls: Is attacking Giannis on offense the right game plan to stick with?

The Chicago Bulls first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks has been one of the biggest shockers to the NBA community. It was believed by fans, media and odds makers that the Bucks were going to handle to Bulls, especially after Chicago ended the season 0-4 against Milwaukee. DeMar DeRozan and crew showed fight in Game 1, but poor shooting nights from the top scorers did them in during crunch time.

DeRozan went 6-of-25 from the field and only made one bucket in the fourth quarter. He has a history of coming up short in the playoffs, dating back to his time with the Toronto Raptors.

This season seemed to be the year he proved that narrative wrong. He averaged a career-high 28 points per game, putting his name in the MVP conversation. He hit multiple game-winners and led Chicago to the top of the Eastern Conference for a significant portion of the season.

That all faded quickly, as the Bulls won just nine games after the All-Star break. They went on a nasty losing streak in March and fell to the No. 6 seed, having to narrowly avoid the play-in tournament. DeRozan’s name evaporated from MVP discussions and the negative playoff narrative found its way to Chicago.

That discussion made its rounds on Twitter following the team’s Game 1 loss. He vowed to reporters after the game that  there was “no way in hell” he was going to shoot that bad again.

That much was true.

DeMar DeRozan’s scoring for Bulls is a result of attacking Giannis at the right times

He started the game off slow, going 4-of-12 in the first half, finishing with 12 points. In the second half, Bucks forward Bobby Portis had to exit the game, leaving Giannis Antetokounmpo to play the center position. That put Antetokounmpo as the defender in the pick-and-roll, giving DeRozan one-on-one looks against the former DPOY.

DeRozan went 8-of-9 from the field when guarded by Antetokounmpo, getting to his spots with ease. Antetokounmpo was only able to get one stop on DeRozan, though it came on a memorable block.

Should the Bulls stick with this game plan or was DeRozan just THAT special this game?

DeRozan scoring a career high every game in this series isn’t something the Bulls should count on. However, putting Antetokounmpo on ball is something they need to take advantage of.

Antetokounmpo’s playoff history is marked by consistent foul trouble. That foul trouble comes when he has to defend the primary ball-handlers or scorers, and when opposing defenses wall-up on his drives.

This isn’t to say that the Greek Freak is a poor defender — because he’s very much a good one. He’s one of the best in the league. But defending on the perimeter is one of the hardest tasks in the NBA because of the freedom of movement rules. This rule allows defenders one touch per possession, known as a measure-up. With the skill level of today’s guards, keeping great scorers in front is nearly impossible without hand checking. Antetokounmpo falls victim to getting handsy when players drive at him. When he’s blown by, he’ll try to recover and block the shot from behind, something he did on DeRozan in Game 2. But he also gets fouls when this happens.

He was aware of the circumstances of the game without Khris Middleton, who had to exit, and was cognizant of not getting in foul trouble. There were instances where Giannis got into drop coverage and just gave up the jump shot to DeRozan. He tried to hedge, leaving Vucevic open. In those moments, Vucevic was able to hit the three or make the layup.

DeRozan ended the night with 41 points on 16-of-31 shooting, with 71% of his shots coming from the midrange. He made 49% of those shots. He will be able to get those looks with Antetokounmpo as the main defender.

The Bulls will have to continue to attack Antetokounmpo in the pick-and-roll, not just with DeRozan. Zach LaVine, Coby White and even Alex Caruso are able to hit the open jump shots provided by Antetokounmpo in these scenarios as well as create out of the pick-and-roll when it’s played too aggressively.

Hopefully they learned that lesson after the blowout in Game 3, because Chicago did not get enough advantageous looks in that one.