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After all the buzzers sounded, the jockeying concluded and the tanking ground to a halt, the Milwaukee Bucks (3 seed) have drawn the Chicago Bulls (6 seed) in round one of the NBA Playoffs. Thus ends the brain-breaking season of playoff seeding and tiebreakers.
Milwaukee had a chance to secure the two seed with a win Sunday, but opted for rest after already playing their starters on a back-to-back Thursday and Friday. Ducking the Nets people will say? Remind them that had the Bucks played their starters today and rested them Friday, we probably wouldn’t even hear that narrative. Regardless, the Bucks put it in the hands of the Celtics to decide their fate (and also rested their players last week vs. Milwaukee), who bested Memphis to get Milwaukee in the third slot.
They are taking on a Chicago Bulls squad that has limped to the finish line, going 3-7 in their last ten before the regular season finale against the Wolves. The Bucks beat Chicago all four times this year, and the series will be the first Playoff matchup between the division foes since the 2015 “tackling Mike Dunleavy” series Chicago won 4-2.
The last time there was a Milwaukee-Chicago playoff series. pic.twitter.com/gwUr7MVgTo
— Dan Shafer (@DanRShafer) April 11, 2022
Stay tuned to Brew Hoop for more in-depth previews of the series as the week goes on.
And if you’re looking for an indication of how this matchup has gone lately, here are a few tidy stats.
The last time the Bulls beat the Bucks with Giannis in the lineup…. Dec. 26, 2017.
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) April 11, 2022
Milwaukee Bucks will play the Chicago Bulls in the 1st round. Bucks are…
— Jake Reetz (@jajareetz) April 11, 2022
-15-1 vs the Bulls in their last 16 matchups
-12-0 in games Giannis has played vs Bulls since Coach Bud took over in 2018
There is no schedule announced as of this publication, but we will update when that’s released.