CHICAGO — Entering Sunday’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Chicago Bulls had suffered through 11 straight losses and had not won a game since Jan. 31, going winless the entire month of February.
Facing an 8-point deficit with just over a minute and a half remaining in the third quarter, it looked like they were well on their way to a 12th straight loss. And then the Milwaukee Bucks failed to score a point over the next seven minutes and 32 seconds of game action.
By the time the Bucks scored again, over halfway through the fourth quarter, their 8-point lead had flipped into a 19-point deficit and fueled what became a 120-97 win for the Bulls.
“It was strange,” Cam Thomas (15 points, three assists) said. “You don’t really see a 27-0 run. Ever, really. So, it’s crazy in itself.”
The seven-and-a-half minute scoreless drought started after Thomas made a free throw with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t end until Kevin Porter Jr. made a free throw with 5:51 left in the game. During the dry spell, Milwaukee did not commit a single turnover, but seven different Bucks players missed 14 consecutive shots, which included nine missed 3-point attempts and five missed 2-point field goals.
“I didn’t even know the run was like that,” Bobby Portis (18 points, five rebounds) said. “When I came out in the fourth quarter (with 5:51 left) and the guys courtside were telling me like, ‘Bro, look at the run that we’re on. 27-0. You guys haven’t scored this quarter.’
“I didn’t even know we didn’t even score a basket. I think when you’re on the court, you’re just trying to do your part, play your role, play your minutes…I ain’t even know we didn’t even put the ball in the hole.”
Porter ended the scoring drought with a free throw, but the Bucks didn’t make their first basket of the fourth quarter until Ousmane Dieng threw down a dunk with 3:12 remaining. In total, the Bucks missed 17 straight shots across a 10-minute, 11-second drought between made field goals.
The Bucks’ 8-point fourth quarter was the lowest-scoring quarter from any NBA team this season, per Basketball Reference. In 2024, Milwaukee was held to 9 points in the fourth quarter by the Golden State Warriors, also on the road.
“I don’t really have much to say because I’m still stunned,” Thomas said. “You’re stunned like, ‘What happened?’ I’m still perplexed.”
While the team’s struggles culminated at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter, head coach Doc Rivers thought the Bucks’ poor play started at the beginning of the second half.
“The good looks (during the drought) came after crappy basketball for the first 11 minutes of the third quarter,” Rivers said. “The second group, they got us the 15-point lead. The first group came in before halftime, lost it and then regained it and then lost it again. They lost two 15-point leads.”
Throughout his post-game media availability, Rivers blamed the team’s “overdribbling” for their offensive struggles, a regular complaint in poor performances this season, and also suggested that players were attempting to do too much on their own rather than moving the ball and playing with their teammates.
“I don’t know if there’s such a thing as the basketball gods, but if there is, he was alive tonight,” Rivers said. “When you approach the game and play like that, you don’t deserve to win. If we would have won the game, I would have been upset. I’d have taken the win because we need it, but that is not how you play basketball.
“That was a disappointing loss, and I hope we all feel it.”