The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Chicago Bulls 116–100 in Game 5 on Wednesday evening to win the series and advance them to the conference semifinals. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way for the Bucks, scoring a game-high 33 points.

The series was Chicago’s first postseason appearance since 2017, where they were eliminated in the first round.  Milwaukee, meanwhile, will now move forward to face the Boston Celtics (the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed) in the semifinal round.  The reigning NBA champions were dominant for most of the series, blowing out Chicago in the final three games by an average margin of 23.3 points. Reigning NBA MVP Antetokounmpo led his team in average points (27.5), rebounds (14.5), assists (7.0) and blocks (1.8), and off the bench, Grayson Allen scored 22 and 27 points in the final two games of the series, respectively. In Game 4, Allen shot 5-for-7 on three-pointers, then went 6-for-7 threes in Game 5.

The Bulls struggled in Game 5 partially due to being without star forward Zach LaVine (COVID-19 protocol) and guard Alex Caruso (concussion protocol). The Bucks were without Khris Middleton for the final three games of the series after he injured his knee.

The Bucks and Celtics will face off this Sunday, May 1st in Boston.

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