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Bulls-Bucks Preview

Jan 12, 2016 - 5:53 AM The last time the Chicago Bulls visited the Milwaukee Bucks, it resulted in an embarrassing defeat for the home team.

The Bulls' play on defense in consecutive losses can also be considered embarrassing.

Some of those issues on defense were seen last week when these teams met ahead of Tuesday night's rematch at the Bradley Center.

Chicago (22-14) makes the short trip north for the first time since a 120-66 rout April 30, as the Bulls finished the first-round playoff series in six games. It marked Milwaukee's worst defeat and was four points off the largest margin of victory in an NBA playoff game.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected in a contest the Bucks (15-24) trailed by 32 points at halftime.

The Bulls were enjoying a season-high six-game win streak before losing 120-105 at Atlanta on Saturday and 114-100 at home two days later against a Washington team missing two starters. They have yielded at least 110 points in back-to-back regulation games for the first time since Feb 4 and 7, 2013.

''Defensively, things are not the way things need to be,'' center Pau Gasol said. ''We need to be better. More physicality on the defensive end. Work as a unit."

Some of Chicago's defensive woes can be traced back to last Tuesday's 117-106 home win over Milwaukee. The Bucks scored 54 points in the paint to match the second-most allowed by the Bulls in a regulation game.

Chicago finished with 56 points in the paint and shot a season-high 55.4 percent. Milwaukee is second-worst in the NBA in yielding 106.9 points per 100 possessions.

"We want to play solid on both ends of the ball but that game was definitely higher scoring than I think anybody anticipated," Bucks acting coach Joe Prunty said.

The Bucks will get their first look of the season at Joakim Noah, who returned Monday from a nine-game absence due to a shoulder injury. He logged 18 scoreless minutes, missing all seven shots and adding nine rebounds and four assists.

"When you miss nine games, you're going to have a little rust," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "I thought Jo added some energy, he got some rebounds."

The Bulls trailed 28-25 after one quarter Monday after allowing the Hawks to score 30 points on 54.2 percent shooting in Saturday's first period.

"That's an issue," Hoiberg said. "We've got to find a way to get off to a better start obviously."

Jimmy Butler had 19 points and seven assists against the Wizards. Derrick Rose scored 23 with one assist and four turnovers, with the Bulls getting outscored by 25 points with him on the floor.

Butler had 32 points and 10 assists and Gasol scored 26 and grabbed 11 boards in last week's win over the Bucks. Greg Monroe made 5 of 18 shots for 13 points and 12 boards for Milwaukee, which received 26 points from Khris Middleton and 20 points and a season-high 12 assists from Michael Carter-Williams.

Carter-Williams missed seven of eight shots and scored four points in Sunday's 100-88 loss at New York. Monroe had 28 points and 10 boards.

The Bulls have taken nine of their last 10 regular-season visits to Milwaukee.