7:25 p.m. ET
Jamal Collier ESPN
CHICAGO — In the days leading up to the team’s first road playoff games in Chicago, the Milwaukee Bucks took every opportunity to boo Grayson Allen.
They booed Allen when he got on the team bus. They booed him when he arrived in the lobby of their team hotel. They even booed him during film sessions and when Allen touched the ball in practice.
As Allen set up back-to-back playoff career highs in Games 3 and 4 this weekend to help Milwaukee take a comfortable 3-1 lead over Chicago, the Bucks bench enjoyed booing him the whole time.
“They’re having so much fun doing this,” Allen said with a laugh after scoring 27 points off the bench in the Bucks’ 119-95 win Sunday afternoon. “I find it really hilarious. They kind of made it a fun thing. It also makes it a lot easier to hear outside during the game because they find it so funny.”
Game 5 takes place in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.
The Bucks began taunting their own teammate earlier this season after hearing the reaction Allen received every time he touched the ball during the team’s first game in Chicago in March. Allen became Chicago basketball fans’ #1 public enemy after his flagrant foul on Bulls guard Alex Caruso during a Jan. 21 game resulted in a broken wrist for Caruso and forced him to miss two months.
Allen said Sunday that he tried to reach Caruso to apologize after the incident, but the two never made contact. The Bulls downplayed any ongoing animosity toward Allen leading up to the series, but fans at the United Center wouldn’t let go of them easily, responding with loud boos every time Allen approached the scorer’s table or dropped the ball in the offensive touched.
Though he’s earned a reputation as a villain in Chicago, Allen insisted after Sunday’s game that he wasn’t feeding on such a negative reaction.
“It’s not inherently comfortable for me,” Allen said. “I’m on point now, every time I go out and play basketball, I just remember to get out there and have fun with it. … My personality is naturally uncomfortable with the attention, the booing, the heckling. It’s not something I feed on. I won’t look for it.”
That didn’t stop Allen’s teammates from having fun with it.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo suggested Allen frame a Game 3 photo of the Bucks bench in the background booing Allen as he walks to the free throw line after a converted and-1.
“He played fantastic, maybe we need to boo him more,” said Antetokounmpo with a smile after the game. “Maybe Milwaukee fans, we’ll have to boo him … no, we won’t.”
Warden Jrue Holiday added, “When we booed him during the game and he really started the hoop, I think we just stuck with it.”
After leading all scorers in Game 3 by 22 points on Friday, Allen was even better on Sunday afternoon.
Allen went off the field on Sunday with 10-of-12, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range, to all-one-on-one beat Chicago’s bench 27-17. According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, he became the first Bucks player to score 25 points and knock down six 3s in a playoff game in team history and the first Bucks player with at least 25 points off the bench since Tim Thomas in the year 2003. Allen even played on defense, amassing three steals and holding Chicago on 3-of-8 shots when he was the main defender.
Allen bounced back after going 0 for 4 of 3 in the first two games to start the series. His performance this weekend helped the Bucks weather the loss of forward Khris Middleton, who will miss the remainder of this first-round series with a sprained MCL in his left knee.
“He’s kind of calm but confident,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said of Allen. “I think this is a confident group, a group that sees a player who can help them and appreciates his competitiveness. He’s just quiet, no cops – and comes to play. I think our guys tend to have that kind of mentality. It definitely worked out well.”
By the time Allen checked in between free-throw attempts at 5:50 in the fourth quarter, the crowd at the United Center had gone from full-throated to half-hearted boos.
Chicago had waited five years for a home playoff game here, and the fans’ reward was a weekend of uncompetitive basketball. The Bulls were outplayed in their two home games by a 230-176 aggregate score and need to win in Milwaukee Wednesday to extend their season.
“You have to give [Allen] credit,” said Bulls guard Zach LaVine. “He takes shots. … Obviously we know what happened [with the Caruso injury]. At the end of the day, it’s basketball too. We get it. But it’s not like we go out there and say, ‘This guy can’t beat us.’ The Milwaukee Bucks can’t beat us and he’s part of their team. It as a whole is beating us right now.
“You can’t just account for him.