CHICAGO _ Now this is the Daniel Gafford the Bulls were waiting to see.
Gafford, the 6-foot-10 rookie, had played sparingly before Monday night's game against the Bucks, but he showed the Bulls what they've been missing, scoring a team-high 21 points and grabbing five rebounds in a 115-101 loss at the United Center.
Unfortunately for the Bulls, it took until the third quarter before anyone else reached double figures in scoring.
Gafford would've shared the spotlight with Coby White if the rookie could've pulled off some more of his 3-point magic.
White was 3 of 6 from 3-point range, all in the second half, the last of which gave the Bulls a temporary lead at 99-98, their first lead since the second quarter.
But over the final six minutes, the Bulls mustered only two Lauri Markkanen free throws.
Meanwhile, the Bulls were successful in slowing down Giannis Antetokounmpo for a while but couldn't stop him completely. The reigning NBA MVP finished with 33 points. What the Bulls probably didn't count on is that they'd let loose Donte DiVincenzo, starting place of the injured Khris Middleton, for 15 points.
If the Bulls can take any positives from the game, it starts with Gafford. The power forward started camp with a hyperextended elbow and he had played sparingly in four games. But when Luke Kornet opted to have surgery Monday to remove sinus blockage, that cleared a path for Gafford to finally get extended minutes.
He was supposed to be limited to the 13 minutes, 29 seconds he played in the first half, but apparently coach Jim Boylen couldn't stick to the minutes limit _ or perhaps Gafford did some convincing _ as the rookie wound up playing 20 minutes.
He cleaned up misses with dunks, finished alley-oops and made a big difference defending the rim against Antetokounmpo and the Bucks _ the same team that scored 70 points in the paint against the Bulls in Milwaukee on Thursday. This time the Bulls won that battle, at least, 50-46.
The rematch featured another round of 6-3 Ryan Arcidiacono pestering the 6-11 Antetokounmpo on defense and forcing him into two jump balls.
The faceoffs were greeted with cheers of encouragement for Arcidiacono from Bulls fans.
However, he did more than just create an intriguing David versus Goliath matchup, keeping the Bulls within striking distance with his 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range.
White had 13 points and Zach LaVine added 11 for the Bulls.
