Undermanned Bulls fall to Bucks, embarrassed for second consecutive game

MILWAUKEE — The final scores of games are inconsequential at this point.

For the record, however, the Bulls lost in embarrassing fashion Tuesday, falling to the Bucks 131-115.

It wasn’t a big change from their throttling Sunday at the hands of the Heat in Miami, in which the Bulls were down by 54 at one point.

It was only the second time in franchise history the Bulls trailed by more than 20 points at the half in back-to-back games, with the last one happening in January 1969.

Is that an indication of a team that might be letting go of the rope at 24-27? Or an indication of a team that felt gut-punched by the fact that locker-room favorites Kevin Huerter and Nikola Vucevic were traded in separate deals hours earlier?

Likely both.

Either way, if there is any help on the way, it will have to come by the trade deadline Thursday.

‘‘[We lost] high-value players, players that played a lot of minutes for us, but it’s the NBA,’’ forward Jalen Smith said. ‘‘It’s the job we signed up for. We’ve got to be ready to play at any point and time. It’s a next-man-up mentality.’’

All well and good, but right now the Bulls basically have Smith and rookie Lachlan Olbrich patrolling the paint. That obviously will change if the front office adds a big man before the deadline, but that’s still an ‘‘if.’’

“You’ve just got to come out and play hard,’’ Smith said. ‘‘Find a way to impact the game. Losing a lot of key pieces is going to be tough for us, but we signed up for this challenge.’’

Forward Matas Buzelis led the Bulls with 22 points, and guard Coby White added 21 points and 10 rebounds.

One toe down

Unless the Bulls add another big man soon, playing with a big lineup won’t be happening.

They got Smith (strained calf) back for the game against the Bucks, but the departure of Vucevic means the frontcourt has gotten very small. The Bulls had hoped center Zach Collins would return from a toe injury sooner than later, but now he might not be back this season.

Coach Billy Donovan was asked if that was a possibility and replied: ‘‘That could happen. As they put him two more weeks into the boot, I think how he comes out of that is going to tell a lot. He’s going to need a ramp-up period in order to run. . . . . The whole thing right now has been trying to prevent surgery.’’

Collins injured the toe Dec. 27 and hasn’t played since. Before that injury, he missed the first six weeks of the season with a wrist injury. He made his season debut Dec. 5.

‘‘When he comes out of the boot, would there be a runway for him to play?’’ Donovan said. ‘‘He’s doing everything he can to play, wants to play, but can he get healed in time? That’s going to be the biggest question.’’

Street clothes

Because the Bulls were short-handed with the trades they made, they listed guard Tre Jones (strained hamstring) as available but had no intention of actually playing him.

Jones is close to a return. He continues to get on-the-court work before the game, but he dressed only as an emergency player.

As far as guard Josh Giddey (strained hamstring) is concerned, Donovan said he still is dealing with tightness in that area and offered no timetable for his return.