The Chicago Bulls are facing elimination on Wednesday night, as they travel to Milwaukee to face the defending champion Bucks. Chicago appeared to be in a good spot after Game 2. They had stolen home court with a 114-110 win in Milwaukee. Then news surfaced that Bucks All-Star forward Khris Middleton would miss the rest of the series with a knee injury. All of that positivity was for naught as the Bucks destroyed Bulls both games in Chicago by a combined 54 points. In those losses, the Bulls allowed Grayson Allen to explode off the bench for Milwaukee. If Chicago wants any hope of climbing back into this series, they certainly cannot afford a player like Allen to crush them.

On Monday, things became more difficult for Chicago. It was reported that Bulls guard Zach LaVine is going to miss Game 5 after being placed in the NBA's COVID-19 health and safety protocols. The team is already likely without Alex Caruso who is dealing with concussion symptoms. Clearly, the Bulls will be fighting an uphill battle with their season on the line. Let's take a look at our three bold predictions for the Bulls in Game 5 vs. the Bucks.

Chicago Bulls 3 Bold Predictions for Game 5 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks

1. Ayo Dosunmu plays big minutes as starter

Without both LaVine and Caruso, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is going to have to shuffle the lineup quite a bit. Bulls shooting guard Ayo Dosunmu is very likely to see extended minutes in this game. Chicago's second round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft will have a lot of pressure to perform well as the Bulls try to extend the series.

Dosunmu has struggled offensively for much of the year. But he has shown flashes at times why the Illinois product was taken 38th overall. In the regular season finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dosunmu scored 26 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. In college, he was a defensive stalwart and the Bulls will probably need excellence from him on that end.

The aforementioned Bucks shooting guard, Grayson Allen, has been killing the Bulls from the outside. He has scored 49 points the last two games, and hit 11 of 14 from downtown. Dosunmu should attempt to erase those clean looks and keep this game slow-moving.

2. Chicago does much better job on the glass

One of the biggest disparities in this series thus far has been the rebounding margin. That was especially true with Games 3 and 4 in Chicago. Now the series heads back to Milwaukee where for whatever reason, the Bucks do not tend to put teams away. They actually were 10 games under .500 at covering the spread at home this season at 16-26. That came to life in this series as well.

Chicago was almost even on the boards in the first couple games of this series. If they want any chance at the upset in Game 5, they need to do a better job on the glass. Nikola Vucevic and Patrick Williams will have to lead the charge here. But if Chicago is to have success this game and stay alive, they likely will want to limit possessions. So, coach Donovan should have everyone staying home to secure the rebound instead of leaking out. The Bucks are attempting a lot of three's, which tend to lead to long rebounds. It will be critical for the Bulls to rebound the ball well.

3. Bulls cover the spread, but lose the game and series

Milwaukee has had a tendency this year to overlook teams at home. The Bulls will certainly be playing for their lives on Wednesday. DeMar DeRozan has shown this season that he is capable of taking over games. I expect his best effort in this game, and believe that the Bulls should keep contact with the Bucks.

But ultimately, Milwaukee is too deep and too good. The injury issues with Chicago certainly do not help. With the Boston Celtics already home and resting, the Bucks do not want to have to go back to Chicago and play a long drawn out series. So even though I think the Bulls will get a better effort in Game 5, and believe Grayson Allen will not be nearly as explosive, ultimately the Bulls just don't have enough fire power to stay with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks for 48 hours.