Michael Carter-Williams made 22 points and eight assists, while Khris Middleton scored 21 points as the Milwaukee Bucks avoided elimination again with a 94-88 victory over the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series on Monday.
With a 3-2 lead, the Bulls will try to close it out again tomorrow in Milwaukee. No team has ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA post-season series.
In the other playoffs, the Brooklyn Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks 120-115 in overtime to level their series and the Portland Trail Blazers avoided elimination with a 99-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Photo: AFP
The Bucks regrouped after a nine-point lead dwindled to three and they hung on again after a seven-point lead shrunk to four with just over a minute remaining.
Carter-Williams hit 10 of 15 shots, outplaying Derrick Rose. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 11 points and reserve O.J. Mayo added 10 for the Bucks.
Pau Gasol had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Chicago, but Rose and Jimmy Butler struggled.
Rose was five of 20 from the field and missed all seven three-point attempts. He committed six of his team’s 13 turnovers. Butler scored 20 points, but shot five of 21.
In New York, Deron Williams rebounded from two dismal games with 35 points as the Nets evened their series against the Hawks at 2-2.
The Nets, just 38-44 in the regular season, won the second straight in the series and moved two victories from becoming the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 — only the fourth since the first round became best-of-seven.
Bojan Bogdanovic made the go-ahead three-pointer with 1 minute, 25 seconds left in overtime, but the Nets never would have gotten there without Williams, whose 16 points in the fourth quarter were two fewer than his total in the first three games of the series.
Brook Lopez had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets.
Jeff Teague had 20 points and 11 assists, while DeMarre Carroll added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks, who host Game 5 today.
Kyle Korver had 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the NBA’s leading three-point shooter during the regular season missed three straight from behind the arc in the final seconds with the Hawks trailing by three.
Portland’s Damian Lillard scored 32 points as the Trail Blazers rallied to deny the Grizzlies their first-ever playoff sweep after Memphis led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Portland.
Game 5 is scheduled for today in Memphis.
Memphis were playing without point guard Mike Conley, who was inadvertently elbowed in the face in the third quarter of Game 3 and underwent surgery on Monday morning. His status for the rest of the playoffs is uncertain.
The winners of the series go on to face the Golden State Warriors in the second round.
Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 21 points, while C.J. McCollum added 18 points for the Blazers, who snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Grizzlies — including all four regular-season meetings.
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