Bulls at Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks have put a major scare into Chicago and look to even
up the series against the visiting Bulls on Thursday. Sixth-seeded
Milwaukee dug itself a 0-3 hole but consecutive victories have placed
third-seeded Chicago in a precarious position in the best-of-7 Eastern
Conference first-round series.
The Bulls appeared to be on their way to a sweep and now have to win on Milwaukee’s floor for the second time in the series to avoid a Game 7 confrontation. “We’ve done it to ourselves,” power forward Pau Gasol told reporters. “Now we have a very difficult challenge in front of us. They have momentum, they have confidence and they go home to force Game 7. Let’s see how we play Game 6, how we react to the situation as a team.” The Bucks outclassed and outhustled Chicago while posting a 94-88 road win on Monday and coach Jason Kidd promises Milwaukee is all-in per winning the series. “You can always talk about the future but we don’t,” Kidd told reporters. “We don’t really understand what the future holds for us. We’ve got to stay in the present. That is what this team has done all year.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TNT, CSN Chicago, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
ABOUT THE BULLS: The star-studded backcourt of Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler will be looking to bounce back from poor efforts in which they were a combined 10-of-41 shooting – 5-for-21 from Butler and 5-for-20 by Rose. Butler scored 20 points for his lowest output in the five games while Rose tallied 13, marking his third outing of 15 or fewer points in the series. Gasol has excelled in the series – he had 25 points and 10 rebounds in Game 5 – with five straight double-doubles while averaging 15.8 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots.
ABOUT THE BUCKS: Michael Carter-Williams thoroughly outplayed Rose in Game 5 and made 10-of-15 shots while contributing 22 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. The second-year point guard didn’t even reach double digits in two of the first four games before thriving on Monday with drives into the lane to either score or set up a teammate. “I was just trying to get in the lane and find the open guy,” Carter-Williams told reporters. “My eyes were up and looking for guys to pass to. I was being patient and that opened up the lane a little bit and I was able to score.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bucks backup C John Henson had 14 rebounds in Game 5 for the second time in the series.
2. Bulls PF Nikola Mirotic is 8-for-27 shooting in the series while battling quadriceps soreness.
3. Milwaukee SG Khris Middleton bounced back from a poor Game 4 to score 21 points on Monday for his second 20-point outing of the series.