The teams were tied after the first quarter, but Milwaukee jumped out to an 18-point lead in the second. The Bulls crawled their way back to a four-point deficit by halftime. They went in front early in the second half to lead by 11 in the fourth quarter. The rest of the game appeared to be a formality, but the Bulls lost an eight-point lead in the final two minutes and without Derrick Rose's free throw in the final seconds, the collapse would have been complete.
In the first overtime, each club scored six points apiece, going scoreless over the last 2 1/2 minutes. The second extra session proved to be a test of each team's depth. That is, the Bulls had enough depth to last that long and opened the period on a 12-0 run. The Bucks scored the final five points of the contest, but by then, the home fans were headed for the exits.
Almost from the moment the Bulls went down 18, Rose took command and let everyone know it was his game. His 34 points, including five 3-pointers, and eight assists made for perhaps his biggest performance during his comeback. That's been said a lot this year, but considering all that was on the line here, he set yet another new bar for him to reach as his career goes on. He looked comfortable on offense and was stifling on defense, especially against Michael Carter-Williams, who just didn't look right in the matchup despite 19 points and nine assists.
If Rose was the king of the night, Jimmy Butler was the prince. Despite the Bucks guarding him better, he still torched them for 24 points. There were a couple of occasions when he stole the ball and took an easy basket on the other end. He continues to improve to the point where he'll be a problem for opponents throughout his career.
Pau Gasol did his usual thing: a double-double of 17 and 14. Tony Snell was unleashed late and hit four treys as part of 14 points and a potential showcase for how he could affect the next playoff series. Mike Dunleavy, who's been making a living off only making threes lately, did so again and finished with 12. Though he made just one field goal, Joakim Noah grabbed 12 rebounds to say he's still a threat despite the health problems he's dealt with.
The extra energy the key Bulls players had to burn because of that late collapse in regulation will be scrutinized. If this team wants to make life tough for Cleveland and anyone they may face after, they can't give away leads like that. The offense took too much time to find easy shots, the defense missed assignments and the team in general had a knack for losing the ball out of bounds. Critics will be right to point to those as reasons they're not fit to win a championship.
But despite all problems, the better team always finds a way to win in the playoffs. The Bulls are the better team in this series. They have the offensive firepower to outlast a team like the Bucks. The defense is extremely tough when it's not running around mindlessly as it was during the second quarter.
Just be happy with this win and look forward to a sweep in Game 4 on Saturday. Chuck Swirsky said before Game 3 that a 3-0 lead would mean a Bradley Center crowd of 80 percent Bulls fans. Hopefully, that will come to pass. The Bucks are down and might be out if they see how little of the sold-out crowd will be made up of their fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment