The objective all year for the Milwaukee Bucks franchise has revolved around their “See the Future” campaign—but Jason Kidd’s squad isn’t done making noise in the present.
After a stunning last-second Game 4 win to keep their season alive, the Bucks came back and topped the Chicago Bulls 94-88 on the road at the United Center in Game 5, making it a 3-2 series and forcing a Game 6 back at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“We’ve got Game 6,” Coach Kidd said. “We didn’t just come down here because we’ve won one game. Some people look at it as house money. You can always talk about the future, but we don’t really understand what the future holds for us. We’ve got to stay in the present. This is what this team has done all year. They’ve worked their tails off, and they’ve put themselves in this position to make it a series.”
Khris Middleton scored 21, including two three-pointers and four steals, but it was Michael Carter-Williams who stole the show, outshining Chicago’s MVP point guard, Derrick Rose, chalking up 22 points, eight rebounds and nine assists on 10-of-15 shooting.
Charles Barkley called Coach Kidd the ‘point guard whisperer’ at halftime Monday night, commenting on MCW’s great poise and floor game in just his second year in the NBA. Carter-Williams hasn’t shot over 43 percent in one game this postseason until Game 5, where he connected 66.7 percent of his attempts from the field.
While MCW was big throughout, it was Middleton who started the night off on the right foot, scoring 15 first-half points as Milwaukee took a 52-49 lead into the break.
Center John Henson came up with another big effort off the bench, contributing eight points and 14 rebounds, including 10 rebounds in the final quarter. Henson has also recorded 10 blocks in the series.
“In this series I thought he’s one of our best players, on both ends,” Jason said of Henson. “I think he protects a lot of those guys on the perimeter. He understands his role and he’s playing at a high level right now.”
Chicago shot just 34.4 percent from the field, including a poor 4-of-22 from downtown. Derrick Rose finished with 13, and Jimmy Butler had 20. Both combined for just 10-of-41 from the field. Pau Gasol was the bright spot for Chicago, scoring 25 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
In the fourth quarter, Chicago made a desperation run after Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a layup to put the Bucks up nine with 7:24 left. Rose made back-to-back jumpers and Gasol made a 15-footer to cut the deficit to just three, 86-83 with just over five to play in the final frame.
But Carter-Williams put the stamp on his big night, hitting a tough floater in the lane that was later followed by a great put back dunk by Henson off an OJ Mayo miss to put Milwaukee back up seven with 3:15 left.
“Giannis was the reason I got that,” Henson said. “He crashed the glass and Pau had to block him out, which left me open. That won’t show up in the stats as his play but he (Antetokounmpo) made that happen.”
Shortly thereafter, four straight points from Gasol made it a four-point game with 1:04 reading on the clock, but then the Bucks defense clamped down. And in the final minute, the normally reserved Coach Kidd came out of his shell.
Giannis swatted a Rose floater with 40 seconds to go, and MCW corralled the loose ball and began streaking down court. The Bucks had a 3-on-1 fast break, but with a four-point lead, Jason wanted to make sure they melted as much time off the clock as possible, so he streaked down the court, yelling, jumping and pleading to referee Joe Crawford for a timeout.
Finally, after J-Kidd had made it to halfcourt, Crawford granted him the timeout. Middleton made two free throws on the ensuing possession to throw salt on the victory, as the Bucks held the Bulls scoreless over the final minute and change.
The Bucks outscored the Bulls in the paint, 46-36, and had a 16-7 advantage in fast-break points. Milwaukee also outrebounded Chicago, 48-45, with Zaza Pachulia getting 10 rebounds.
The young Milwaukee squad seems to have grown more and more comfortable with each passing game, and J-Kidd said as much after the Game 4 win.
“We haven’t changed anything. Our whole thing is about playing hard. That is how we are built,” Jason said. “We’re not playing for the people; we’re playing for each other,” Coach Kidd said. We just go out and play our type of basketball. Since Game 1 we felt we’ve gotten better.”
Middleton echoed the sentiments of his coach, telling the media of the growing confidence in the Milwaukee locker room.
“We believe that we can beat this team, and we felt that we shouldn’t be going home right now,” Middleton said.
The Bucks will head home for Game 6, where they’ll look to earn one more trip to Chicago for a decisive Game 7. Tipoff time is still yet to be set for Thursday night’s tilt, but the game will air on TNT.
RELATED LINKS
- Bucks stay alive vs. Bulls behind MCW’s 22 points, 8 assists (AP, April 27, 2015)
- Carter-Williams steals show vs. Rose (ESPN, April 28, 2015)
- Bucks shock Bulls in Chicago, force Game 6 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 27, 2015)
- Carter-Williams plays through pain to lead Bucks to Game 5 win in Chicago (Fox Sports Wisconsin, April 28, 2015)
- John Henson coming up big in playoffs (Fox Sports Wisconsin, April 28, 2015)
