Michael Carter-Williams drives Milwaukee Bucks home for Game 6
By Phil Watson
This is why the Milwaukee Bucks traded away Brandon Knight in favor of Michael Carter-Williams.
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Carter-Williams had his best all-around game as a Buck at the best possible time Monday night, scoring 22 points with nine assists, eight rebounds and three blocked shots as the Bucks—facing elimination for the second straight game–stunned the Chicago Bulls 94-88 at the United Center.
So instead of preparing to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Bulls have to make their way back up I-94 for Game 6 of the first-round series against stubborn Milwaukee on Thursday night.
Carter-Williams shook off a sprained ankle he sustained when he landed on the foot of Chicago’s Pau Gasol in the third quarter and set the tone offensively and defensively for the young Bucks.
Carter-Williams was 9-for-10 on drives to the rim and also shut down Derrick Rose, holding the former MVP to 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting with six turnovers and just two assists.
That’s the part of the equation Knight can’t match—Carter-Williams’ length and ability to be so disruptive at the defensive end with his size.
Chicago kept coming at the Bucks in the fourth quarter, but the young team wouldn’t wilt. Milwaukee took the lead on a pair of free throws by Carter-Williams with 3:04 to go in the first half and never trailed after intermission.
The closest the Bulls got in the fourth quarter was three points, with the Bucks answering each time.
After Joakim Noah’s tip-in of a Jimmy Butler miss made it 80-77 with 8:35 remaining, Milwaukee ran off six straight points, capped by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s twisting layup off a feed from Carter-Williams to make it 86-77 with 7:25 to go.
Gasol drained a jumper with 4:45 left that pulled Chicago back to within 86-83 and the Bucks responded with four straight points.
“Ever since I got here, my teammates and the coaching staff have been very welcoming to me and taught me a lot of things,” Carter-Williams told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “They give me a lot of confidence every time I step on the floor.
“I just owe them to play with a lot of confidence.”
Khris Middleton added 21 points and four steals for the Bucks, getting 13 of his points in the first quarter as Milwaukee opened a slim 23-22 lead. Antetokounmpo had 11 points and blocked four shots and O.J. Mayo scored 10 points off the bench. Zaza Pachulia had nine points and 10 boards for the Bucks and John Henson went for eight points and 14 rebounds.
Gasol finally had an efficient shooting game in the series, going 9-for-15 for 25 points to go with 10 rebounds and two blocks.
But the rest of the Bulls were a combined 22-for-75 (29.3 percent) and Chicago shot 34.4 percent overall. Butler went for 20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals, but was 5-for-21 from the floor. Taj Gibson had 12 points and two blocks and Noah finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and three blocks.
But for the first time in the series, it was the Bucks who won the backboard battle, outrebounding the Bulls 48-45. It didn’t hurt that Pachulia was doing Pachulia things.
“A lot of people look at it as house money,” coach Jason Kidd told The Associated Press. “You can always talk about the future, but we don’t. 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 haven’t looked at the future. They’ve just stayed in the present.
“They’ve worked their tails off and they’ve put themselves in this position to make [it] a series.”
The win snapped a string of five straight losses for the Bucks at Chicago, including the postseason, and the Bulls had a nine-game homecourt winning streak stopped.
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There is no time announced for Thursday’s Game 6 at BMO Harris Bradley Center, but the Bucks are in a great position.
The pressure is squarely on the Bulls, the favorites who most observers thought would wrap up the series at home in Game 5.
Now they face another trip to Milwaukee, where the usually Bulls-friendly crowd certainly was not for Game 4 and will likely be even less cordial for Game 6.
Coach Kidd talked about the future’s uncertainty and the need to stay in the present. He also worked on his dance moves near the end of Game 5.
With a chance to become just the fourth team in NBA history to force a Game 7 after being down 3-0 in a series, the present seems like a fine place to be.