Bucks, Trail Blazers stay alive in play-offs

Carter-Williams helps Milwaukee peg back Bulls, Portland off the mark against Grizzlies

M ilwaukee’s Michael Carter-Williams scored eight of his 22 points in the fourth quarter on Monday as the Bucks again fended off elimination with a 94-88 NBA play-off win over the Chicago Bulls.

Carter-Williams connected on 10 of 15 shots from the floor, handed out nine assists and grabbed eight rebounds for the Bucks, who narrowed the gap in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference firstround series to 3-2.

The young Bucks team had stayed alive with a game-four victory over the Bulls thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by Jerryd Bayless. Their second straight win over the Bulls was more convincing as Milwaukee led all of the second half.

“[The team] worked their tails off and put themselves in a position to make this a series,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “No one had us in this position. We just go out and play basketball.”

The Bulls slashed their turnovers to 13 after 28 in game four, but shot a disappointing 34.4 per cent from the floor — connecting on a dismal seven of 30 attempts in the fourth quarter.

Former NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose scored just 13 points on five-of-20 shooting.

The Bucks will now try to even the series when they host game six on Thursday. They still face an uphill climb as no team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win an NBA play-off series.

The Bucks, in the play-offs a season after posting the worst record in the league, weren’t the only team battling the odds on Monday.

Lillard leads charge

In Portland, the Trail Blazers rallied for a 99-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies to extend their Western Conference first-round series to a fifth game.

Damian Lillard led the Blazers with 32 points, C.J. McCollum added 18 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who denied the Grizzlies a four-game sweep.

Spanish big man Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists.