MILWAUKEE -- Jerryd Bayless cut right along the baseline, leaving Derrick Rose a couple of steps behind.
It was just the sliver of an opening Bayless needed to put up a game-winning layup at the buzzer.
Bayless' basket gave Milwaukee a rousing 92-90 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, drawing the upstart Bucks within 3-1 in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
"We thought we got better tonight. We found ourselves with a 'W,' " Coach Jason Kidd said.
And they are still alive to play Game 5 on Monday in Chicago.
All thanks to a play coming off a timeout called by Kidd with 1.3 seconds left.
Bayless' task was to cut along the baseline and hope to find an opening. The guard stopped Jared Dudley to ask a question before his teammate threw the inbounds pass from side court.
"I was curious. I just wanted to know, 'Are you going to look for this?' Every cut is live," Bayless said.
The high-arcing pass got to Bayless at the perfect moment. He made a nice catch and put up a quick shot with his right hand.
Rose walked away in frustration, while green and white streamers descended from the Bradley Center rafters.
The rebuilding Bucks had won their first playoff game in five years.
"As a whole we have a long ways to go," Kidd said. "But I thought with this being a character game, the group in that locker room showed a lot of character by finding a way to get a win."
Chicago had a chance to win with the game tied at 90. But Milwaukee's Khris Middleton tipped a dribble away from Rose to force a steal. Kidd called timeout to set up the final play.
"I put that all on me. I just wasn't paying attention to the ball," Rose said.
Coach Tom Thibodeau refused to lay the blame solely on his star point guard.
With a total of 28 turnovers, the whole team played a part in failing to close out a four-game sweep.
"I'm not going to put it on that last play. There were a lot of other plays throughout the course of the game," Thibodeau said. "When you turn the ball over like that, you're not going to have success."
Jimmy Butler had a playoff career-high 33 points for the Bulls. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Rose finished with 14 points, six assists and eight turnovers.
And Chicago couldn't force a Milwaukee mistake at the end.
"But that definitely didn't lose us the game," Gasol said. "Mistakes will happen -- we just made too many of them throughout the game."
Veterans Dudley and Bayless were calming influences off the bench on a team known more for rising stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Michael Carter-Williams, both starters.
But it was the bench that ignited Milwaukee's second-half push after the Bucks lost a 12-point lead in the first half. The Bucks' reserves outscored Chicago's 47-13 in the game.
O.J. Mayo finished with 18 points, including a three-pointer with 1:42 left. Dudley had 13 points and five assists -- including the one on the game-winner -- while Bayless had 10 points.
Another reserve, John Henson, finished with four blocks, two in the final minutes.
NETS 91, HAWKS 83
NEW YORK -- Brook Lopez had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Thaddeus Young added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Brooklyn beat Atlanta to cut the Hawks' lead to 2-1 in the Eastern Conference series.
The Nets seized control with an 18-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters after the Hawks grabbed their first lead since the opening basket, then went on to beat the No. 1 for the first time in seven meetings this season.
Bojan Bogdanovic added 19 points for the eighth-seeded Nets, who can tie the series with another victory here Monday night in Game 4.
DeMarre Carroll scored a playoff career-high 22 points for the Hawks, who were denied what would have been their second 3-0 lead since moving to Atlanta in 1968. Paul Millsap added 18 points and 17 rebounds.
The other three East series were all 3-0 entering Saturday, but the Hawks won't be able to wrap this one up quickly after getting poor performances from All-Stars Kyle Korver (two points, 0 for 5 on three-pointers) and Al Horford (3 for 12, seven points).
Still, they had recovered from a poor start to grab the lead late in the third quarter before the Nets put together their big run.
Young, who apologized to his teammates after scoring only two points on 1-of-7 shooting in Game 2, answered Atlanta's 11-0 run that gave the Hawks a 62-58 lead with three consecutive baskets. The Nets scored the last nine of the third, and Lopez took over when they went 9-0 to open the fourth and build a 76-62 lead.
The Nets had been closer to the Hawks after their first three losses this season were all by 10 or more points-- including a 32-point stomping on April 4. This time, they got the quick start Coach Lionel Hollins wanted after they were outscored by 17 points in the first quarters of the previous two games.
The Nets, who wore their road black uniforms, got it without much help from the home fans at the mid-afternoon start anyway, with black giveaway T-shirts hanging over loads of empty seats all around the arena.
The fans that were here at the beginning saw Brooklyn run off 11 consecutive points in the opening minutes, then close the first quarter with nine in a row to open a 31-16 lead. The Nets had nine assists on their 11 baskets in the quarter, but the Hawks chipped away through the second quarter before moving ahead in the third.
Sports on 04/26/2015