CHICAGO -- Michael Carter-Williams had 22 points and nine assists, Khris Middleton scored 21 points, and the Milwaukee Bucks avoided elimination again with a 94-88 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.
With a 3-2 lead, the Bulls will try to close it out again Thursday at Milwaukee. But the Bucks aren't going quietly after dropping the first three games.
They took Game 4 on a last-second layup by Jerryd Bayless and withstood several pushes by the Bulls in the fourth quarter of this one.
The Bucks regrouped after a nine-point lead dwindled to three, and they hung on again after a seven-point lead shrunk to four with just over a minute remaining.
Carter-Williams hit 10 of 15 shots while outplaying Derrick Rose. The Bucks' guard rolled his right ankle early in the third but came back late in the quarter (see full recap).
Williams, Nets beat Hawks in OT to even series
NEW YORK -- Deron Williams rebounded from two dismal games with 35 points, and the Brooklyn Nets pulled out a 120-115 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, tying the series at two games apiece.
The Nets, just 38-44 in the regular season, won the second straight in the series and moved two victories from becoming the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 -- only the fourth since the first round became best-of-seven.
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Bojan Bogdanovic made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:25 left in overtime but the Nets never would have gotten there without Williams, whose 16 points in the fourth quarter were two fewer than he had total in the first three games of the series.
Brook Lopez had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets.
Jeff Teague had 20 points and 11 assists, and DeMarre Carroll added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Hawks, who host Game 5 on Wednesday (see full recap).
Blazers stave off elimination
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Damian Lillard had 32 points and the Portland Trail Blazers avoided elimination from the playoffs with a 99-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
Memphis led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter, but Portland rallied to deny the Grizzlies their first-ever playoff sweep.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Portland.
Memphis was playing without point guard Mike Conley, who was inadvertently elbowed in the face in the third quarter of Game 3 and underwent surgery on Monday morning. His status for the rest of the playoffs is uncertain.
The winner of the series goes on to face the Golden State Warriors in the second round.
Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 21 points (see full recap).