Derrick Rose scored 34 points, Jimmy Butler added 24 and the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks 113-106 in double overtime on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
Butler got the second overtime off to a rousing start, intercepting a backcourt pass from Giannis Antetokounmpo and racing in for a layup. It set the tone for an 8-0 run that gave Chicago a 109-101 lead with 2:44 left to finally shake the pesky Bucks.
Rose atoned for a missed free throw with 4 seconds left in regulation that left the game tied. He scored six points in the second overtime, including a layup off an offensive rebound with 2:15 left for a 10-point lead.
Antetokounmpo had 25 points and Khris Middleton added 18 for Milwaukee, which went scoreless for more than 6 minutes between the first and second overtimes.
The Bulls will go for the sweep on Saturday in Game 4 in Milwaukee. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.
Chicago appeared to have wrapped up the game with 2:50 left in regulation after Tony Snell hit his second straight 3 for a 94-84 lead, rousing an often Bulls-friendly crowd. The Bradley Center at times felt like a northern outpost for Bulls fans who made the barely 90-minute drive from Chicago.
But the young Bucks didn't quit and their fans backed them up, too.
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Middleton had eight points over the final 1:27 of regulation, including a floater with 10 seconds left that gave the Bucks a 95-94 lead. Rose went 1 of 2 from the free throw line, and Middleton missed a 27-footer at the other end to send the game into overtime.
It was a fitting stretch run to a wildly entertaining game featuring one of the East's standard-bearers against the scrappy upstarts from Milwaukee.
Rose carried the Bulls for much of the second half, getting a big assist off the bench from Snell as Chicago built a late 10-point lead. The Bucks blew an 18-point lead in the second quarter.
It was hard to believe that Chicago trailed 49-31 with 4:03 left in the second quarter.
But the Bulls closed the half with an 18-4 spurt to get within 53-49. Former Bulls forward Scottie Pippen rooted them on courtside.
"Love the fight in this Bulls team to close out the half. A little adversity on the road will do you some good," the Hall of Famer posted on Twitter at halftime.
