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 Their message was simple: Keep shooting.
"I was feeling it a little bit," Butler said with a smile. "So I
just put the ball in the basket."
Butler's performance looked as effortless as his explanation
sounded. He scored a game-high 31 points to lead Chicago to a 91-82
win in Game 2 of its Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series.
Bulls guard Derrick Rose added 15 points and nine assists after
being held scoreless in the first half. Chicago seized a 2-0 lead in
the best-of-seven series.
Guard Khris Middleton led Milwaukee with 22 points. Guard Michael
Carter-Williams added 12 points for the Bucks, who were outscored
20-8 to finish the game.
"I thought we played a pretty good game on the road, giving
ourselves an opportunity to win," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said.
"Butler was a one-man show in being able to shoot the 3 and also get
to the basket. For us, we've got to get open shots and finish at the
rim. We missed a lot of bunnies in the paint."
After the Bulls fell behind 74-71 early in the fourth quarter,
Butler took control. He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter,
including nine points during a 13-0 run that put Chicago up by 10.
Butler kissed his hand and pointed toward the sky after hitting a
3-pointer over Milwaukee guard O.J. Mayo to tie the score at 74 with
9:02 remaining in the fourth quarter. Two minutes later, he drove
past Middleton and leaped for an emphatic dunk over Bucks center
Zaza Pachulia to give the Bulls an 80-74 edge.
Noah said Butler's dunk inspired the Bulls.
"I think everybody was pumped up after that one," Noah said with a
grin.
Emotions ran high throughout the game, which included seven
technical fouls and an ejection for Pachulia.
A brief skirmish stopped play with 8:53 to go in the second quarter.
Bulls guard Aaron Brooks took exception to Bucks forward John Henson
standing over him after a collision and leaped to his feet. Players
from both sides converged to scream at one another, which resulted
in technical fouls to Henson, Mayo, Butler and Noah.
Pachulia was ejected after receiving his second technical foul with
2:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic
also drew a technical foul during the sequence, after which he left
because of a strained left quadriceps. The Bulls said Mirotic would
be re-evaluated Tuesday morning.
Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said he did not mind the game's physical
nature.
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"It's playoff basketball," Thibodeau said. "You've got the same
teams going at it each day. A lot of it is will and determination.
How badly do you want it? That's sort of the nature of the
business."
Milwaukee shot 35.6 percent (32 of 90) and hit only four shots from
beyond the arc. The Bulls shot 38.3 percent (31 of 81) and posted a
64-48 advantage on the boards.
Middleton said the discrepancy in rebounds largely was due to poor
shooting by Milwaukee.
"We missed a lot of shots," Middleton said. "That's where it mostly
came from."
A deep 3-pointer by Brooks gave the Bulls a 71-68 lead after the
third quarter. Milwaukee stayed close thanks to eight points in
seven minutes from Middleton.
Chicago rallied for a 39-38 halftime advantage after trailing by as
many as nine points in the second quarter. Mirotic came off the
bench to score Chicago's final seven points of the half, including a
turnaround hook shot with one second remaining to take the lead.
Milwaukee led 16-11 after a sloppy first quarter in which both teams
combined to shoot 24.4 percent (11 of 45).
The teams will meet Thursday night for Game 3.
"It will probably get even more physical," Noah said. "We just have
to be ready for that."
NOTES: Bulls G Kirk Hinrich (left knee) missed his second game of
the series. ... Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd is the first head coach
in NBA history to reach the playoffs with different teams in each of
his first two seasons at the helm. ... Bulls F Nikola Mirotic
finished sixth in voting for the NBA Sixth Man Award, which was won
by Toronto G Lou Williams. Mirotic earned one first-place vote, four
second-place votes and seven third-place votes after averaging 10.2
points per game as a rookie. ... Kidd said he wanted to see a better
defensive effort after the Bulls scored 103 points in Game 1. "We've
got to be able to take away the 30-point quarters if we want any
chance of winning in this series," Kidd said.
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