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NBA: Bucks fend off Bulls, Nets claw back in East

Jerryd Bayless made a buzzer-beating layup to lift Milwaukee to a 92-90 victory over Chicago on Saturday that kept the Bucks alive in their NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. With the win, the Bucks pulled within 3-1 of the Bulls in the best-of-seven set. It came down to quick action by Milwaukee coach Jason Kidd and crisp execution by Nets reserves Jared Dudley and Bayless. Chicago star Derrick Rose had a chance to seal the series for the Bulls, but turned the ball over with 1.3 seconds to play. Kidd promptly called a timeout, and with 1.3 still on the clock, Dudley lofted a deft inbounds pass to Bayless, who was cutting to the basket and finished for the Bucks' first playoff game win in five years. O.J. Mayo led the Bucks with 18 points off the bench. Dudley delivered 13 points while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Bayless scored 10 apiece. Jimmy Butler ended with a playoff career-high 33 points and seven rebounds for Chicago. Rose, who scored 34 points in the Bulls' double-overtime game-three win, was limited to 14 and made eight of Chicago's 28 turnovers. Despite the defeat, the Bulls remain in a strong position as they try to close out the series at home on Monday. No team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win an NBA playoff series. The Brooklyn Nets did what they had to do to avoid falling in an 0-3 hole, using a big second half on their home floor to defeat the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks 91-83 and narrow the gap in their series to two-games-to-one. Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young and Joe Johnson all recorded double-doubles for the Nets, who parlayed an 18-0 scoring run that bridged the third and fourth quarters into the win they needed after dropping the first two games of the series in Atlanta. Lopez finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, Young bounced back from a two-point performance in game two with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Johnson delivered 16 points and 10 rebounds. Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 19 points for the Nets. With their backs to the wall, the hosts seized a 15-point first-quarter lead, only for the Hawks to erase the deficit and briefly take the lead in the third quarter. But the Hawks' shooting woes proved too much to overcome as they connected on just 35.6 percent of their attempts from the floor. Kyle Korver, the Hawks' leading scorer through the first two games, was held to two points on one-of-eight shooting. Al Horford was connected on three of 12 attempts for a total of seven points. "I thought our defense, especially down the stretch, was outstanding," Nets coach Lionel Hollins said. On Monday, the Nets will try to level the series when they host game four at the Barclays Center.