NBA: Nets claw back in East as Bulls seek sweep
While the Chicago Bulls sought to finish off Milwaukee on Saturday, the Brooklyn Nets made sure their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series against Atlanta will go a little further. The Nets got the win they desperately needed on their home floor on Saturday, using a big second-half run to defeat the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks 91-83 and narrow the gap in their best-of-seven first-round 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. On Monday, the Nets will try to level the series when they host game four at the Barclays Center. By then, the Bulls will be hoping to have their second-round berth secure. They took a 3-0 series lead into Saturday's game four in Milwaukee after a dazzling game three display from Derrick Rose. Rose scored a season-high 34 points in the 113-106, double-overtime victory that put the Bulls on the brink of advancing. "It's an honor to even be in the playoffs, let alone be up 3-0," Rose said. "We're playing against a hungry team, a young team that is pushing us. That's why you've got to love the playoffs, because every game is different."
