CHICAGO — Guard Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 31 points with nine rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 91-82 win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in Game 2 of their 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.
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.
A deep 3-pointer by Bulls guard Aaron 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. Forward Nikola 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).
A brief skirmish stopped play with 8:53 to go in the second quarter. Brooks took exception to Bucks forward John Henson standing over him after a collision and quickly leaped to his feet. Players from both sides converged to scream at one another, which resulted in technical fouls to Henson, Mayo, Butler and Bulls center Joakim Noah.
Pachulia was ejected after receiving his second technical foul with 2:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. Mirotic also drew a technical foul during the sequence.
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.
Raptors’ Williams Sixth Man of year
Toronto Raptors guard Lou Williams, who averaged a career-high 15.5 points this season, is the winner of the NBA Sixth Man Award.
The league made the announcement Monday to honor the best player in a reserve role this season.
Williams is the first Raptors player to win the award. He had 78 first-place votes and 502 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada.
Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas finished second in the voting with 324 points (33 first-place votes), and two-time winner, guard Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers, was third (eight first-place votes, 131 points). Golden State Warriors guard Andre Iguodala (100 points) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson (33 points) rounded out the top five in the voting
Williams, in his 10th NBA season and first with the Raptors, came off the bench in all 80 of his appearances and averaged 25.2 minutes. He led or tied for the team lead in scoring 18 times, second most in the league for a reserve, and the Raptors went 14-4 in those games. The 28-year-old also led the Raptors in free-throw percentage (86.1) and made a career-high 152 3-pointers.