Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) passes the ball around Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) during the fourth quarter in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
MILWAUKEE — Derrick Rose scored 34 points, Jimmy Butler had 24 and the Chicago Bulls took a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks with a 113-106 double-overtime victory on Thursday night at the Bradley Center.
Rose scored nine points in the third quarter and seven in the final overtime as the Bulls scored 13 straight points.
Chicago shot 44 percent from the field and hit 14 of 33 3-pointers — five of them from Rose and four from small forward Tony Snell, who finished with 16 points off the bench.
Snell’s back-to-back 3-pointers put Chicago up by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter before the Bucks mounted one last comeback attempt and went up one with 55 seconds left when guard Khris Middleton hit from the free throw line with 10 seconds to play.
Rose came up empty on the other end but drew contact from Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. He missed the first free throw but got help form the iron and tied the score on his second attempt, leaving 4.9 seconds on the clock.
After a Milwaukee timeout, Middleton had a good look from left of the key but missed as time expired.
The Bucks answered all three of the Bulls’ shots in overtime and again had a chance to win at the buzzer, but guard O.J. Mayo missed from 15 feet and they played on.
Milwaukee missed its first four shots from the field and turned the ball over three times during the second overtime, allowing the Bulls to pull away.
Antetkoumpo scored 25 points to lead the Bucks, who shot 42 percent from the field and also got 19 from point guard Michael Carter-Williams, 18 from Middleton and a double-double from forward John Henson, who had 15 points and 14 rebounds in 39 minutes.
Tied at 27 after one quarter, Milwaukee ripped off a 19-4 run to open the second and went up 15 when Jared Dudley’s transition 3-pointer made it 46-31 with 6:03 left, forcing a Chicago timeout.
The Bulls couldn’t get a shot off their next time down but stormed back, outscoring the Bucks 18-4 the rest of the way to go into the break down 53-49 and got five 3-pointers in the third to go up by three.
NOTES: Chicago is 23-1 all time when taking a 2-0 lead in a playoff series. … Entering Thursday’s games, Milwaukee led all playoff teams by forcing an average of 17 turnovers per game. The Bucks ranked first in that category (17.38) during the regular season. … Milwaukee is 8-7 advantage in all-time playoff games against Chicago. The teams are meeting in the playoffs for the first time since the 1989-90 season. … The Bulls won nine of their previous 10 meetings with the Bucks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee snapped a nine-game home losing streak to Chicago with a 95-91 victory on April 1. … In the first two games of the series, Chicago had assists on 56 of 69 field goals.
