Bucks avoid elimination again, beat Bulls in Game 5

CHICAGO — Michael Carter-Williams made 22 points and eight assists, and Khris Middleton scored 21 points as Milwaukee Bucks avoided elimination again with a 94-88 victory over Chicago Bulls in Game 5 of their first-round NBA play-off series Monday.

With a 3-2 lead, Bulls will try to close it out again Thursday at Milwaukee. No team has ever rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA postseason series.

In other play-offs, Brooklyn Nets beat Atlanta Hawks 120-115 in overtime to level their series and Portland Trail Blazers avoided elimination with a 99-92 victory over Memphis Grizzlies.

The Bucks regrouped after a nine-point lead dwindled to three, and they hung on again after a seven-point lead shrunk to four with just over a minute remaining.

Carter-Williams hit 10 of 15 shots while outplaying Derrick Rose. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 11 points and reserve OJ Mayo added 10 for Bucks.

Pau Gasol had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Chicago but Rose and Jimmy Butler struggled.

Rose was 5 of 20 from the field and missed all seven 3-point attempts. He committed six of his team’s 13 turnovers. Butler scored 20 points but shot 5 of 21.

In New York, Deron Williams rebounded from two dismal games with 35 points as the Nets evened their series against Hawks at two games each.

Nets, just 38-44 in the regular season, won the second straight in the series and moved two victories from becoming the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 — only the fourth since the first round became best-of-seven.

Bojan Bogdanovic made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:25 left in overtime but Nets never would have gotten there without Williams, whose 16 points in the fourth quarter were two fewer than he had total in the first three games of the series.

Brook Lopez had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Nets.

Jeff Teague had 20 points and 11 assists, and DeMarre Carroll added 20 points and nine rebounds for Hawks, who host Game 5 on Wednesday.

Kyle Korver had 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the NBA’s leading 3-point shooter during the regular season missed three straight from behind the arc in the final seconds with Hawks trailing by three.

Portland’s Damian Lillard scored 32 points as Trail Blazers rallied to deny Grizzlies their first-ever play-off sweep after Memphis led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Memphis.

The winner of the series goes on to face the Golden State Warriors in the second round.

Marc Gasol led Grizzlies with 21 points.

CJ McCollum added 18 points for Blazers, who snapped a seven-game losing streak to Grizzlies — including all four regular-season meetings.