The Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls are playing a deciding Game 5 matchup in the NBA playoffs on Monday and the matchup from the United Center has the Bulls leading 3-1 in the series for the first round and the game is on TNT and streaming from the Overtime website as the matchup starts at 8 pm ET for Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol.
The Bulls started the series 3-0 and they lost on a buzzer beater and now they have the chance to finish the series off. The Cavaliers and Wizards both swept into the next round and the other series has the Hawks up 2-1 against the Nets ahead of the next game. The Bulls come in after getting some strong play from Derrick Rose in this series and he has been the best player for the team during the playoffs.
The Bulls are starting to take the form they had early in the season before Rose was initially injured and if he can stay healthy, the team can make a run to the east finals. The team has the chance to do it, but the Cavaliers and Hawks are both looking strong as well. Kevin Love was just injured and that could be huge for the playoffs, as he could be out for the next series, which presumably will have the Bulls and the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers are looked at as the favorites in the east, but some think the Bulls can take them down when they are full strength. The Bulls got another good game from Jimmy Butler, who has shown this postseason that he is a prime scorer and star player. Butler had 33 points, while Rose added six rebounds and Gasol had 10 assists to lead the Bulls in the loss. Rose had his best game in a couple years in the playoffs in Game 3 and now Chicago is looking for another performance like that.
The Bulls allowed the Bucks to take control in the second and third quarters and then they kept things close in the final frame before winning at the end. The Bucks have been forcing turnovers on the Bulls and that could be an issue for Chicago if they can't lock it down coming out of this series. The Bucks have been scoring points off of the turnovers for the Bulls and the Cavaliers likely will try and exploit that if that continues into the next round.
Rose has been up and down in the playoffs, scoring 14 points in the last game, but he was much better in Game 3 and now he will look to get to that point again. The Bulls have a nice streak at home against the Bucks and they will try and keep that going.
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