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Thursday, Apr. 6 8:30pm ET
Bucks lose cool in closing minutes | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
CHICAGO (AP) -- First, the Milwaukee Bucks lost their composure. Then they lost the game and perhaps their shot at the playoffs. "There were just too many calls. Two technicals in the last two minutes is incredible. I thought the calls were really unfair," Milwaukee coach George Karl said following Thursday night's deflating 90-88 loss to the Chicago Bulls. "This was an awful hard basketball game for us. We did a heck of a job getting a lead despite some tough calls." Milwaukee dropped 2½ games behind Orlando for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and the Bucks' loss also allowed the idle Philadelphia 76ers to clinch a postseason berth. Ron Artest hit a running shot from the lane with 10.9 seconds to give the Bulls the victory, two nights after they lost to Milwaukee by 19 in the Bradley Center. Elton Brand and Hersey Hawkins scored 20 points each for the Bulls. Milwaukee's Glenn Robinson scored 24 points but was ejected with 1:38 left after picking up his sixth foul, an exchange that allowed the Bulls to make four straight free throws. "I don't want to talk," Robinson said. "Talk to that sorry ref." Chicago led 83-82 when Artest went under the basket, pump faked and was hit by both Robinson and Ervin Johnson with 1:38 left. Robinson was called for his sixth foul and Johnson assessed a technical for coming down hard across Artest. Seconds later, an irate Robinson was whistled for a technical for his comments to official Jack Nies, was ejected and escorted off the floor. Hawkins hit both technical free throws and Artest hit two from the foul line, the four points giving the Bulls an 87-82 lead. "I lost my balance and Artest was the only guy close to me," Johnson said. "That's when I was called for the technical. He pump-faked and I went for the block. The ref thought I shoved him intentionally. It wound up a four-point play." Karl said the first technical was "an incredible call." "It put more pressure on us and we lost a little bit of our composure," he said. "The communication was awful. The refs had a hard staredown for our bench the whole game. Tim Thomas and Ray (Allen) said Glenn didn't say anything." Hawkins acknowledged the two late technicals are rare. "The officials can only take so much and you can only say so much. I don't know what Glenn said," Hawkins said. "Two (technical) calls in the last minute and a half, you hardly see it. But it does happen and it happened tonight." The Bucks still had a chance to win after the Bulls got the four free throws. Ray Allen scored six straight for the Bucks, hitting four free throws and following a miss to make it 88-87 with 35 seconds to go. Chicago's Chris Carr made a free throw to tie the game and missed the second, but Dickey Simpkins tipped the ball to Hawkins with 23.3 seconds left as the Bulls retained possession. After a timeout, Artest hit the shot from the lane to give the Bulls a 90-88 lead with 10.9 seconds left. Fouled on the play, Artest missed from the line, giving the Bucks one last chance with 8.9 seconds remaining. "It was a lucky shot, but maybe it was supposed to go in," Artest said. But the Bucks had troubled setting up a final shot and Sam Cassell's off-balance shot went off the rim as the buzzer sounded. Of Milwaukee's remaining seven games, two are against Orlando. "The season's not over," Karl said. "This loss makes it imperative we go out and beat Orlando in the two games coming up." Game notesThe victory was Chicago's first in four meetings with the Bucks this season. ... Chicago's Randy Brown sat out with back spasms, and Fred Hoiberg missed his third straight game with a sprained left ankle. ... Cassell had 18 points and nine assists for Milwaukee. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Milwaukee Clubhouse Chicago Clubhouse RECAPS Miami 76 Charlotte 70
Chicago 90
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