Carter-Williams 'good to go' for Game 6 vs. Bulls
ST. FRANCIS, Wis. -- Michael Carter-Williams expects to have no lingering effects from the right ankle sprain he suffered during the third quarter of Milwaukee's Game 5 victory.
After fighting through the injury to finish with 22 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and three blocks, Carter-Williams was a full go when the Bucks returned to practice Wednesday at the Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin Training Center.
"It feels a little bit tight, but nothing too serious," Carter-Williams said. "I'll be good to go."
Carter-Williams suffered the injury when he landed on the foot of Bulls forward Pau Gasol with 8:14 left in the third quarter Tuesday. He stayed down for a short time before walking straight to the locker room under his own power.
The 23-year-old had his right ankle re-taped and returned to the game at the 2:54 mark of the third quarter.
"I was a little bit scared -- at the time it was real painful," Carter-Williams said. "Usually when I sprain my ankles I walk it off a little bit and give it some time for it to calm down."
The matchup between Carter-Williams and Derrick Rose over the first three games of the series was one sided in favor of the former MVP.
Rose is averaging 24.0 points and 8.0 assists and shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from 3-point distance in Chicago's three wins. But over the last two games, Rose has missed 23 of his 33 field-goal attempts to go along with 14 turnovers.
In Game 5, Carter-Williams dominated the matchup. Eight of his 10 made field goals came with Rose as the primary defender, while the other two came on drives against Jimmy Butler.
"They made an adjustment last game of staying home on the shooters and that left the lane open," Bucks forward Jared Dudley said. "Michael really had his best game with the Bucks. His aggression picked up and it was basically one-on-one with Derrick Rose."
Carter-Williams is anticipating the Bulls will make a defensive adjustment preventing him from getting to the basket as easily as he did in Game 5.
"I'm sure they're going to adjust," Carter-Williams said. "I just have to keep being aggressive. If I see a crowd in the paint, then I've got to make them pay with kicking it out to my teammates and having the confidence in them to knock down some big shots."
Difference a day makes: Jason Kidd and Tom Thibodeau have completely different philosophies when it comes to utilizing their respective benches.
While Kidd has used his entire roster throughout the season and a nine-man rotation in the playoffs, Thibodeau is known for playing his starters heavy minutes.
Four of Chicago's five starters are playing more than 35 minutes per game in the series, with Jimmy Butler averaging 44.2 minutes. Khris Middleton, Carter-Williams and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only Bucks players averaging more than 30 minutes.
Kidd closed Game 4 with his reserves and finished Game 5 with his starters. Jerryd Bayless, the player who has seen the floor the least among the nine-man rotation, is still averaging 17.8 minutes.
After Game 5, there was a belief among the Bucks that the veteran Bulls were wearing down.
"They don't know how I feel," Butler said. "They're not in my skin or my shoes. I'm in great enough shape to where I can handle the minutes. I never complain. And I've got to produce. Heavy minutes or not, I've got to make shots, I've got to make plays happen."
There were two days between Game 5 and Game 6, something that may help the Bulls. Rose shot 38.7 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from beyond the arc on zero or one day of rest during the regular season, while he hit 45.8 percent of his field-goal attempts on two or more days rest.
The same trend has carried over to the playoffs, which means the Bucks should expect the good Rose to come to play Thursday.
"I wish we played today," Dudley said. "I don't want them to have an extra rest day."
Hack-a-player: It has become a trend in the NBA for teams to intentionally foul poor free-throw shooters.
This postseason, San Antonio has sent Clippers center DeAndre Jordan repeatedly to the line, while Dallas has done the same against Houston's Dwight Howard and Josh Smith.
Kidd emphatically said he wouldn't utilize the strategy against Bulls center Joakim Noah, who is 0-for-8 from the line in the series.
"We're about playing the game," Kidd said. "Fouling, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. That hasn't entered our minds, just fouling one person. We're trying to compete and play. Everyone looks at things differently and has their own philosophy on that."
Out with the red: In an effort to encourage fans to wear green Thursday, the Bucks offered two free Game 6 tickets and a green t-shirt to the first 50 fans who showed up at the BMO Harris Bradley Center with an item of red Bucks gear Wednesday morning.
The Bucks quickly gave away the allotment of tickets, as fans were lined up outside the arena as early as 6:30 a.m.
Red is not part of Milwaukee's new color scheme of green, cream and blue.
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