Jerryd Bayless Wills the Milwaukee Bucks to a Win Over the Bulls

Game four of the first round the NBA Playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks are down 0-3 in the series. That didn’t sit well with former Arizona Wildcat Jerryd Bayless, he took matters into his own hands.

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I wasn’t aware of this until today, but Jerryd “JB” Bayless maintains a blog, and his last post was as recent as April 7th prior to the playoffs coming up.  You can find his blog on his website at www.jerrydbayless.com.  He also has an AAU team, and guess who plays for his team? Someone Sean Miller’s offered a scholarship to: Alex Barcello, Alex plays for Team Bayless (follow the team on Twitter at @Team_Bayless).

In JB’s last post named “The Playoff Push“, he let us know that his Bucks were young, and were learning and gelling all season long, and were trying hard to make the playoffs:

“When you don’t have a training camp to get to know each other, it’s going to take a little bit for guys to figure each other out, especially with as many new guys as we brought in. [..] Instead, you’re seeing guys trying to figure it out on the fly, and it’s taking time. But we’re getting better and better, more cohesive by the day. We just have to continue working, and hopefully, it continues to improve.”

Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah (13) shoots against Milwaukee Bucks guard Jerryd Bayless during the second quarter in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

In true Arizona Wildcat fashion, Bayless thanked the fans for sticking with the team, “To the fans, a big thank you for the continued support. We’ve gone through a rough stretch, but you’ve still been there every night, and we appreciate that. Just continue to support us through these last few games, and together in a couple weeks, we’ll bring postseason basketball back to Milwaukee.”

And that they did, but now they were fighting for their lives in Game four, down three games to none.

After the first half, Shaquille O’neal felt the Bulls were playing “lackadaisical.”  Kenny Smith was focused on Jimmy Butler who was everywhere, and it was very hard to defend him.  Just in the first half Bulter scored 23 points and was shooting 67%, he went 3 for 5 on three-point shots, and made all four of his free throws.  Seven of his points came in the final 30 seconds of the first half shooting a three pointer to tie the Bucks 50-50 with a second left, and it was a bank shot to boot.

One key moment, that made no sense what-so-ever to the TV viewer what why the Bull’s Jimmy Brooks decided, out of the blue, to reach out and elbow Bayless in the chest. Refs gave each a chance to shoot free throws.

The Bucks halftime speech given by their also young Head Coach Jason Kidd must have worked, with nine minutes left to go in the game, Chicago called a time out because Milwaukee earned an eight point lead on an OJ Mayo jumper. Score was 80-73 Milwaukee.

Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Aaron Brooks (0) drives for the basket as Milwaukee Bucks guard Jerryd Bayless (19) defends during the first quarter in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Jerryd gave it all he had, drawing fouls, rebounding, at 26 he is the elder on his team and has plenty of good NBA basketball ahead of him. Fellow former USC Pac-12 player OJ Mayo cranked up the heat as well. His team was playing great defense, on a 12-6 Milwaukee run, the score with 4:33 left to play, Bucks 87, Bulls 79. Paul Gasol started fouling and flopping, but the Bucks weren’t making their free throw shots.

Meanwhile, Derrick Rose started heating up making 11 points and 6 assists at this point in the 4th quarter, this didn’t stop Mayo, who hit a huge three pointer with 2:50 to go. Or did he? After a review from the officials, they took the three points off of the score because the shot was made after shot clock clicked down to zero before the ball left his fingers.

On the ensuing play the ball found its way back into Mayo’s hands after three or four shot attempts. This time when OJ Mayo shot a three pointer, it counted! Score: Bucks 90, Bulls 84.

Meanwhile Bayless started missing his shots but was not about to give up. But neither Rose nor Gasol were giving up either and the two tied up the score with pass, layup, and an extra point with just 37.9 seconds to go. What a game this was turning out to be!

The score was 90-90, by the time a controversial time out was called by the Bucks after a crucial steal, there was only 1.3 seconds left in the game and the ball was in Milwaukee’s hands.

The play started with the ball at half court, on the inbound pass the ball finds its way into none other than our Wildcat Jerryd Bayless’s hands. Bayless lays up the ball as the clock ticks down to zero; the ball goes up and in! Bucks win!

The Bucks are still down now three games to one in the series, but they were not shutout and they were not swept; the Bucks will survive and move on to game five!

Witness Jerryds post game interview and the miraculous play via KOLD’s Dave Cooney:

BEARDOWN JERRYD!