Chicago Bulls overcome Nets after triple OT

Chicagos Nate Robinson dragged his team back from a 14-point deficit late in regulation time and the Bulls went on to beat the Brooklyn Nets

Chicagos Nate Robinson dragged his team back from a 14-point deficit late in regulation time and the Bulls went on to beat the Brooklyn Nets 142-134 in triple overtime on Saturday,taking a 3-1 lead in their NBA first-round playoff series. The Bulls were trailing 109-95 with less than 4 minutes to go in the fourth quarter when Robinson took over,carrying the hosts to a thrilling victory.

In other games,Oklahoma City also moved within one win of a series victory by holding off hard-finishing Houston,Memphis squared its series against the Los Angeles Clippers at 2-2,and Atlanta sharply turned around its fortunes with a comfortable win over Indiana,cutting the series deficit to 2-1.

Robinson finished with 34 points,scoring all but five of them after the third quarter,including the first 12 in a 14-0 run that wiped out the deficit. I always think Im on fire,kind of like the old school game NBA Jam, he said. You make a couple in a row,the rims on fire. You shoot the ball,the balls on fire. Whenever Im in the game,I just play with a lot of confidence. You kind of have to lie to yourself and feel like you cant miss.

Robinson scored with two seconds left in the first overtime and that looked enough to secure the win,but Joe Johnson replied for Brooklyn to send it into a second overtime,tied 121-121. The Bulls had a chance to win in the closing seconds of the next extra session,but Joakim Noah was blocked,and the game went to a third overtime.

The Nets were still within three points with three minutes left before Luol Dengs basket made it a five-point lead and Nazr Mohammed came up with two baskets in the final 32 seconds to help preserve the win. Brooklyns Deron Williams said the Nets had themselves to blame for not securing a win that would have squared the series.

Oklahoma go three nil up

Oklahoma City pulled out a victory in its first game since losing All-Star Russell Westbrook to a season-ending injury,beating the Houston Rockets 104-101 to go up 3-0 in the series.

Atlantas Al Horford had 26 points and 16 rebounds as the Hawks had a comfortable 90-69 win over Indiana,changing the momentum of the series after the Pacers had easily won the first two. Playing with much more urgency than they did in two double-digit losses at Indianapolis,the Hawks raced to a 54-30 halftime lead and narrowed the best-of-seven series to 2-1.