That was one sweet shot.
Derrick Rose's buzzer-beating 3-pointer gave the Chicago Bulls a 99-96 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The shot was Rose's only 3-pointer of the game. It gave him 30 points (his second 30-point game this postseason) and 14 points in the fourth quarter (matching the most he has ever scored in the fourth quarter of a playoff game). It also capped a terrific back-and-forth game that featured 19 lead changes.
It was the second buzzer-beater of Rose's career (the other came in the regular season against the Bucks in 2012). The Elias Sports Bureau notes that it's the Bulls' first playoff buzzer-beater since Michael Jordan hit a jumper at the buzzer to beat the Jazz in Game 1 of the 1997 NBA Finals.
It's the last game-winner to come within the final 10 seconds of a Bulls' playoff game since Jordan's title-winning shot with 5.2 seconds left in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, also against the Jazz.
There's one more famous Bulls playoff shot to reference. Rose's shot came 26 years and one day since Jordan's famous buzzer-beating jumper that won the clinching Game 5 of the first-round series with the Cavaliers.
This was not a high-percentage shot for Rose in any way. He was 5-for-22 from 3-point range in the United Center this postseason before making the game-winner. Rose had spent most of the game going to the basket. He had 20 drives to the basket, two more than he had in Games 1 and 2 of the series combined.
Rose and Jimmy Butler combined to score all but two of the Bulls' points in the fourth quarter.
Butler does a number on LeBron
Butler was LeBron James' primary defender on 83 percent of his half-court possessions in Game 3.
James scored 20 of his 27 points when guarded by Butler but had to work for every one. He shot 6-for-19 with Butler as his primary defender (15 of the field-goal attempts were contested). All seven of James' turnovers came when Butler was guarding him.
Cavaliers came so close
It looked as if 14 was going to be the magic number for the Cavaliers.
James finished with a career playoff high 14 assists. The 14th was to J.R. Smith, who made the Cavaliers' 14th 3-pointer of the game.
Before Friday, the Cavaliers were 17-0 this season when making at least 14 3-pointers in a game.
Looking ahead
Teams that win Game 3 of a best-of-seven series that was tied, go on to win the series 76 percent of the time. ESPN's Basketball Power Index doesn't favor Chicago to that degree, but it gives the Bulls a 61 percent chance of winning the series.