ST. FRANCIS, Wis. -- Giannis Antetokounmpo is familiar with overcoming long odds. So it comes as no surprise that he brought up the topic of the Milwaukee Bucks getting back into their first-round playoff series with Chicago to teammate Michael Carter-Williams.
But first, the Bucks have to win Saturday's Game 4 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center to avoid getting swept.
"I was thinking about the odds to win the series and how many people believe we can still win the series or even just win (Saturday's) game," Antetokounmpo said following Friday's practice at the Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin Training Center. "I was talking to Mike, too, saying, 'What are the odds of us being here as an NBA player?' The odds are small. I came from the second division (in Greece) to the NBA. What are the odds I was going to be a starter my second year? None.
"I still believe we're not going to quit and we'll go out there, play hard and try to win the game."
Regardless of how the season ends, the playoff experience gained will be valuable moving forward. But it is one thing just to play in postseason games and another feeling for a young team to win a playoff game.
"We've had a chance to win the last two games," Bucks forward Jared Dudley said. "I'm seeing improvement. Now the next improvement would be to win. You can only have so many moral victories. For us it is coming prepared with the mindset of battling to get it back to Chicago."
Two years ago, a 38-44, eight-seeded Milwaukee team had an interim coach and a roster full of veteran players more concerned about their own personal offseason situation than winning a playoff game.
This Bucks team is completely different. The average age of the lineup Milwaukee used for most of the fourth quarter and the two overtime periods Thursday was 23.4, leaving legitimate hope for the future.
"You want to win a game in the series," Bucks center John Henson said. "Nobody wants to get swept. That's kind of our mindset.
"One thing we aren't going to do is quit. We're going to fight. We'll come out ready to play tomorrow and hopefully take this thing back to Chicago."
In order to grab a game from the Bulls, the Bucks will have to find a way to somehow contain Chicago's backcourt duo of Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler. The two are averaging a combined 50.7 points and 11.3 assists while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Milwaukee expected to have its hands full with Butler but didn't know what to expect from Rose, who is less than two months removed from having surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee.
"I don't think anyone expected him to play this well this soon," Dudley said. "You have to tip your hat to him. His confidence has been sky high. He's hit the 3-ball when it has been contested.
"I think we have a better chance of slowing Rose down with the pick-and-rolls. We have to be more aggressive at him. You can't give him dare shots. Even though he's not a great shooter, when you give an NBA player wide-open shots it gets his confidence going. He's feeding off it. You see his emotion. You have to make him take tough shots early so it makes him think a little bit."
With Rose playing at an MVP level and Butler emerging as a star, Chicago is a legitimate contender to win the Eastern Conference and make the NBA Finals. It speaks to the promise of the future for the Bucks that they've been able to hang with a Bulls team with a healthy Rose, but they are looking for something more substantial than four close losses and a series sweep.
"That's a veteran team," Dudley said. "Sometimes in the first half you feel each other out. Second half is when it is time to kick it into another gear. I think they've done that. Sometimes we've handled that, other times we haven't.
"We're close. But close in the playoffs doesn't mean anything."
Injury update: Chicago is expected to be without forward Nikola Mirotic for Game 4, as Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau reported Friday that the rookie is shooting but not yet running on his left knee strain.
Kirk Hinrich returned from a hyperextended left knee but played just six minutes in Game 3 for the Bulls.
Outside of Jabari Parker and Damien Inglis, the Bucks will have everybody available for Saturday's Game 4.
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