CHICAGO -- The Milwaukee Bucks waited three quarters too long to play their best basketball.

The Bucks nearly fought back from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but couldn't catch the Bulls in a 114-111 loss Saturday at the United Center.

Michael Redd scored 33 points to lead the Bucks, who lost for the 12 time in 14 games in March. Charlie Villanueva scored 15 of this 26 points in the third quarter, and Mo Williams added 13 points for Milwaukee.

"The talent is here. We got it, it's just a matter of doing it," Villanueva said.

Joakim Noah had a season-high 18 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to lead the Bulls.

Larry Hughes scored 19 points and Luol Deng added 16 to help the Bulls win for just the fourth time in 12 games. Chicago pulled 3 games behind eighth-place Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Trailing 98-77 with 11 minutes, 8 seconds left in the game, the Bucks rallied with a 19-2 run over the next 4:05 to pull within four. Villanueva had a three-point play, Bobby Simmons hit a 3-pointer and Ramon Sessions made two free throws during the spurt.

"Very happy the fact that we responded even though we were down 20-plus at one point," Redd said. "We just did a terrific job of just fighting."

Thabo Sefolosha's 3-pointer stretched Chicago's lead to 109-100 nearly 3 minutes later.

Yi Jianlin made two free throws and Redd had a three-point play and a driving layup in the Bucks' 7-0 run to pull to 112-109 with 32.4 seconds left.

Hughes then made two free throws 18 seconds later to finally seal the win.