By Rick Braun, Special to OnMilwaukee.com   Published Apr 25, 2015 at 9:06 AM Photography: David Bernacchi

Jason Kidd is really big on his young team learning from experience. Through three games against the Chicago Bulls in the NBA playoffs, his players have had plenty from which to learn.

They’ve experienced a hostile playoff environment and managed to give the veteran Bulls two tough games in Chicago. And they experienced a mostly friendly crowd Thursday night and the intensity of double-overtime playoff basketball.

What they haven’t experienced just yet is a playoff victory.

Still, for where this team was a year ago, Thursday’s 113-106 loss was some very heady stuff.

The Bucks bolted to an 18-point lead, only to have the Bulls answer with an 18-2 run to get back within a bucket before the Bucks went into the break up four.

The Bucks withstood a strong Chicago third quarter and came back from 11 down in the fourth quarter – 10 down with less than three minutes left – and actually took a one-point lead with 10.8 seconds left before settling for overtime.

They had a possession to win the game at the end of regulation and at the end of the first overtime.

Yet all those positives still couldn’t translate into a victory.

"We had a great chance to win the game twice," Kidd said after Thursday’s loss. "The effort was there the whole night. Guys played their heart out and gave us a chance to win against a very elite team."

Under most circumstances, close isn’t good enough. And no one should be happy with a 3-0 deficit. No NBA team has ever come back from such a hole.

But since arriving last summer, Kidd has talked almost non-stop about the "process." He’s made moves that may have cost his team some games in the regular season – like benching Giannis Antetokounmpo for a late-season game without giving much of a reason – but they are moves he believes will serve the process and pay off in the long run.

Thursday’s loss was another part of the process. That didn’t mean it hurt any less.

"I don’t know of anything specific," point guard Michael Carter-Williams said in the post-game news conference while sitting with Antetokounmpo. "I’d have to go back and watch film and try to figure out what I could have done better. Giannis and I are competitors, so we’re bummed because we lost this game. We felt it was in our hands and we could have had it."

The Bucks led by 18 in the second quarter, then trailed by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter – a 29-point swing. Still, instead of folding, the Bucks erased a 10-point deficit in the last 2:50, and even took a 95-94 lead with 10 seconds left.

It seemed like a month’s worth of those experiences Kidd treasures for his young team.

"I think just understanding the time and the moment, this is a young group that has to go through it," Kidd said. "I thought they handled themselves well being down and executing to send the game into overtime. And on top of that having a chance to win it in regulation.

"So this is a good game for us to learn, and I think each time we’ve taken the floor we’ve gotten better."

There is little doubt of that. But better has its share of degrees.

Right now, "better" still isn’t good enough to beat the Bulls. It might be on Saturday night. But in the big picture, these Bucks have learned an awful lot.

Two years ago, the Bucks finished 36-46 and were swept out of the first round. When it was over, there were no thoughts of a bright future. Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings were two sullen personalities that wanted out. Here’s how bad it really was: Larry Sanders was the player considered to be the future of the franchise.

Two years later, even if this team bows out in a sweep, there’s Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton and John Henson and Carter-Williams and Tyler Ennis. There will be another first-round draft pick. And who knows what Damien Inglis might bring to the table next season?

The atmosphere in the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Thursday night was the best it’s been since the playoff series against Atlanta in 2010, maybe even better.

Let’s face it: The great majority of fans and "experts" were pretty certain the Bucks would lose this first-round series to the much-stronger Bulls. Other than a miraculous upset, the best Bucks fans should have hoped for was a competitive series. And the Bucks certainly have made it a competitive series.

In Kidd’s world of learning through experience, his team even earned 10 extra minutes of experience Thursday night. Now the question is this: Can they earn another 48 minutes or more?