The Celtics did their job on Giannis Antetokounmpo, and nonetheless it wasn’t sufficient.
Though the Bucks star needed to labor for the scoring a part of his triple double (24 factors, 9-for-25, 12/12), Milwaukee was even higher at mobbing and bumping Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown because the Celtics sank underneath duress in a 101-89 loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Celtics, largely restricted to 3-pointer makes an attempt and lengthy 2’s by Milwaukee’s drop-down protection, weren’t in a position to give you a lot as Tatum (21 factors, 6-for-18) and Brown (12 factors, 4-for-13, seven turnovers).
Despite two 3-pointers from Derrick White within the third, his first since Game 1 of the Brooklyn collection, the Celtics trailed at first of the fourth quarter, 78-70.
The Celtics opened the fourth with 5 straight misses, 4 of them 3-pointer makes an attempt from Payton Pritchard, till Horford hit a 3-pointer with 8:15 left. The drawback? Horford’s shot got here within the midst of a 12-3 Bucks run for a 92-75 lead.
Antetokounmpo adopted up on the subsequent Bucks possession by tossing the ball off the backboard and dunking the rebound for a 94-78 edge with 6:24 left.
Brown hit a pair of 3-pointers mid-way by way of the quarter, adopted by a Grant Williams bomb that lower the Bucks edge to 96-84 with 3:49 left. But Antetokounmpo’s putback dunk with simply over two minutes left for a 101-87 lead salted it away.
Smart, his proper arm dangling in obvious ache, ran off the ground and headed for the locker room with a coach late within the second quarter, simply because the Bucks had been closing out with an 11-3 run for a 56-46 halftime lead. He was recognized with a proper shoulder stinger and proper quad contusion, and was anticipated to return.
Though Tatum heated up late, he and Brown had been capturing a mixed 5-for-18 within the first half, and slowly misplaced maintain capturing a gentle weight loss plan of 3-pointers.
Tatum got here out with back-to-back 3-pointers with Smart was again on the ground, however the Bucks pushed their lead again out to 10 factors. A White 3 helped take a chew out of that margin, and regardless of one other from the Celtics guard, Milwaukee managed to carry onto a 78-70 lead on the finish of the third.
The sport acquired off to a prehistoric tempo, with the Bucks taking a 27-24 first quarter lead because of a 10-0 closing run as Tatum, specifically, had bother discovering house within the paint. He completed the quarter 0-for-4, with one level.
Tatum lastly scored his first basket with 6:41 left within the half — he and Brown had been a mixed 2-for-11 at that time — and lower the Milwaukee result in 36-34. With the turnovers and misses piling up, the Celtics fell prey to a different Bucks run, this one a sluggish 11-2 burn for a 42-34 Milwaukee lead.
The Bucks then closed out the half with an 11-3 burst for a 56-46 halftime lead.
Source: www.bostonherald.com