The beauty of the playoffs in sports, even in the usually predictable NBA is that you never really know what's going to happen on a given day. Take last night for example as Boston rallied for an amazing 116-108 victory at the Fiserv Forum in Game 4 of their second-round series with Milwaukee. The huge fourth quarter by the Celtics (where they outscored the Bucks 43-28) allowed them to even up the series at two games apiece while also taking back the home court advantage that they lost when Milwaukee stunned them in Game 1. Few would argue that Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (game-high 34 points, game-high 18 rebounds, 5 assists) is the best basketball player in the world these days but incredibly, 35-year-old Celts center Al Horford (who most thought was washed up when he was traded back here last summer) nearly matched him with a playoff career-high 30 points and eight rebounds.
Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum (30 points, team-high 13 rebounds, 5 assists) had his best game of the series but there is little doubt that this will be remembered forever in Celtics playoff lore as "The Al Horford Game." Boston's point guard Marcus Smart (18 points, 8 assists, 2 blocks) and shooting guard Jaylen Brown (18 points) were both good as well while backup point guard Derrick White had his best playoff performance for the C's with 11 points off the bench. Part of the reason that Boston won is because they did not allow any of the other Bucks to really go off: center Brook Lopez was the next highest scorer for the home team with 17 points and seven rebounds, point guard Jrue Holiday had decent numbers (16 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals) but he shot a pathetic 5-of-22 from the floor. Meanwhile, shooting guard Wesley Matthews added 12 points while Arlington's own Pat Connaughton notched 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the reigning world champions. This was a contest where you could clearly see that Milwaukee dearly missed its second best player-small forward Khris Middleton-who is still out with a sprained MCL.
I wouldn't say that Boston stole this game since they outworked Milwaukee in crunch time so they earned that coveted road playoff win. However, if I was a Bucks fan I would feel that they let this one slip away since they led for most of the game before falling apart in the fourth quarter when it mattered most. Milwaukee was up 25-18 after a low scoring first quarter then Boston cut it to a one-point margin at halftime (48-47 Bucks). Milwaukee took control again in the third quarter (32-26) but that only set the stage for the best quarter of the postseason for the Celts. The numbers don't lie since the C's owned a majority of the most important stats: they shot nine percent better from the field (50%-41%), they hit five more 3-pointers (14-9), hit their free throws at a higher rate (90%-77%) and handed out seven more assists (25-18) with three more fast break points (16-13) than the Bucks.
It's crazy how fast a series can shift because if the Bucks had won Game 4, it basically would have been over. Winning three straight playoff games against Milwaukee would be nearly impossible. Instead, Boston has a great opportunity to take control tomorrow night (7, TNT) in Game 5 in what should be another electric atmosphere at the TD Garden. You wonder if the Bucks will try and get Middleton back at some point this week. The Celtics actually announced a few hours before Game 4 that center Robert Williams was out with left knee soreness (his surgically repaired left knee, not great!) but that turned out to be not much of a factor. Neither team has won two games in a row this round so hopefully the C's can flip that trend and put the Bucks on the brink of elimination with another outstanding team performance.
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