C's Respond In A Big Way, Rolling To A 109-86 Game 2 Win To Even The Series With The Bucks

 

    I'm not predicting banner 18 quite yet so you don't have to start planning the duck boat parade but still, the Celtics performance last night in Game 2 of their second round playoff series with Milwaukee is what championship teams do. Boston learned from their humbling defeat in Game 1 and fought back for an emphatic 109-86 victory to even things up at 1-1. A few hours before the game, we learned that the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year-Celtics guard Marcus Smart-was out for the game with a thigh contusion (yeah right, it's gotta be something much more significant than that). It seemed like an ominous sign with the home team facing essentially a must-win but as it turned out, he was hardly needed at all. This being the NBA, there is an insane amount of time off before Game 3 in Milwaukee which won't occur until Saturday afternoon (3:30, ABC) but at least we can talk about this awesome win rather than be miserable for the rest of the work week.   

    Playing in front of an electric TD Garden crowd, the Celts never really gave the Bucks a chance to breath as they led from start to finish. Their two stars-shooting guard Jaylen Brown (game-high 30 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) and swingman Jayson Tatum (29 points, 8 assists, 3 steals)-were both way better than on Sunday (particularly Brown) but the real story was third-year power forward Grant Williams who helped contain Milwaukee's two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (team-high 28 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 turnovers) on the defensive end and dropped a career-high 21 points (including six 3-pointers!) on the offensive end in 35 super productive minutes off the bench. Veteran center Al Horford added a double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and a game-high four steals. This final result was never really in doubt as the C's led by as many as 26 points (72-46 early in the third quarter) and the closest that the Bucks could get it in the fourth quarter was 12 points (94-82).

    Brown was invisible in Game 1 with 12 forgettable points so he made sure right away that he would show up in Game 2. He was on fire from the start with 25 points in the first half as Boston cruised to a 32-21 lead after the first quarter which they parlayed into a 25-point advantage at halftime (65-40)! The defending NBA champs were not completely fazed as they chipped away in the third quarter (26-18) but nobody could step up for the visitors and they slowly folded in the fourth (getting outscored 26-20). Milwaukee point guard Jrue Holiday (19 points, 7 assists, 2 steals) predictably came back down to Earth a bit as did their gritty big man Bobby Portis (13 points, 8 rebounds). St. John's Prep alum and shooting guard Pat Connaughton was the only other Buck to score in double figures as the former Orioles draft pick added a sneaky 13 points off the bench. 

    The easiest stat to point to was three-pointers as Boston made a whopping 17 more (20-3) than Milwaukee. The ball movement by the Celtics was absolutely gorgeous as they had 12 more assists (28-16) while their defense stepped up with six more steals (10-4) than the Bucks who had five more turnovers (16-11) which led to seven more points off turnovers (24-17) for the Celts. NBA playoff games are all about adjustments so now the question will be which version of these teams will show up for the next two games in Milwaukee. There was no way that this series would end in a sweep, you might as well settle in since this will most likely take a long time to determine the ultimate winner. 

After Milwaukee's 101-89 Win In Game 1, Boston Is Going To Have Their Hands Full With The Bucks

 

    I was told that the Celtics had a clear path to the NBA Finals now and that they should waltz past the Bucks in their second round playoff series. Yeah not so much as Milwaukee came out in Game 1 this afternoon at TD Garden and punched them in the mouth, taking the opener 101-89 behind their superstar power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo's second career playoff triple double (24 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists, 2 blocks). After sweeping the pathetic Nets in the first round, Boston had been off for nearly a week but that's not an excuse as they suffered their first loss of this postseason. The Celtics' two stars-small forward Jayson Tatum (team-high 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals) and shooting guard Jaylen Brown (12 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals)-were both not nearly good enough to beat the defending world champions. 

    The scary part for the C's is that Giannis didn't even play that well offensively, shooting 9-for-25 from the field and missing five free throws (6-of-11) but he still affects the game in so many ways which is why he is currently the best basketball player on the planet. With small forward Khris Middleton out for the series, many people think that Milwaukee lacks another star behind Giannis which might be true but it hardly seemed to matter when point guard Jrue Holiday was awesome with a game-high 25 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. Bucks big man Bobby Portis added a double double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while that lowlife Grayson Allen notched 11 points and three steals off the bench. 

    Boston lacked any answers with Tatum and Brown each having lackluster performances. Center Al Horford had a double double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks while point guard Marcus Smart had 10 points, six assists and two steals. Backup point guard Derrick White was the only other Celtic in double figures with 10 points off the bench. The Celtics' defense gets plenty of hype but on the road, the Bucks held them to a ridiculous 33% shooting from the floor while they grabbed six more defensive rebounds (44-38), made three more steals (11-8) and turned the ball over five less times (18-13) than the sloppy home team. Time and again, Boston shot themselves in the foot as Milwaukee scored 21 more points off turnovers (27-6), 20 more fast break points (28-8) and five more second chance points (19-14). Finally, the Bucks also bullied them to the tune of 14 more points (34-20) in the paint as well.

    After doing basically whatever they wanted vs. Brooklyn, the Celtics appeared stunned to be pushed around so much by Milwaukee. In fact, the Bucks led really from start to finish: 27-24 after the first quarter, by 10 points at halftime (56-46) and 78-70 going into the fourth quarter. It's tough to call a Game 2 a must-win but would you like the Celts' chances of winning the series if they went to Milwaukee down 2-0? Me neither. You have to bank on Tatum and especially Brown being better on Tuesday (7, TNT) while Holiday doesn't figure to play so well. It will tell us plenty about Boston by how they respond to their first significant adversity of this postseason. Are they true contenders or just front-running frauds? Stay tuned on that.  

On The Eve Of The Trade Deadline, Let's Hope That Was The Last Glimpse Of A Mediocre Celtics Roster

 

    Oh man, you really couldn't have scripted a more perfect way for the Celtics (21-23 overall, 8-16 away) to go into the NBA Trade Deadline tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. They trailed by as much as 25 points in the third quarter tonight at the Fiserv Forum against the Bucks (29-14 overall, 18-5 home) only to have a crazy rally in the fourth quarter which gave them the chance to tie it or win at the end of regulation. Naturally, center Daniel Theis (10 points, 2 blocks) got wide open on the inbounds pass by guard Marcus Smart (12 points, 6 assists) but he missed a 3-pointer at the final buzzer that would have won it. Instead, Milwaukee survived for a 121-119 victory-their eighth win in a row-while Boston fell to 2-6 since the All-Star break and 1-10 in its last 11 road games. 

    So what say you Celts GM Danny Ainge? Have you seen enough from this underachieving group to mercifully do anything to put it out of its collective misery? Sadly, despite all the rumors of the team's interest in Orlando forward Aaron Gordon and swingman Evan Fournier, I fear that Ainge will either do nothing or something very minor before the deadline passes. Don't get me wrong, I am not delusional enough to think that the C's have any chance whatsoever to win the NBA championship this season no matter how many slick moves that Danny could pull off. Still, it would be nice for a change to see them be more about proactive action rather than after the fact recapping all the things that almost happened but ultimately didn't. 

    Two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (13 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) will probably never have a worse performance against the Celtics and yet his team still came out on top. Small forward Khris Middleton (game-high 27 points, game-high 13 rebounds) picked up the slack for the Greek Freak. Center Brook Lopez (5 rebounds, 3 steals) and shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo both scored 17 points while point guard Jrue Holiday added 13 points and two steals for the home team. Boston also allowed backup center Bobby Portis to score 21 points off the bench in just 17 minutes. 

    For the Celtics, one of their All-Stars was good while the other was not himself: I'll let you guess which was which as shooting guard Jaylen Brown had a team-high 24 points and 10 rebounds while swingman Jayson Tatum was held to 18 points (on 7-for-19 shooting), eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Boston wasted a fine night from point guard Kemba Walker (23 points, 6 assists, 3 steals) who briefly looked like his old self and backup point guard Jeff Teague scored 15 points in 17 minutes off the bench. 

    The hottest team in the NBA looked just like that as they led 35-30 after one quarter and 70-59 at halftime. Are you old enough to remember when Boston was actually considered a good defensive team? That seems like years ago. The Bucks outscored the Celtics 30-27 in the third quarter and Boston took the final frame (33-21) but it wasn't enough to come away with what would have been their biggest and most meaningful win of the season. Milwaukee shot 2.1% better from the field (50%-47.9%), they made four more free throws (14-10), grabbed eight more total rebounds (46-38) including four more offensive boards (13-9) and four more defensive boards (33-29) and they scored seven more second chance points (23-16) than the C's. 

    Boston gets another shot at Milwaukee on Friday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) and somehow I'm betting it will go way worse for the visitors. Giannis is guaranteed to play much better and the Bucks will ride the momentum of a very good team finding their rhythm at the right time of the season. No matter if it's Gordon, Fournier or somebody else that is a trusted veteran in the league, I can only wish that Ainge will make something work to help ensure that another lost season like this (with Tatum and Brown on the team) is not acceptable and won't occur again anytime soon.