Celtics Blitz Bucks, Even Series 1-1
May 3, 2022
The Celtics responded to their first loss of the postseason with a resounding victory on Tuesday night in Boston. They came out of the gates looking like a different team than the one that lost game 1 101-89 and was bullied by the Milwaukee Bucks. But in game two it was the Celtics who took on the bully role right from the opening tip, racing out to a 15-3 lead, growing that all the way to a 65-40 halftime lead, and finishing the job for a 109-86 victory.
It was evident that the Celtics took game one personally and seemed intent on being the more physical team in game two. Bad news was received hours before tipoff, as Marcus Smart was ruled out with a quad contusion suffered in game one. But the players stepped up in his absence and dominated the Bucks on both ends of the floor in the first half.
Ime Udoka and the Celtics made all the right adjustments on offense. They seemed far more prepared to handle the ball pressure, and were able to push the ball up the floor and getting into the lane. Boston’s ball movement in the first half was incredible, as they were committed to driving the ball and kicking the ball repeatedly, multiple times per possession, making the extra pass and creating great looks. Jaylen Brown responded to his personal struggles in game one with one of the best halves of his career, putting up 25 (he finished with 30) points on 9/10 shooting and 5/5 from three before the break. Several of those baskets were scored in the midrange, which appeared to be a focus for the Boston offense after being nonexistent in game one.
Another key to the early success was the insertion of Grant Williams into the lineup very early in the first quarter for Rob Williams. Grant added floor spacing on offense and played incredible defense on Giannis Antetonkounmpo. Grant finished with a career high 21 points and drained 6/9 threes. Somehow his defense was even more impressive. Along with Al Horford, he was able to stymy Giannis repeatedly, holding his ground, and forcing Giannis into bad shots and turnovers. The duo held Giannis to just 5 points on 2/11 shooting in the first half. The stifling defense along with lights out 13/20 three point shooting for Boston led to a 25 point halftime lead tha proved insurmountable.
After the incredible first half performance, the Celtics relented somewhat in the second half, getting away from their ball movement on offense, and allowing Giannis to take over the game for stretches. Boston lost their aggression with the ball, doing too much dribbling and not enough passing. They stopped attacking the paint and the multiple drives and kick outs from the first half were nowhere to be found. Luckily, the Celtics defense barely relented, largely containing Giannis, and shutting down every other Bucks scorer. Despite a monster third quarter, the Greek Freak finished with only 28 points on 11/27 shooting. The one on one defense by Grant and Al was superb, and their ability to defend Giannis without extra help was a key factor in allowing the rest of the Celtics defenders to take away everybody else.
Jaylen Brown also deserves a ton of credit for his defense on Jrue Holiday. Holiday controlled game one on both ends, but seemed to be invisible at times in game two thanks to being hounded by Brown on one end and attacked by him on the other. Holiday’s stat line was actually similar to the last game as he ended up with 19 points on 7/20 shooting. But in game one, all of his shots came in big impact moments, whereas Tuesday night his 19 points were extremely quiet and he made only 1/6 threes. The rest of the Bucks combined for just 39 points and nobody other than their big 2 attempted more than 7 field goals. The Celtics defense was simply smothering and the Bucks offense was basically limited to contested jump shots or Giannis forcing his way into traffic.
Another shift from game one was the commitment to transition defense by the Celtics. Milwaukee dominated in fastbreak points and points off turnovers in game one, but Tuesday night the Celtics were much cleaner and allowed just 6 fast break points - compared to 28 in game one. There were simply no easy buckets to be had for the Bucks. Everything was contested for the Bucks offense until late in the game when Giannis was setting screens and the Celtics were basically daring the ball handlers to drive for layups. The Bucks got everything in the paint, outscoring the Celtics 54-24 in the paint. But they had to work for those points and they found no space on the perimeter, making just 3/18 three pointers. The Celtics on the other hand were sharing the ball brilliantly and generating great looks, burying them to the tune of 20/43 from beyond the arc, a 51 point discrepancy, and the biggest difference in the game.
Things got slightly hairy at one point with about five minutes left as the Bucks were able to trim the lead all the way down to 12. But that’s when Jayson Tatum put his stamp on the game, scoring 10 points in just under 4 minutes, before hitting Grant Williams for a corner three to stretch the lead back out to 21 and put Milwaukee away for good. Tatum didn’t have his best game, and took a backseat to Brown for much of the night, but he came up big when it mattered most and finished with 29 points on 10/20 shooting to go along with 8 assists.
Now there is a long layoff before game three in Milwaukee on Saturday. Both teams will have plenty of time to rest and adjust for a critical game 3. The biggest key for the Celtics will be the status of Marcus Smart, as the team is optimistic he’ll be able to return. Despite the big win, Boston clearly missed his ball handling and ability to set up and settle down the offense, especially in the second half. They also missed his defense, as he likely would have been integral in thwarting the Giannis pick and roll that was giving the Celtics issues in the second half. Whether Smart can return or not, if the Celtics play like they did in the first half and they have to like their chances. That means driving the ball with purpose to combat pressure and moving the ball. That will lead to good shots and easy baskets, and even if they don’t shoot as well as they did tonight, they need to keep the defense in rotation and they’ll be able to score. Rest up, recover, maybe even try to relax. We’ve got ourselves a series, folks.
Ben Handler