Celtics Offense Stuck in Mud as they Drop Game 1 to Bucks
May 1, 2022
Sunday afternoon in TD Garden the fans witnessed something that hadn’t been seen in 2022; a double digit Celtics home loss. Both teams came out looking a little jittery and sloppy - typical for a game 1, especially with an early start time - but the Bucks gained their composure and showed championship poise as they dominated the Celtics with defense to steal game 1, 101-89. The Celtics were able to jump out to an 8 point lead in the first quarter, but the Bucks recovered and took the lead near the end of the quarter and the Celtics could never get back within striking distance.
The Bucks executed their gameplan to perfection and largely set the tone and established what they want to do. It was like night and day from the Nets series, as the Celtics could get nothing going inside the paint all game. Part of it was missing shots, but a lot of it was the presence of Brook Lopez and the ever-roaming Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks were the more physical team and did their best to bully the Celtics. They want to concede three point attempts, and that’s exactly what they did, forcing the Celtics to launch a whopping 50 threes compared to just 34 attempts from inside the arc. Even worse, the Celtics were only able to make 10 of those two-point attempts, a number that is simply not going to get it done. The Celtics actually shot pretty well from three, hitting 18-50, and they were mostly clean looks, but they need to find a way to generate some easy baskets to supplement the deep shooting, or they won’t be able to score enough to beat the Bucks. As a team, Boston shot a season low 33% from the field and everything inside the three point line was tightly contested.
It didn’t help matters that both the Jays had rare off games. Jayson Tatum was able to hit a few big threes and didn’t necessarily play poorly, finishing with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. But he made only two field goals from inside the arc, shooting 6/18 overall. Jaylen Brown was even worse. I don’t know if his hamstring was bothering him, but he didn’t look like himself out there, scoring only 12 points on 4/13 shooting while turning the ball over 7 times. Boston is going to need much more out of those two if they are going to have any chance in this series. It seemed that when things broke down offensively, both guys were trying to do a little too much, attempting to take over and forcing the issue, which led mostly to turnovers or forced shots. This is not at all how the Celtics have played for the past few months, and they are going to need to nip this in the bud and get back to moving the ball and forcing the Bucks defense into rotation. Going one on one and allowing their defense to stay set and wall off the paint is not a successful recipe for the Celtics.
The role players didn’t play poorly for the Celtics, but they didn’t play nearly well enough to overcome the lack of production from the two stars. Overall I thought the shot selection was fine for the most part. Despite the staggering number of three point attempts, most of them were good looks within the rhythm of the offense. Al Horford made 4/9, Grant Williams made 2/4, even Derrick White was 2/3, but Marcus Smart hit just 1/6, and Payton Pritchard hit just 2/8. The Pritchard line was especially hurtful as he has become such a knockdown shooter over the second half of the season; it was weird to see him missing so many open looks. It was especially impactful in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter as the Celtics had several chances to cut the lead to two possessions, but Pritchard missed four critical three point attempts. Personally I was fine with all of those shots. He is on the floor for his shooting, and those are shots he has been making for months; it just wasn’t his day.
To me, the biggest issue for the Celtics was the lack of easy baskets. The Celtics defense was solid for most of the game, but their 13 forced turnovers only led to 6 points, whereas the Bucks had 27 points off the Celtics 18 turnovers. The Bucks got out in transition also, putting up 28 fast break points to only 8 for Boston. That 20 point difference basically decided the game. If the Celtics are going to struggle to score from inside in the halfcourt, it is essential that they get out and run to keep the Bucks from setting their defense. Brook Lopez is a great interior defender, but Ime Udoka and the Celtics need to find ways to attack him. Maybe that means playing more small lineups and forcing him to defend in space on the perimeter, or maybe it means putting him in the pick and roll and forcing him to decide between stopping the drive from one of the Jays, or taking away the roll for Rob Williams. I have faith in Udoka to make the necessary adjustments, but the Celtics can’t allow Lopez to control the paint like he’s Bill Russell.
Defensively, the Celtics did a fine job, holding the Bucks to just 41% shooting and 35% from three. Giannis put up a big triple double stat line, but only had 24 points on 9/25 shooting; numbers Boston will happily live with. Jrue Holiday was able to get going a bit, scoring 25 points and hitting 3 big threes, but he was only 8/20 from the field. The Bucks role players hit some big shots here and there, but the Celtics didn’t let anyone get hot and I think they’ll generally be happy with the shots they allowed. The issues really weren’t on the defensive end. One unexpected killer off of the Bucks bench was midseason acquisition, Jevon Carter. The backup point guard only had 7 points, but he was outstanding on defense in his 21 minutes as he largely shut down Jaylen Brown and the Bucks finished a ridiculous +25 in his minutes, a completely unacceptable outcome for the Celtics.
One other issue that seemed to be plaguing the Celtics all day was untimely injuries. Hopefully nobody came out of this game with anything serious or long term, but guys were constantly leaving the game for a number of reasons. Smart seemed like he picked up several different injuries and at one point even had to leave the game to have his shoulder popped back into place. Jaylen looked off and was grabbing at his hamstring on several occasions. Rob looked great early, but took a shot to the groin that had him wobbling around and writhing on the ground in pain. The Bucks basically came into TD Garden and beat the Celtics up for 48 minutes. That can’t happen.
The Celtics have a lot of things to clean up, and they certainly need to play better, but I think it’s more a matter of making some minor tweaks, executing better, and making shots than anything else. There’s no need for major overhauls to the game plan and there is no reason to panic after just one game. Having said that, the Celtics need to show up on Tuesday night looking a lot crisper on offense or they’ll be staring at a near-insurmountable deficit. That’s life in the NBA playoffs. Things have looked so good for so long, but a bad stretch of play and your season can be over in the blink of an eye. The Celtics just need to focus on doing what they do well and making sure they get a win to send this series back to Milwaukee tied at 1-1.
Ben Handler