ROUND #2 PLAYOFF > POST GAME #1 Mil Bucks - AWAy - - Boston - 112 Mil - 90 Final

Celtics Wrap: Boston Uses All-Around Performance To Take Game 1 Vs. Bucks

NESN by Chris Grenham on Sun, Apr 28, 2019 at 3:16PM

Brad Stevens said Friday that the Boston Celtics needed to be on their A-game if they wanted to beat the Milwaukee Bucks. They checked that box Sunday afternoon at Fiserv Forum.

Boston took Game 1 of their second-round series over the Milwaukee Bucks with a convincing 112-90 win.

Al Horford’s defending of Giannis Antetokounmpo was exceptional, which led the Celtics all-around attack on both sides of the ball.

Boston’s defense created opportunities at the other end, as the Celtics shot 54 percent from the floor. Kyrie Irving led the C’s with 26 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds on 12-of-21 shooting.

Four other Celtics finished in double figures in an impressive all-around effort. Al Horford (20 points), Jaylen Brown (19), Gordon Hayward (13) and Terry Rozier (11) were all part of the scoring party.

Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 22 points.

The Celtics now have a 1-0 series lead.

Here’s how it all went down.

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris
C: Al Horford

DEFENSIVE MINDSET
Both sides opened the game looking like they were coming off long layovers, which they were. Boston’s defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo in the early going was very impressive, sending delayed double teams at him on almost every possession while managing him in transition.

The Celtics execution was spot on in the first quarter, which was aided by their stellar defense. Boston forced four turnovers and held Milwaukee to 26.3 percent shooting. They led 26-17 after one.

Kyrie Irving led all scorers with eight first-quarter points.

STRENGTH IN DEPTH
Boston turned to a lineup of Hayward, Morris, Baynes, Rozier and Brown to begin the second frame, which might have initially concerned some Celtics fans (Baynes vs. Antetokounmpo), but they succeeded mightily.

Baynes did a great job of sealing off Antetokounmpo, while Hayward continued to get just about anything he wanted on the offensive end. The Celtics opened up a 40-25 lead halfway through the quarter with Horford on the bench. This was huge, as Boston has struggled with their sage big man on the bench.

The Bucks responded with a 15-0 run of their own once, shockingly, Antetokounmpo went to the bench. The two sides would exchange buckets for the remainder of the quarter at a vicious pace, with Boston eventually taking a 52-50 lead into halftime.

Khris Middleton had a game-high 14 first-half points. Irving led the Celtics with 13 points in his 17 first-half minutes.

EXTENDING THE LEAD
Both teams continued their frantic pace out of the break, trading runs in the early minutes of the second half. The Celtics used a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 10 at the midway point of the third.

Horford’s defense on Antetokounmpo was remarkable throughout the night, but really stuck out in the third quarter. With two minutes to go, Horford had five of Boston’s eight blocks. The defensive effort was turning into buckets on the other end, and the Celtics pulled out to a 21-point lead with two minutes left in the third.

Milwaukee’s soft perimeter defense was giving Boston all of the midrange and 3-point looks they wanted, and the Celtics made them pay.

Boston led 88-71 after three. Irving had a game-high 19 points (plus nine assists and six rebounds) heading into the fourth.

FINISH THE JOB
The Bucks took advantage of Boston’s non-Kyrie minutes early in the fourth quarter, managing to cut the deficit down to 12, which got their home crowd back into the game. But that’s as close as Boston would allow them to get.

The Celtics immediately put their foot back on the gas, extending their lead to 23 with five minutes left in the game. Milwaukee was not able to climb back into this one, as Boston closed strong to steal Game 1.

PLAY OF THE GAME
JB puts Giannis on a poster!

UP NEXT
The Celtics look to take a 2-0 series lead on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Game 2 tips off at 8:00 p.m. ET.

112288

I wasn’t expecting that....

This was a fantastic win for Boston.

Their defense was of championship quality while holding the best offensive team in basketball to 90 points.

They did everything they needed to do.  They limited the freak's impact in the paint and they played outstanding perimeter defense.  They rebounded well, won the points in the paint battle and the assist battle.

Anybody out there still think the Celtics are a better team without Kyrie Irving?

The Celtics starting backcourt outscored the Bucks backcourt 45-9...  that's a big spread.

The extended time off was a good thing.  A well rested Al Horford  paid big dividends.  He was tremendous at both ends of the court.  

GH is our x-factor.  

Morris and Rozier were solid.  

The Bucks will need to up their game at both ends for game # 2.

Boston has convincingly taken away the home court advantage.  Hats off to DB.  He said they would fold like a cheap suit and they did.  

But this is just one game and it takes 4 to move forward.  The last thing Boston needs to do is be satisfied with a split.  Why not beat their butts in game 2 as well?

The odds makers are frantically reshuffling the deck.

I was anticipating a Game 1 win, but I didn't think it'd be a 20+ point win.


KJ

Pierce said on national TV the series is over...!!!

cowens/oldschool wrote:Pierce said on national TV the series is over...!!!

That was a premature statement.

Remember Mr. Wolf's quote in the Bonnie Situation scene in Pulp Fiction. Vulgar but it drives home the point. I believe right now we are all pleasantly stunned, but we knew this was coming.

Also remember the Memorial Day Massacre and the two 1st round games in this year's playoffs that started with the underdog winning G1. They are now watching the playoffs from the comfort of their own homes.

That being said, I was impressed and I haven't seen the game all the way through yet. Saw pieces of it while working out.

MIL now has to face the problem that no one has been nor will be able to solve. Who's showing up for dinner? You think their coach is smart enough to pull it all together in 48 hours? I don't think so, Tim.

Let's say MIL goes to the drawing board now and draws up a flawless game plan to shut down KI, JB and AH, all who had strong games today by anyone's standards. Then in G2, GH goes off for 30, and Tatum and Marcus Morris, Sr. actually hit their scoring averages AND KI still gets 30...Oh, dang!! I forgot Marcus Smart didn't even suit up...

See my point? And it has been all of our points on this board for the last few months. No one now has the time to corral all those horses into their game plans to beat us because they haven't been playing together consistently. When they beat us before, they just moved on to the next game of the season.

But we've seen this all too often in the playoffs and especially in our own backyard 34 years ago vs. LAL on Memorial Day. The best thing that can ever happen is BOS puts the hammer down on Tuesday, regardless of MIL's plan/adjustments. We will have to win twice in MIL to win this series. Might as well get it all done Tuesday.

While I was working out, I saw in the 3rd quarter they were up by 18 or 20. I don't remember. My VERY first fleeting thought was, they're going to blow the lead. Now MIL made a run to get it down to 12 or so, but when I went back to the TV, they were back up by 20 in the fourth with 5 minutes left.

My second thought was, no, they won't blow this lead because they did do that in the regular season several times (Clips in particular) but toward the end of the regular season, they got up big and held on and won those games that they were blowing earlier on. Lesson learned.

OK. I'll have more later after I watch it all the way through. I do admire those of you who watch the games live. I just can't do it anymore!! Too much of a puss! I've let phone alerts get in the way!

db

Very nice game plan. Well executed.

Good to get a game 1 win on foreign soil.

The offense has finally started looking like almost everyone assumed it would, pre-season.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a slightly different game 2 defensive strategy, since Milwaukee will adjust to having been denied the paint. I look forward to seeing what Boston throws at them next.

Hi,
Great win!
Excellent defense, very good offense. Celtics managed to partially shut down Giannis and Bucks couldn't find any other venue to our hoop.
There're only 2 problems on the Celtics side, IMO. They mostly stuck with outside shooting. It is OK when the shots are falling...
The other problem was FT shooting - 63% is not going to work against such team as Bucks.

AK

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Great win!
Excellent defense, very good offense. Celtics managed to partially shut down Giannis and Bucks couldn't find any other venue to our hoop.
There're only 2 problems on the Celtics side, IMO. They mostly stuck with outside shooting. It is OK when the shots are falling...
The other problem was FT shooting - 63% is not going to work against such team as Bucks.

AK

Sinus Boston is a 3 point shooting team. That is not going to change. 31 3 point attempts seems in line with their season average.

Boston was 5 for 8 from the line. I am more concerned with the refs not calling fouls against the Bucks than our shooting percentage from the line. Boston is an excellent shooting team from the line.

Milwaukee's defense was tepid at best. They just weren't ready to defend the Celtics renewed (reborn) motion offense or even the pick and roll which they must of know was coming. Can't remember another time this season the Celtics had so many open looks.

dboss wrote:

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
Great win!
Excellent defense, very good offense. Celtics managed to partially shut down Giannis and Bucks couldn't find any other venue to our hoop.
There're only 2 problems on the Celtics side, IMO. They mostly stuck with outside shooting. It is OK when the shots are falling...
The other problem was FT shooting - 63% is not going to work against such team as Bucks.

AK

Sinus Boston is a 3 point shooting team.  That is not going to change.  31 3 point attempts seems in line with their season average.

Boston was 5 for 8 from the line.  I am more concerned with the refs not calling fouls against the Bucks than our shooting percentage from the line.  Boston is an excellent shooting team from the line.

Dboss,
I'm not talking about 3pt shooting. My concern is about a very low number of FTs  and very low % of the FTs (in the 1st game of this series).
This season's averages in these categories are 19.49 FT per game and 80%. As you can see our results today are well below the averages.
Today we shot total=.540 and 3pt=.419. Excellent. But if in the next game(s) we drop down to, for instance, our season averages of .465 and .365 and keep today's game FT's results it won't be enough to beat the Bucks, IMO.
Also, don't forget the physical and psychological effect of fouls on your opponent.
As for refs, relying on them is like: maybe yes, maybe no/ maybe rain, maybe snow

AK

We did what we needed to do, we won one in Milwaukee, and we did it on the first try.  The pressure is now all on them.

I have never seen someone play defense on Giannis like I saw Al Horford do today.  Never.  I've never seen get Giannis stuffed at the rim, TWICE IN THE SAME PLAY by ANYBODY before.  His 20 points and 11 rebounds were quite impressive too, he was 3-5 from 3, but his defense on The Greek Freak completely blew my mind.  Kyrie had more points and 11 assists but, for me, Playoff Al gets the game ball.  Giannis was frustrated out of his mind.

Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
3 hours ago
The Bucks’ offensive rating when Giannis Antetokounmpo was on the court in Round 1: 120.2. Bucks’ offensive rating when Giannis shared court with Al Horford in Game 1: 63.3.




Not that Kyrie wasn't great.

Morris with only 9 points but 7 rebounds and some very, very solid defense including a block at the rim.  I think we had more blocks at the rim in this game than we normally had for a month.  3 blocks for Mook.  3.

Tatum with some rebounds but otherwise invisible.

Jaylen, on the other hand, was not.  They are going to have trouble with him.  If he stays aggressive I don't think Middleton can handle him on defense.  Jaylen has problems with Middleton on defense too, but so does everyone.  3 more games by Jaylen like this and it's sayonara, because he's the one they never saw coming.  He's our 4th or 5th scoring option.  If he's going off for 19 on 8-14 like he did today they are doomed.

Chris Grenham @chrisgrenham
about 7 hours ago
Jaylen Brown is averaging 18.3 points on 67.2% shooting over the last three games.



Hayward with a solid game.  Not HUGE, but very solid.  The offense looks very coherent when the ball is in his hands.

9 rebounds for Rozier.  9.  By our back up guard.  That makes TRo the #3 rebounder in the game behind Horford (11) and Middleton (10).

5 Celtics in double digits and Morris with 9.  Only 3 Bucks in double digits.

I had to look twice but, sure enough, Brad had Baynes guarding the Freak out on top on purpose.  It wasn't a mismatch off a switch.  Based upon the results Brad Stevens is a certifiable genius.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
about 7 hours ago
Budenholzer: "We didn't get many calls on drives."

For the record, they took 24 ftas vs only 8 for us.  I don't want to hear complaints about fouls, Mike.


Jay King @ByJayKing
7 hours ago
Marcus Morris: “We can’t continue to talk about what we did in the regular season because that’s over.”


Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
about 7 hours ago
Hayward: “we want to come out of Milwaukee with two wins, not one.”


Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
about 6 hours ago
The Celtics 22-point win over the Bucks in Game 1 was the biggest margin of defeat for Milwaukee all season.

A shockeroo, for sure.  We are peaking at the right time.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401129114








bob




.

It will be interesting to see if the Bucks can come up with adjustments and if Boston can stay engaged defensively.

Look for the Freak to pass the ball more in game two. Their guys have to make shots and I expect a lot of shots to be contested.

The pressure on the Bucks has gone up a notch or two. Boston should be mindful that game one was not a gift. They earned the victory and will need to play harder in game 2.

I  doubt that the Celtics intensity will wane, but their execution was flawless and the Bucks will come harder. The next game should be a dog fight , but if we win , they are toast. I'm concerned that all the  talk about Horford's physical play will cause the zebras to put on a whistle-athon. As for our lack of free throws, that wasn't because we took to many outside shots or didn't drive into the paint. In my opinion, our offense was damn near flawless. We don't get a lot of calls, especially Kyrie, maybe because he finesses people instead of barging into them. Tatum gets passive offensively some times , but I thought he had one of his better defensive games. He had three blocks and helped out on the Freak. One of the blocks that people keep attributing to Al was from behind, by Jayson . Then Horford blocked Giannis second try after he gathered his own rebound. The Celts didn't need him to score today , but he rebounded,  defended, and made a couple timely passes, one on a lob that he threaded through traffic.

And even more important it looked like we were having fun and caring about each other cause that’s the most important thing....

cowens/oldschool wrote:And even more important it looked like we were having fun and caring about each other cause that’s the most important thing....

Amen to that, Cow!

was there any word on Baynes ankle?

Medical staff cleared Baynes to go back in , but Stevens preferred cautious approach. Aron is a warrior. ( small w}

jrleftfoot wrote:Medical staff cleared Baynes to go back in , but Stevens preferred cautious approach. Aron is a warrior. ( small w}

thanks for the response, I saw him on the sideline cheering but didn't think he got back in the game and I was curious about his status.

Thought about something and not having home court. The further away you get from the first two games on the road to steal back home court, the harder are your chances of winning the series. Kind of like the tractor pull...the closer the weight moves to the front the trailer bed and toward the tractor, it becomes so difficult, the tractor blows up the engine.

I'm convinced BOS needs to win 2 on the road to take this series or at least be prepared to win two. Given the more unlikelihood of us winning a Game 5 tied 2-2 or a Game 7. While winning Game 1 was a wake up call to both teams but more to MIL, the NBA Playoff h\Highway is littered with the underdog taking Game 1 and then Buster Douglasing the series.

Winning Game 2 may be our only shot and may be a must win for us right out of the gate. MIL will win one or possibly two in BOS. We just have to net one.

I don't this this coach stands a chance against Brad. He certainly knocked him out in Game 1. Let's see what happens in Game 2.

db

Patience.

We are not the Nets and Magic, while I like some of their players, we are a completely different animal....time for more ass kickin

Tatum actually had 6 boards and 3 blocks, he can defend, he’s gonna go off real soon....

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tatum actually had 6 boards and 3 blocks, he can defend, he’s gonna go off real soon....

        That's what I was trying to say,less concisely. +1