Celtics crowd out Giannis, Bucks in Game 1

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/28/celtics-crowd-out-giannis-bucks-in-game-1/





Celtics crowd out Giannis, Bucks in Game 1



By STEVE BULPETT | stephen.bulpett@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald
PUBLISHED: April 28, 2019 at 5:45 pm | UPDATED: April 29, 2019 at 4:30 am




MILWAUKEE – He sat at his locker in the Bucks’ dressing room long after the 112-90 loss to the Celtics Sunday. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s right foot rested in a bucket of ice. His left elbow was planted on his left knee. His right hand, tucked into a fist, covered his chin and mouth.

The Greek Freak looked like the creation of a French sculptor: Rodin’s “The Thinker.”

His head was in the room, but his mind was clearly elsewhere – perhaps out the door and back onto the court where the Celts had crowded and jostled him into a simply awful afternoon. The late-season favorite in the MVP race had hit just 7-of-21 shots from the floor and scored 22 points, but even those numbers were not indicative of his day’s depths, as he went for nine points on 3-for-5 shooting in the last quarter when things were out of hand.

Slowly Antetokounmpo unwrapped the elasticized bandages that had been holding the ice in place on his knees, the common post-game remedy for players his size. Then he stared down… at what? A stat sheet? His phone? No. At the gray and deeper gray pattern of the carpet.

Several minutes later, after cleaning up and pulling on a sweatsuit, Giannis walked to the other side of the room and stood before the assembled pens, cameras and microphones. He was first asked about his quiet time.

“What was I thinking… It doesn’t matter what I was thinking,” he said. “Right now we’ve just got to focus on playing better. Obviously it was one of the toughest losses we’ve ever had all season long, and especially at home. We’ve just got to watch clips and tapes and be ready for Tuesday.”

The Celtics had beaten Antetokounmpo’s body between the lines on the floor, and they’d done a number on his head, as well. The Bucks, owners of the best record in the NBA this season, will need both to heal by Tuesday’s Game 2.

“You know, Giannis, as great as he’s been this year, he hasn’t been perfect every night,” said Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer. “He’s hard on himself, so there’s probably some point I’m just going to put my arms around him and tell him, ‘You’re going to be great.’ He’s been so good so many nights.

“And I think, again, credit to Boston. They’re doing some things well. But I think Giannis will play better. We’ll work. We’ll look at some things between now and Tuesday. I’m sure he’s looking forward to Tuesday just like we are.”

To avoid a greater problem than simply losing homecourt advantage, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will, barring a letdown from the Celtics, have to use GPS to find a way out of the defensive maze that was thrown their way. And they will have to get over the fact their best player was a minus-24 in his 34 minutes. Al Horford had harassed him, with more than a little help from his friends. Frustrated inside, Antetokounmpo stepped beyond the arc and hit 3-of-5 3-pointers – two of those makes in the last quarter.

“They were loading a lot,” Giannis said. “There was a lot of guys in the paint. Whenever I got in the paint, when I’d spin or try to change direction, a second guy was right there. I’ve just got to go watch the tape, and if they’re going to play like this the whole series, I’ve got to be able to make the right pass and trust my teammates to knock down shots.”

But his teammates were not much better at 35.3 percent from the floor. Starters Brook Lopez, Sterling Brown and Eric Bledsoe combined to go 3-for -7 as the Celtics scrambled to get into Milwaukee faces.

Chief among their tormentors was Horford, who essentially stole Giannis’ spanikopita and also found time for 20 points, 11 rebounds and three of the Celts’ 11 shot-blocks.

“You know, Horford’s a big guy – 6-10, 6-11 probably – and we’ve played against each other a lot of times,” Antetokounmpo said. “He knows my moves, and it’s easier when you can send me one way and you know the help’s coming the other way. So I think overall they did a great job guarding me, and especially Horford sending me the way that the help was.”

It was a dilemma for Giannis. He wanted to make the right plays, but, because of the Celtics’ diligence on defense, those plays weren’t always available. And he wanted to carry his club when things were falling apart, but that didn’t work out either.

“It’s tough to move the ball, especially when they switch a lot,” he said. “There’s a lot of mismatches, and you take pride and your ego, and when you have a mismatch, you want to attack the mismatch, right? But if you keep doing that the whole game, you know, you don’t move the ball as much and guys don’t touch the ball as much, and you don’t play like ourselves. So even though they switch a lot, you’ve got to be able to move the ball and stay within our offense and our game plan.”

That, however, was not easy. Not when the Bostonians were actually playing the kind of cohesive, unselfish game they were expected to show from the beginning of the season but hadn’t with any measure of consistency until these last few weeks.

“The Celtics just came out, played hard and moved the ball – put more effort, put more energy into the game than us,” Antetokounmpo said. “And they’re a great team. That’s what they’re supposed to do.”

Great enough on this afternoon to ruin Giannis’ Greek Easter Sunday and make him seem freakishly mortal.



bob
MY NOTE: If someone told me that putting Baynes on Giannis out at the arc would be an effective defensive strategy I'd have said they're nuts. Just goes to show what I know.



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Putting Al and Baynes on Giannis out on the perimeter prevented him from getting up a head of steam. On the day all Greeks were saying Christos Anesti (Christ has risen), Giannis' fans were also saying Scata!

I like Giannis, he’s a good guy, but love our team defense, Al really rose to the occasion...!!! Go Celtics!!!! Great coaching job from BS and his assistants, Bucks didn’t know what hit them and me thinks we can further adjust our defense to their adjustments....

Boy is this defense gonna get good/great or even better next year when RW figures out how to get on the floor!!!!

But I do like Giannis, don’t hate him, like some adversaries....

I wish Giannis all the second best.

Hey can DA get Giannis over this summer?!! I'd like him a whole lot more!!

db