ROUND #2 PLAYOFF > POST GAME #2 Mil Bucks - Away - Boston - 102 Mil - 123 Final

Celtics Wrap: Boston Gets Shellacked By Bucks In 123-102 Game 2 Loss

NESN by Michael McMahon on Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 10:24PM

After a lackluster performance in Game 1, it was pretty safe to assume the Milwaukee Bucks would come out with more fire in Game 2 against the Boston Celtics.

And the best team from the regular season showed why they earned that title, completely dominating the second half and absolutely decimating the C’s 123-102 to even the series Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum.

Giannis Antetokounmpo took over in the third quarter, as the Bucks outscored Boston by 21 points and easily sailed on from there. Meanwhile, the Celtics got miserable performances from Kyrie Irving (4-for-18, nine points), Gordon Hayward (1-for-5, five points) and Jayson Tatum (2-for-10, five points).

Antetokounmpo led the way with 29 points (13 at the free throw line) and 10 rebounds. Khris Middleton was close behind with 28 with a 7-for-10 performance from beyond the arc. Marcus Morris led the way with 17 for the Celtics, while Jaylen Brown scored 16, and Al Horford followed with 15.

Here’s how it all went down.

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

KYRIE AND GIANNIS QUIET
It wasn’t a particularly strong offensive quarter from either side, as the Celtics took a 30-25 lead into the second.

Irving and Antetokounmpo combined to go 0-for-9 from the floor. The Bucks shot just 7-for-20 from the field in the first, and it could have been facing a much bigger deficit if not for a 5-for-8 performance from beyond the arc in the opening 12.

Morris and Horford led the Celtics with seven points. Middleton led all scorers with nine.

NECK AND NECK
Milwaukee used a massive push in the closing moments of the half to take a 59-55 lead through two quarters. The Bucks outscored Boston 34-25 in the second.

Middleton remained hot from range in the second, draining back-to-back treys to give the Bucks a 42-38 lead with 7:10 left in the half.

Irving started to show life, sinking his first points with a baseline turnaround jumper, then hit a three possessions later. He dished behind the back to Morris for a three pointer that gave the C’s a 48-46 lead with 3:56 left in the half.

That ignited a wild end to the half, in which the Eric Bledsoe and George Hill hit back-to-back three’s in the final 30 seconds to give the Bucks a four-point advantage.

Middleton led all players with 20 points. Horford led the Celtics with 12.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
The Celtics got their doors blown off in the third period, as they were outscored 39-18 and trailed 98-73 heading into the fourth.

The Bucks built up some breathing room in the early goings of the third. Middleton hit his sixth three of the contest to make it a 74-64 game with 8:22 to play in the quarter. Boston roared right back with a 6-0 run, but Milwaukee answered that with their own 6-0 run to once again build the lead up to 10.

And it got really, really ugly from there. Miwaukee outscored Boston 24-2 over the final six minutes of the quarter, with Antetokounmpo virtually taking things over, earning his way to free throw line. He was 12-for-16 from the charity stripe through three.

Antetokounmpo led all players with 28 points through three. Morris led the Celtics with 17.

BUCKS EVEN SERIES
It was all pretty elementary from there, as Milwaukee cruised to the finish after building an insurmountable lead at the end of the third.

Boston’s starters would not get back within 25 points as Brad Stevens opted to empty his bench.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Brown Vs. Giannis (again).

UP NEXT
The series shifts back to Boston with Game 3 on Friday. Tip off from TD Garden is slated for 8 p.m. ET.

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Marcus Morris, Al, and Jaylen showed up. No one else did except the subs in garbage time. Weak. Pathetic. WTF?

The Celtics lost their focus on defense when they were not able to make shots.

The Bucks played very well on offense. They made their shots and at some point Boston stopped defending them on the perimeter.

Welcome to the 2nd round.

its over!

Paul Pierce

all you have to do is steal one on the road. Check.

As for the rest, the Bucks are a good team. Did people really think they were going to roll over and quit?

This was the one thing I didn't want to have happen.  I didn't want them to pay back the blowout with a blowout.  This gave them hope.

Having said that:

1.  We only needed to steal one.  We did.  Mission Accomplished.  Anybody who thought we'd sweep them is nuts.

2.  Kyrie, Tatum and Hayward, our top 3 scorers, combined for 7-33, 21%.  33fgas = 38% of our total fgas.  Can't win shooting 20% on almost 40% of your attempts.  Not unless you are hitting almost every 3 and living at the line.

3.  Which we didn't.  35.7% from 3 vs 42.6% for them.  The final frito count was close, 27 vs 31, but most of ours came in Garbahje Time.  9 of our 27, 1/3, were taken by Yabby, Williams, Wanamaker and Semi.  None of those players took off their warm ups until well after the game was no longer in doubt, which means that we only got 18 ftas when it was.  In fact, of the 4 Bucks who played 15 minutes or less they took exactly zero ftas.  So all 31 ftas by Milwaukee were taken by starters and rotation players when the game was there to be won or lost.

4.  My money is on Kyrie.  He won't shoot 4-18 again.  Tatum?  Yeah, I could see him going 2-10 again.  

5.  Jaylen played great.  Horford played well.  Great game by Morris.  17 points on 6-8, 3-4 from 3, 7 rebounds in 25 minutes for Mook.

6.  There's only so much you can do about Giannis, especially if the refs are going to treat him like a Ming vase (he took 18 of their 31 ftas), but we cannot keep leaving Middleton alone in the corners.  That's just poor defensive recognition.  You do not leave the deadliest shooter they have wide open in one of the best shots in today's NBA.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401129094&wsVar=us~nba~gamepackage,desktop,en


bob



.

Ultimately, Kyrie lost this game pretty much by himself. Going 4-18 with only 4 assists meant he was shooting the ball way too much and not distributing. Jaylen, Al and Marcus should have had more shots, especially since Jayson, Terry, and Gordon were pathetic on offense. For our point guard not to quarterback the game properly really hurt us. If he redeems himself in Boston and we go up 3-1, then we'll win the series. If not, sayonara... Terry played good D in the first half. Afterwards he was a mess. We need much better play from the 1. If only we had someone who could..oh wait, we have Marcus Smart. Get well soon bro!

P.S. Jaylen is the real deal. Glad he's getting the minutes. Terrific D. Sometimes sloppy ball handling. Wish he'd get more shot opportunities. Jayson, c'mon man!

dbrown4 wrote:Mrkleen and BobH,

Just to clarify, we have to net one on the road.  I don't think we will win both of the next two at home.  So that brings us to Game 5 and Game 7 if necessary.  

I still find it amazing we can't get everybody going at the same time and we are winning or losing by committee and who has the hot hand.  With all the talent we have, it shouldn't be that way.  We should consistently have 5-6 guys scoring a min of 15-18 points a game.

As for Kyrie, he gets a pass.  This is the first "bad" game by him I can recall all year.  And Brad and the team should notice that immediately and pick up the slack whenever that RARELY if ever occurs.    

Lots of turnovers in the 3rd killed us and 4 minutes of not scoring.  Plus MIL shooting 500% from 3-ville.  Not going to ever win those games as we have seen time and again.  Otherwise we were still hanging close.  

I like our chances although this was a game I thought we pretty much had to win to keep the net one with a cushion alive.  Now we have a tentative home court advantage and we have three games left at home.  If we win all three, it is over but I'm not betting on that.  Have to take a hard look at how to win Game 5 and possibly Game 7 to win this all.

I will do back flips if we win all three at home, believe me, and I'm way to old to even think about attempting those!

db

dbrown,

I agree about needing a NET win on the road, but the reality is that we now have what we need and it is up to us to keep it. The pressure is on them now. They NEED to win on the road, not us anymore (unless and until they beat us in Boston).

We were 1-10 with 5 TOs with most of the 3rd quarter gone. 15 possessions and almost nothing to show for it. If we do that in Boston we deserve to lose, but if we don't then we've got a puncher's chance with our crowd.


bob



.

We are gonna find out in next couple games if Kyrie is a legit first option, legit first team all NBA or isn’t? His decision making was pretty bad, crowd really made a difference in 3rd, reason homecourt is an advantage. Tatum has got to show up in a big way or we don’t get past Bucks....

cowens/oldschool wrote:We are gonna find out in next couple games if Kyrie is a legit first option, legit first team all NBA or isn’t? His decision making was pretty bad, crowd really made a difference in 3rd, reason homecourt is an advantage. Tatum has got to show up in a big way or we don’t get past Bucks....

Cow,

I agree 100% about Tatum. If they are able to double team Kyrie like the way they used to double team IT, and get him to take bad shots, make bad decisions, make bad passes because nobody else is stepping up and taking the heat off him then we are going to have big problems. Tatum says he wants to be the best player in the league. That journey should start Friday.

On an aside, Jaylen Brown is actually doing what we are calling on Tatum to do. Great two games for Jaylen.


bob



.

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:We are gonna find out in next couple games if Kyrie is a legit first option, legit first team all NBA or isn’t? His decision making was pretty bad, crowd really made a difference in 3rd, reason homecourt is an advantage. Tatum has got to show up in a big way or we don’t get past Bucks....

Cow,

I agree 100% about Tatum.  If they are able to double team Kyrie like the way they used to double team IT, and get him to take bad shots, make bad decisions, make bad passes because nobody else is stepping up and taking the heat off him then we are going to have big problems.  Tatum says he wants to be the best player in the league.  That journey should start Friday.

On an aside, Jaylen Brown is actually doing what we are calling on Tatum to do.  Great two games for Jaylen.


bob



.

Yeah he had a few lapses on defense, but he is playing well, I’d like him to drive even more and for Brad to call more plays for him....he has so much talent/attributes, can’t wait for him to put it all together.

cowens/oldschool wrote:We are gonna find out in next couple games if Kyrie is a legit first option, legit first team all NBA or isn’t?

Cow, this has already long been established in the eyes of most NBA fans. To suggest that a player who spent the season averaging 24 / 5/ 7 in a career filled with All Star Games, and an NBA title - is still unproven is foolish.

Guys on First Take calling out Tatum, saying he has to be there for Kyrie....no shit

mrkleen09 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:We are gonna find out in next couple games if Kyrie is a legit first option, legit first team all NBA or isn’t?

Cow, this has already long been established in the eyes of most NBA fans.  To suggest that a player who spent the season averaging 24 / 5/ 7 in a career filled with All Star Games, and an NBA title - is still unproven is foolish.

That not my point, I know he’s an all star, is he good enough to be first offensive option on a championship team? on Cavs we all know it was Lebron he was playing off of....I’m thinking he is, now he has to go get it. He has to score and get others involved, you know the deal.

What Milwaukee did last night and against Detroit seems to be the norm for them.
In the regular season Milwaukee lead the NBA in PPG and in point differential.
They have had 5 blow outs in 6 playoff games.
This is not a surprise. They have been the best team in the league all season.
Was game one against Boston due to being off for so long (as Boston was) or not mentally prepared or were they just beat by a better Celtics team?
When Brogdon comes back, that will be a huge improvement for Milwaukee.
He is a very underrated player who has few weaknesses and is one of the league's best shooters.

As for Boston, I'm surprised how well Horford defends Giannis.
Kyrie has had 4 bad shooting games out of 6 in the playoffs.
To be a true #1 player for a championship contender, you can't have games like last night.
The 4-18 sucks and he didn't make up for it in any other aspect of the game.
Kyrie didn't seems to have a lot of fire in him last night.
Jaylen had a nice game. He is still sloppy when driving with the ball.
At some point he will learn the composure that Hayward has and will be a very dangerous and versatile offensive player.
We already know how good Jaylen is as a defender.
As for Jayson, another dud of a game.
He's really not doing anything to help Boston in this series.
His shooting has been bad and he has only 8 assists in 6 playoff games.
Jayson seems very loose with his dribble and needs to clean up his play quite a bit.
Tatum has played 184 career games and has scored 30 points 1 time.
If he is going to be a special scorer in the league, I would have expected more breakout great games from him so far.

This seems like it has a 7 game series written all over it....

When the Cavs wont the title, he carried to team to the win in final game. Straight did work.

In game 1 on Sunday, he had 11 assists in a 22 point rout in their gym.

Sorry man, some of you guys are never satisfied.

mrkleen09 wrote:When the Cavs wont the title, he carried to team to the win in final game.  Straight did work.

In game 1 on Sunday, he had 11 assists in a 22 point rout in their gym.

Sorry man, some of you guys are never satisfied.

+1

The Celtics aren't going 16 and 0 in the playoffs. There was bound to be at least one stinker. Hopefully it is out of their system.

It is true that Kyie had an awful game. He missed a lot of shots. These are the same shots he has been taking and making all year these are the same shots he has been taking and making during his career. Keep shooting. Both Tatum and Hayward could not find their stroke and neither could Rozier. It happens. I am not worried because I know those guys can score the basketball.

Fans may want to consider that there is a reason for having a 7 game series. This isn't the NCAA tournament. The Celtics did not come home 0-2. That is the most important outcome moving forward.

No one likes to see the team get beat down but this is the playoffs and a chance for them to build character. To me the score is 0-0 and with 5 games left Boston would have 3 at home while the Bucks would have 2 home games.

Brad has more than enough material to get the team back on track for game 3 at home and I know they have not lost their composure nor their confidence.

Echoing what D says above, the same way he feels about Kyrie - "keep shooting" is how I feel about Brooke Lopez. Every time he shoots a contested shot, or one where his feet are not set - I am happy. Even when he makes it, it is a shot that he is taking away from a better shooter.

4 for 15 in this series? KEEP SHOOTING BUDDY.

And while you are at it, give a few more shots to Sterling Brown while you are at it, another brick thrower.

We knew this would be tough and it is. We had it within 3 in the second half, but a few misses later if was almost out of sight...When PP declared the series over after game one, I thought back to the Nets-Celtics series from the Walker era, when he declared the C's would win because the Nets had no one who could stop him one-on-one. Next game, the Nets double-teamed him, and eventually took the series. If we win Friday, here's hoping Paul finds something else to talk about. Hawk

Winning game 1 was big. Now, to retain a good shot in a tough series, Celtics just need to take at least 1 of the next two at home. Not in bad shape. I still think this will go 7.

With evenly matched teams, prep and in-game strategy changes could be the difference maker. Stevens pulled Baynes out of his hat as I expected for key help defending Giannis in game 1. Bucks came back with good inside-outside balance in game 2. I have no idea what to expect Stevens to counter with in game 3. Hopefully, neither do the Bucks.

Was it a slip of the tongue by Brad Stevens or...was Kyrie sick last night.
Tommy Heinsohn picked up on that slip also. That may explain something. But, I will say, Kyrie did not use that as an excuse, he took the blame on his shoulders and admitted he had to be better.

It is funny how this team responds to adversity. At times they have such fight in them, last night they looked like puppy dogs. I do see them coming out with fire on Friday night. With the crowd behind them, I do believe they will be a different team. Paul Pierce did them a big disservice by proclaiming this series over. All that did was wake the sleeping giant.

The Bucks have a great coach and the key to winning this series by either team is what coach can come up with a plan to stop the other team's strengths offensively and break down their defense.

For the Celtics they need to figure a way of protecting the 3 point arc and at the same time clog the paint so the Greek Freak cannot camp out or take runs at the basket as was evident in the last game.

This series in my mind is a toss - up. Both teams are good and well coached. You cannot go by the regular season results. The Bucks are a much better team then from mid season.

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