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Celtics Wrap: Boston Falls Behind In Series Vs. Bucks With 123-116 Game 3 Loss

NESN by Logan Mullen on Fri, May 3, 2019 at 10:48PM

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics’ second-round matchup never promised to be easy.

After beating the top-seeded Bucks in the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinal, the Celtics now have dropped two straight following a 123-116 loss to Milwaukee on Friday in Game 3 at TD Garden.

Much of the first half was level, but the Bucks took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter and never ran the risk of losing it.

Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 29 points. Jayson Tatum (20 points, 10 rebounds), Jaylen Brown (18), Al Horford (17), Marcus Morris (16), and Gordon Hayward (10) also scored in double-figures.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had a double-double, dropping a game-high 32 points with 13 rebounds. He was one of five Bucks to post double-digit scoring.

The Bucks now lead the series 2-1.

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 GETS GOING
Though they shot poorly for stretches, the Celtics looked good in the first quarter, outscoring the Bucks 30-25.

Clearly feeding off the energy from the home crowd, the Celtics got off to a fast start, opening the game on a 10-2 run. But that advantage didn’t last long, as the Bucks leveled the score with 6:49 left and took their first lead with 3:31 to go.

The Celtics went into the second quarter with momentum on their side though, outscoring Milwaukee 14-4 in the final 2:05 of the first.

It was a good quarter for Irving, who led all players with 13 points.

STAYING CLOSE
The Celtics were outscored 30-26 in the second quarter, but still took a 56-55 lead into the break.

A 16-4 run gave the Celtics a 12-point lead just after the midway point of the quarter, but the Bucks showed some nice resolve, scoring seven unanswered in response. Even after Milwaukee’s run ended, it continued chipping away the rest of the quarter, eventually tying things at 53 with 1:28 left in the half.

Brown and Nikola Mirotic both had eight points in the second. Antetokounmpo led all players with 14 first-half points.

BUCKS HEAT UP
In the first two games of the series, a lopsided third quarter determined the outcome. At first that didn’t appear to be the case Friday, but the Bucks heated up at the end of the quarter to take a 95-87 lead into the fourth, outscoring Boston 40-31 in the frame.

Both teams had a couple of solid stretches in the early stages, with seemingly every score getting matched on the other end, preventing either side from gaining much momentum.

But with 3:28 left, the Bucks kicked off what ultimately became a 12-0 run, putting them up 11 before Brad Stevens called a timeout with 1:44 left in the stanza.

Brown had one of the better highlights of the game in the third though, throwing down this thunderous dunk over Antetokounmpo.

Irving led all players with 25 points though three quarters.

NIGHT NIGHT
The Celtics kept themselves within striking distance early in the fourth quarter, but never really could get enough going to threaten Milwaukee’s lead.

Boston never got closer than five points of the Bucks in the frame, while allowing them to swell their lead to as many as 17 at one point.

The Celtics showed a little fight in the waning moments of the game, pulling back within seven thanks to an 8-0 run that concluded with 1:20 left. And though they got the deficit down to five with 6.5 seconds left, the hole they had dug themselves earlier in the frame proved to be the downfall.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Impressive.

UP NEXT
The Celtics and Bucks will meet for Game 4 of the series Monday. Tip from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.

112288

Mike Budenholzer made a fool out of Brad Stevens and Stevens had no answers.

For two strait games, Budenholzer continued to pound the paint running play after play with lay ups, many of which were uncontested. And the Celtics made NO ADJUSTMENTS, NONE. WHAT A JOKE!

Further, Budenholzer set up a great defensive plan that clogged the paint so KI could not penetrate. In fact they put a guy on Irving to apply pressure on him from the inbound. AND BRAD AND HIS COACHING STAFF HAD NO ANSWERS AND NO ADJUSTMENTS!

Celtic may go six but I think its over in five games. Milwaukee is too well coached, they play great defense and the Celtics have no answer to the FREAK.

112288

PS I thought we were a great defensive team....NOT! If you have to rely on one guy Smart to play lock down defense, that does not cut it. It takes a team. Out perimeter defense sucked and the paint was wide open for then to just walk right in. Sometimes you have to put a guy into the 3rd row seats when he gets an easy layup to send a message.

The Celtics have completely gone away from their game 1 defensive strategy.

The Bucks have taken away AH and the pick and pop, they have stymied KI, forcing him into a lot of bad shots and they have pretty much had their way with a ton of open looks on the perimeter.  Guys are just driving down the lane and no one rotates over to help.

Baynes must be hurting because he barely played.  Our bench was null and void but I did like the way Semi competed.  Terry has been a no shown.  GH looks stiff and slow again.  He did a decent job finding guys but he is struggling to get shots off the dribble.

Brad has a lot to address here.  We now move into a must win game.

There is good news.  Boston still only lost by 7 points.  This series will be won by the team that plays the better defense.

dboss wrote:There is good news.  Boston still only lost by 7 points.  This series will be won by the team that plays the better defense.

Yes and unfortunately that team is the Milwaukee Bucks.

its over

Paul Pierce- 4/28/19

Teams that win game #3 go on to win the series 74% of the time. That was mentioned during the game last night.

I do not know if that is an accurate statistic but if it is then Boston may have eliminated themselves by virtue of not being up to task in a pivotal game # 3 matchup.

Well... I can't quite think of the term to describe this game...

Anyway, while I look for the proper adjective, Boston lost game 3 in so many different ways. Frustrating to watch.

Small ball against the Bucks is not an effective strategy. The Celtics proved that at least. Milwaukee had a field day with total domination in the paint. I love Stevens, but who in their right mind thinks Ojeleye is the player to defend Giannis? And once you see it didn't work, reinsert Semi to watch him fail again? I'm far from an NBA coach, but as we discussed this series before it opened, I repeatedly said Baynes as a help defender would be key. But off someone like Brown, not Ojeleye. I'm no genius and even I could see that would never work. Horford? Sure. Horford and Baynes worked in game 1. Baynes must be hurt worse than has been disclosed.

The one glaring thing that stands out to me, and I don't know why it's not being discussed in game reviews in various media, is the Celtics season-long poor habit of taking shots early in the shot clock, and often taking those early shots contested. I would go as far as to say that was a key factor in the loss last night. Pulling up at the arc and shooting, with the defenders hand in your face, 7 seconds into the clock, is not often going to result in an effective possession.

Time to circle the wagons. Milwaukee may have a more balanced lineup, but Boston has what must be among the top ten lineups in the league. Time to figure out how to apply it effectively. And fast.

Hi,
It's not over until it's over.
But I don't see any bright sides that'd tell me that Celtics can keep lock down defense on one side of the court and score on the other.
I guess - Hello AD trade. Alas.

AK

A review of the Team statistics reveal a very close matchup across the board except for points in The Paint and turnovers.

http://www.espn.com/nba/matchup?gameId=401129095&wsVar=us~nba~gamepackage,desktop,en

The freak has little in the way of resistance at the initial point of attack.  He blows past the weak first line of defense and is attacking the secondary defense at will.

I think Boston needs to go back to their game 1 strategy however Aron Baynes played a big role in defending the paint.  He only played 2 minutes last night.  He rolled the ankle in game 1 and has been ineffective since.

I think Boston has to play zone so that 2 guys are up top and ready to cut off the driving lanes for Giannis and we have a backline defender to clean up.  The refs of course are allowing him to run through defenders where he is the one creating the contact.

One thing is certain. The Celtics have no chance of winning this series unless they do a better job defending Giannis.  In general Boston needs better rotations to close down the middle.   Too many Buck players are getting right to the rim.

Not having Marcus Smart is clearly hurting the Celtics defense but at the same time, whatever defensive scheme that Brad wants is not apparent.  The team looks clueless on defense.

On offense 18 turnovers is unacceptable.  There is too much standing around.

Right NY Celt they have totally committed to going big, 2 6’11” forwards and Lopez who played well on their frontline. Baynes has to play more against Lopez and too bad RW won’t be ready for at least another year. Our smallball plays okay for spurts, but they are able to play big and pass to get open outside shots. Pat C, Hill and Mirotic all killed us when it was their turn and Giannis is a constant force attacking relentlessly, he’s daring us to stop him, first game we did. Kyrie putting up numbers, but missing too many shots in iso ball. Their star dominating game more than ours....Maybe if Kyrie was more efficient and Tatum could have hit a few 3’s like Morris and Jaylen, coulda, woulda, shoulda....

NYCelt wrote:Well... I can't quite think of the term to describe this game...

Anyway, while I look for the proper adjective, Boston lost game 3 in so many different ways. Frustrating to watch.

Small ball against the Bucks is not an effective strategy. The Celtics proved that at least. Milwaukee had a field day with total domination in the paint. I love Stevens, but who in their right mind thinks Ojeleye is the player to defend Giannis? And once you see it didn't work, reinsert Semi to watch him fail again? I'm far from an NBA coach, but as we discussed this series before it opened, I repeatedly said Baynes as a help defender would be key. But off someone like Brown, not Ojeleye. I'm no genius and even I could see that would never work. Horford? Sure. Horford and Baynes worked in game 1. Baynes must be hurt worse than has been disclosed.

The one glaring thing that stands out to me, and I don't know why it's not being discussed in game reviews in various media, is the Celtics season-long poor habit of taking shots early in the shot clock, and often taking those early shots contested. I would go as far as to say that was a key factor in the loss last night. Pulling up at the arc and shooting, with the defenders hand in your face, 7 seconds into the clock, is not often going to result in an effective possession.

Time to circle the wagons. Milwaukee may have a more balanced lineup, but Boston has what must be among the top ten lineups in the league. Time to figure out how to apply it effectively. And fast.

I think it was a mistake not to get Williams more minutes during the regular season.

Love Paul Pierce, butt he should shut the fuck up....he’s as bad as Barkley.

dboss wrote:

NYCelt wrote:Well... I can't quite think of the term to describe this game...

Anyway, while I look for the proper adjective, Boston lost game 3 in so many different ways. Frustrating to watch.

Small ball against the Bucks is not an effective strategy. The Celtics proved that at least. Milwaukee had a field day with total domination in the paint. I love Stevens, but who in their right mind thinks Ojeleye is the player to defend Giannis? And once you see it didn't work, reinsert Semi to watch him fail again? I'm far from an NBA coach, but as we discussed this series before it opened, I repeatedly said Baynes as a help defender would be key. But off someone like Brown, not Ojeleye. I'm no genius and even I could see that would never work. Horford? Sure. Horford and Baynes worked in game 1. Baynes must be hurt worse than has been disclosed.

The one glaring thing that stands out to me, and I don't know why it's not being discussed in game reviews in various media, is the Celtics season-long poor habit of taking shots early in the shot clock, and often taking those early shots contested. I would go as far as to say that was a key factor in the loss last night. Pulling up at the arc and shooting, with the defenders hand in your face, 7 seconds into the clock, is not often going to result in an effective possession.

Time to circle the wagons. Milwaukee may have a more balanced lineup, but Boston has what must be among the top ten lineups in the league. Time to figure out how to apply it effectively. And fast.

I think it was a mistake not to get Williams more minutes during the regular season.  

Exactly, now it’s biting us in the balls.

Bucks defense playing big is very good, you would think Jaylen could blow by Mirotic, but as soon as he tries, there is looming help ready to switch in Giannis and Lopez. Giannis got dunked on a few times by Jaylen, but he’s so good at fast long help defense....and they are swallowing up Kyrie on his drives when their defense is set.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:

NYCelt wrote:Well... I can't quite think of the term to describe this game...

Anyway, while I look for the proper adjective, Boston lost game 3 in so many different ways. Frustrating to watch.

Small ball against the Bucks is not an effective strategy. The Celtics proved that at least. Milwaukee had a field day with total domination in the paint. I love Stevens, but who in their right mind thinks Ojeleye is the player to defend Giannis? And once you see it didn't work, reinsert Semi to watch him fail again? I'm far from an NBA coach, but as we discussed this series before it opened, I repeatedly said Baynes as a help defender would be key. But off someone like Brown, not Ojeleye. I'm no genius and even I could see that would never work. Horford? Sure. Horford and Baynes worked in game 1. Baynes must be hurt worse than has been disclosed.

The one glaring thing that stands out to me, and I don't know why it's not being discussed in game reviews in various media, is the Celtics season-long poor habit of taking shots early in the shot clock, and often taking those early shots contested. I would go as far as to say that was a key factor in the loss last night. Pulling up at the arc and shooting, with the defenders hand in your face, 7 seconds into the clock, is not often going to result in an effective possession.

Time to circle the wagons. Milwaukee may have a more balanced lineup, but Boston has what must be among the top ten lineups in the league. Time to figure out how to apply it effectively. And fast.

I think it was a mistake not to get Williams more minutes during the regular season.  

Exactly, now it’s biting us in the balls.

You won't get any argument from me on that subject. We have a big that needed seasoning and we failed to get him ready for even a small role in these playoffs.

Anybody hear Kyrie whining about the fouls? What a joke. If you don't like the fouls being called then DON'T FOUL.
Less whining, better defense. Its been like that all season.

gyso wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:

dboss wrote:

NYCelt wrote:Well... I can't quite think of the term to describe this game...

Anyway, while I look for the proper adjective, Boston lost game 3 in so many different ways. Frustrating to watch.

Small ball against the Bucks is not an effective strategy. The Celtics proved that at least. Milwaukee had a field day with total domination in the paint. I love Stevens, but who in their right mind thinks Ojeleye is the player to defend Giannis? And once you see it didn't work, reinsert Semi to watch him fail again? I'm far from an NBA coach, but as we discussed this series before it opened, I repeatedly said Baynes as a help defender would be key. But off someone like Brown, not Ojeleye. I'm no genius and even I could see that would never work. Horford? Sure. Horford and Baynes worked in game 1. Baynes must be hurt worse than has been disclosed.

The one glaring thing that stands out to me, and I don't know why it's not being discussed in game reviews in various media, is the Celtics season-long poor habit of taking shots early in the shot clock, and often taking those early shots contested. I would go as far as to say that was a key factor in the loss last night. Pulling up at the arc and shooting, with the defenders hand in your face, 7 seconds into the clock, is not often going to result in an effective possession.

Time to circle the wagons. Milwaukee may have a more balanced lineup, but Boston has what must be among the top ten lineups in the league. Time to figure out how to apply it effectively. And fast.

I think it was a mistake not to get Williams more minutes during the regular season.  

Exactly, now it’s biting us in the balls.

You won't get any argument from me on that subject.  We have a big that needed seasoning and we failed to get him ready for even a small role in these playoffs.

I would like to see an in-depth response to this issue by coach Stevens - it's the one piece that's missing.

swish

The lack of development of Williams is certainly an issue that should be discussed but it really does not do anything for me right now.

It is a good topic for an off season discussion.

Needless to say if Baynes is lame our front line is being taxed. This was of course my biggest concern, Boston just has to find a way to deal with it.

Theis has not played much and when he gets in the game his defense has been porous. I thought Semi gave us a solid effort but keep in mind he got little help on Giannis.

So let me get this straight, you blow out Milwaukee in game one with a zone and then revert to a different defense in game two and three..........WHO IS THE GENIUS WHO THOUGHT THAT STRATEGY UP!

Small ball against 2 seven footers, where one of them is popping and hitting 3's like its a layup? Stevens.........you have lost your mind!

STILL WAITING TO FILL ROSTER SPOT #15................THE BEST YOU CAN DO DANNY IS GET A RETREAD MONROE WHO LASTED 10 DAYS!............RIGHT ON DANNY WAY TO GO!

I know Danny is not dumb..............he did not trade nor move early on on free agents at the end of the season.................he must be setting up for the Davis trade, that is the only thing that makes sense out side of Danny loosing his mind!

112288

112288 wrote:So let me get this straight, you blow out Milwaukee in game one with a zone and then revert to a different defense in game two and three..........WHO IS THE GENIUS WHO THOUGHT THAT STRATEGY UP!

Small ball against 2 seven footers, where one of them is popping and hitting 3's like its a layup?    Stevens.........you have lost your mind!

STILL WAITING TO FILL ROSTER SPOT #15................THE BEST YOU CAN DO DANNY IS GET A RETREAD MONROE WHO LASTED 10 DAYS!............RIGHT ON DANNY WAY TO GO!

I know Danny is not dumb..............he did not trade nor move early on on free agents at the end of the season.................he must be setting up for the Davis trade, that is the only thing that makes sense out side of Danny loosing his mind!

112288

112288

That is the $64,000 question. If something works why try something different???

By the way Moose was picked up by Philly.

In game one we saw some 3/2 and 2/3 zones up top and quick rotation help when the freak made it into the paint. Now it is one on one coverage up top which he can beat with his first step and then you have a bunch of killer bees going ape shit with the fouls.

No one is asking Brad why the change.

A game 1 defensive effort may get us a game 4 win.

How Do I Lose Thee? (Sonnet 43)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 - 1861

How do I lose thee? Let me count the ways.
I lose thee to the depth and breadth and height
The Bucks can reach while RW's out of sight
And we play third quarters at turtle's pace.
I lose thee to the level of each day’s
Most dire need: a guard who can pass just right.
I lose thee sadly, as fans die of fright.
I lose thee crudely, as turnovers mount.
I lose thee with errant three's when buckets count
And with a torn oblique to Marcus Smart
I lose thee with Gordon who Brad misused
While Celtic nation fears for Danny's heart,
and with a D Rick Pitino would choose,
A defense that strangely and truly reeks,
I shall but lose thee better to the Freak.

Nice worse

worcester

LOVE IT!

112288

Not much I can add that hasn't been said. We did get a lot of free throws for once. NEVER seen us get that many.

We're never going to win the points in the paint in this series. Just forget it no matter how bad it is.

Everybody showed up for scoring. We had 6 players in double figures.

Our shooting percentage was about 7% below MIL's attempting abut the same number of shots. That's the only difference I saw. Accuracy.

It looks like we can't get the regular season roller coaster ride out of our system but we won more games than we lost by 16. We've lost two in a row. Big deal. We can win 3 in a row. PP needs us to win in 6 or he's probably going to lose his job! That may be a blessing but he's sticking his neck out as a Celtic Legend. He believes. We definitely have to win this game Monday or it is pretty much over or AD will indeed be on his way and several players will be on their way out.

Keep KI at his word. Take NYCelt with his word...patience. See you Monday.

db