POST GAME - PLAYOFF ROUND 2 - GAME 3 - MILWAUKEE BUCKS - AWAY

Bucks edge Celtics 103-101 after frantic final second

ESPN BOSTON

MILWAUKEE -- — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 42 points and made the go-ahead basket with 44.3 seconds left and the Milwaukee Bucks withstood a frantic flurry of shots in the final seconds to beat the Boston Celtics 103-101 on Saturday in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal.

The defending champion Bucks lead the best-of-7 series 2-1, with Game 4 on Monday night in Milwaukee.

Boston trailed 103-100 when Marcus Smart was fouled by Jrue Holiday just before attempting a potential tying 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds remaining. Smart made the first free throw, then missed the second intentionally — flinging it at the rim.

That's when things got wild.

Smart got the rebound but missed his putback attempt. Boston's Robert Williams got that rebound but also missed. Boston's Al Horford was just to the right of the basket when he converted his putback opportunity, but the shot came just after the buzzer sounded. Replays confirmed Horford didn't beat the clock.

Antetokounmpo also had 12 rebounds and eight assists. His driving finger roll helped the Bucks pull back ahead after blowing a 14-point lead.

After trailing by 13 with less than 10 minutes left, the Celtics pulled ahead 100-99 and took their first lead since early in their third quarter on Jaylen Brown's two free throws with 1:49 remaining.

Both teams failed to score on their next possessions before Antetokounmpo put the Bucks back ahead. Antetokounmpo then blocked Brown's driving layup attempt, leading to Holiday's basket that made it 103-100 with 11.2 seconds remaining.

Holiday had 25 points.

Brown led the Celtics with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Horford had 22 points and 16 rebounds.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Robert Williams went to the locker room in the third quarter after taking an elbow to the face from Milwaukee's Bobby Portis as they tangled under the basket while pursuing the ball. Williams returned later in the third. ... Reserve forward Sam Hauser, who had played two minutes in each of the series' first two games, was unavailable Saturday due to an injured right shoulder. Celtics coach Ime Udoka said Hauser took a fall in practice. "He'll be OK long-term," Udoka said. "It's just something where he could be out a few weeks based on that."

Bucks: Reserve guard George Hill played for the first time this postseason after recovering from a strained abdominal muscle. ... Grayson Allen made his first career playoff start Saturday as part of a lineup change after the Bucks posted their lowest point total of the season in a 109-86 Game 2 loss. Portis moved into a bench role.

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COMMENTS

1) Should have won the game, poor night by Tatum, and missed baskets late in the game by others!

2) Portis should have an elbow thrown into his jaw. He is a chippy A Hole who needs a a wake up call by ringing his bell!  He did this to Brown back in Boston

3) Shopping needs this summer, we need a physical center against the likes of Antetokounmpo. Williams is just too under weight to battle and stop a center like that.

Hopefully we can regroup!

Very disappointing

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Bucks sticking to watching tape from the first half of this season and all of last season.

Rule #1 - Make it so that one of the two superstars has a crappy night and won't quit shooting and doesn't drive to the basket to get fouled to pick up free throws.

Odds just shifted tremendously against us.

db

As bad as Tatum played, we were so painfully there, we had this game, so many guys Smart, GWill, Pritch were off and somehow we had this right there for the taking. I don’t know how Tatum could play such a bad game both ends, his defense was not impactful, his rebounding non existent. We wasted good games from Jaylen, White and ageless Al. Jaylen played big, but still has too many drives into too many defenders. We have to get both J’s midrange games going as going all the way to the rim is not working out too well against this defense. RWill hit a nice midrange shot, but his putbacks are an adventure, has trouble finishing lobs and putbacks against this big frontline. He had a clear look on Smarts masterful miss at the end and has lost that great touch on those type of plays since that knee injury.

Udoka has his work cut out for him, Tatum has been more off this whole series than on, Smart is clearly gimpy, we never know what we will get from DWhite? Hate that we wasted such a great effort from Al. This Bucks defense has us as flummoxed as what we usually do to others. We struggled to get any consistent offense the whole game, their defense can do that to teams.

As terrible as Tatum was, to think that we were in it right to the end is unbelievable. Jaylen worked his butt off, 27 pts, 6 rebounds, Al was absolutely phenomenal, but, for the most part it stopped there. I will say that Smart worked hard, his shot was off also, but at least he put the effort in, JT looked lost out there,

I refuse to whine about the ref’s but this was one terrible group they had out there on the floor,. As far as I am concerned, Giannis could have been fouled out by the third quarter the way he was throwing his body around and pushing and shoving players all over the place.

You cannot win a game when your best shooter is in a fog, I hope his wrist is not going to become an issue with him. Time to put this one on the video screen so they can see how awful they played and hopefully come out loaded for bear on Monday

Time will tell

RosalieTCeltics wrote:As terrible as Tatum was, to think that we were in it right to the end is unbelievable.  Jaylen worked his butt off, 27 pts, 6 rebounds, Al was absolutely phenomenal, but, for the most part it stopped there. I will say that Smart worked hard, his shot was off also, but at least he put the effort in,  JT looked lost out there,  

I refuse to whine about the ref’s but this was one terrible group they had out there on the floor,.  As far as I am concerned, Giannis could have been fouled out by the third quarter the way he was throwing his body around and pushing and shoving players all over the place.

You cannot win a game when your best shooter is in a fog, I hope his wrist is not going to become an issue with him.  Time to put this one on the video screen so they can see how awful they played and hopefully come out loaded for bear on Monday

Time will tell

I believe Jaylen had 12 rebounds, many of them in traffic, I’m a life long box score junkie lol

This was the worst game of Tatum's career and we almost won.  Tatum said he was "probably thinking too much".  That's the difference between Jayson Tatum and his hero Kobe Bryant.  Kobe was a smart player, no doubt about that whatsoever, but when he struggled he didn't overthink it.  He just focused on doing one thing well, and then another and then another.  That's Mamba Mentality.  You don't let your flaws/bad game affect your head, you just grind down harder.  Tatum doesn't do that, at least not yet.  4-19.  He shoots 5-19, which is still an abysmal 26%, and it's OT.  He goes 1-6 from 3 and we win in regulation.  That's how close it was.

Horford was unbelievable.  What a game.  People are talking about trading him this offseason.  I wouldn't, not if he can still play like this.  That'd be nuts.  No Al, no Jaylen, no chance.

We shot 36.8% from the field for the game and we lost, on the road, on a couple of blown calls.  Ime's, and maybe Smart, are going to get fined for their comments about the officiating.  I just hope the league waits until after the L2M report comes out before deciding.  It would make them look very, very stupid if they fine Ime for pointing out what the L2M report confirms.

Michael Wilbon
@RealMikeWilbon
Giannis, on his own merit, is likely the best player in the world now…but the notion that he should just be allowed to bowl people over without offensive fouls being called is preposterous!


Marcus Smart said the refs refused to explain that final foul, the one they ruled wasn't a 3pt fga.  What I don't understand is why, despite happening with just seconds left in the game, that call wasn't reviewed?  If they truly wanted to get it right why didn't the refs do a review?  That was the absolute height of arrogance and it cost us the game.


Bob


.

cowens/oldschool wrote:As bad as Tatum played, we were so painfully there, we had this game, so many guys Smart, GWill, Pritch were off and somehow we had this right there for the taking. I don’t know how Tatum could play such a bad game both ends, his defense was not impactful, his rebounding non existent. We wasted good games from Jaylen, White and ageless Al. Jaylen played big, but still has too many drives into too many defenders. We have to get both J’s midrange games going as going all the way to the rim is not working out too well against this defense. RWill hit a nice midrange shot, but his putbacks are an adventure, has trouble finishing lobs and putbacks against this big frontline. He had a clear look on Smarts masterful miss at the end and has lost that great touch on those type of plays since that knee injury.

Udoka has his work cut out for him, Tatum has been more off this whole series than on, Smart is clearly gimpy, we never know what we will get from DWhite? Hate that we wasted such a great effort from Al. This Bucks defense has us as flummoxed as what we usually do to others. We struggled to get any consistent offense the whole game, their defense can do that to teams.

I love the name “Ageless Al” Good one! Keep the faith and lets hope Tatum snaps out of it.

Let’s face it, professional sports leagues are hell bent on trying to perfect something called “A Game”. I may have said this before but let me reiterate.

It. Is. A. Game! A team sport. It’ll never ever be perfect. There is no such thing thats why its called a “game”. The more one tries to perfect it, the less of Game it becomes.
Lets reflect:

There used to be 2 officials per game.

Then a Mental midget came up with the idea, “Hey lets go with 3 officials instead of 2. We can also spend some of the fans money and fly in an alternate official for every game just in case one of the 3 get sick or fake sick or have to run for their life due to a called in threat by a fan about doing bodily harm to a family member. This way the officials will see more and get more of the calls correct”. How’s that working out? IT IS NOT!  

Then another Mental midget came up with the idea of “Hey lets install a replay system so that the 3 officials that used to be 2 can see which one of them made a mistake so it can be corrected. But wait, we will only use it during certain situations. What about Goal tending? Naw lets skip it. What about out of bound plays? Duh.ahh..only certain ones and we’ll change them or keep them depending on the blow back we get. Good idea? Yeah that’ll work”.  NO IT DOES NOT!

Okay now we have a committee so instead of one or two mental midgets, we now have a room full.

A Rookie Mental midget suggests, “What do you think about creating a replay center somewhere up north to check and make sure the 3 officials checking the replay monitor on location get it right and if they don’t we can change the call up here yonder”.   Another not so mental midget pipes in, “Hey wait a minute, why are those 3 Officials called Officials if what they decide is not official”? Sr. Mental midget retorts, “Shut up, you’re new here. Quit trying to make sense”.

Chairman of the Mental Midgets taps his glass 3 times and says, “Listen fellow dumb asses, We went from 2 officials to 3 officials trying to perfect this thing called a game. We added replay to assist the officials in double checking each other’s mistakes that they always make. We then added a central replay system up yonder here to double check the replay and correct if need be the mistakes that the 3 officials we hired make after they check the replay system of the mistakes they have made. This is almost perfect! But wait, lets install one more cover our ass insertion. Lets have a retired official on hand to speak with the play by play game announcer after a call goes to replay. He can give his opinion while the dumb asses in the central replay system are deciding on whether the 3 officials made a mistake on the floor and doubled down by making another mistake after watching the replay. I promise you, with all the people we hired and all the money we’ve spent on technology , we now have  everything in place to perfect the game of Professional Basketball! Agree”???

Un-alive voice of Mendy Rudolph:

“No and hell to the No. What you’ve done is ruined something that wasn’t supposed to be perfect in the first place. You’ve spent millions of dollars on technology and incompetent Mental midgets. Just look around, there’s an entire suite full of em. You Mental midgets wasted time and money mentally masturbating on something called a game
Now the fans thinks the games and the entire system is rigged, The players are bitching more than they did when I was alive back in 1970, the coaches are bitching to the media on every platform available, you’ve interrupted my long sleep and in the end all you’ve accomplished was to make the game worse.
Leave the damn Game alone’!!!

I am not a sore loser. I acknowledge when the Celts have lost to a better team.However in this game there were several game changing calls that went against us or were never made.
1 Rob Willisms got smashed in the head by BOBBY Portis. That was an obvious flagrant 1 at the very least.
2. One of our guys threw up a shot that Giannis blocked on the way down - heading into the basket. A goal tending call to be made if there ever was one. No call was made.
3. Marcus got fouled from beyond the 3 point line in the last few seconds of the game while attempting to make a shot. He was given 2 fritos only , another game changing call.

The NBA REFS  gave this game to Milwaukee.

worcester wrote:I am not a sore loser. I acknowledge when the Celts have lost to a better team.However in this game there were several game changing calls that went against us or were never made.
1 Rob Willisms got smashed in the head by BOBBY Portis. That was an obvious flagrant 1 at the very least.
2. One of our guys threw up a shot that Giannis blocked on the way down - heading into the basket. A goal tending call to be made if there ever was one. No call was made.
3. Marcus got fouled from beyond the 3 point line in the last few seconds of the game while attempting to make a shot. He was given 2 fritos only , another game changing call.

The NBA REFS  gave this game to Milwaukee.

Exactly, refs stole the game, how does Bobby Portis get away with what would have him arrested on the street…??? Should have been easily a flagrant 2, our no 1 priority if I’m GM is getting a Perk/Dave Cowens like enforcer.

My thoughts exactly Cow

Well, all this and one thing ain't changin'...We're still down 2-1.

Looks like Boston has opted for the dramatic. Our playoff progress is on the line tomorrow. That's it. Basically win or go home.

db

worcester wrote:My thoughts exactly Cow

That’s why I wanted Issiah Stewart in that draft, him coming off the bench in the Baby/Leon Powe role and we’d be set to knock Portis and Antetokounmpo on their ass….

Hi,
Yes, besides all those fooked up calls by the refs, we do need JT back. Sure, to travel to Moon, Jupiter or Mars is nice but we need him here on Earth and participate in the playoffs.
I hope JT is aware of it and makes necessary corrections.
And, obviously, Grant can make those 3-pointers that he easily has been making all season long. We don't need much - 2 or 3 per game and we are in ECF.
Obviously, all that with the defense on Giannis and his supporting cast as in game 2 and 3.

AK

They have set up for a real knock down drag out tomorrow night. This one is going to get ugly. Just pray Scott Foster and Tony Brothers are now the officials for this game.
It is obvious that the league is set to crown Gianni’s as the new LeBron. King of the league. Therefore, he will get the calls, push people around and walk five steps when shooting.
It is up to the Celtics to put their heads in the right spot and come out tomorrow and take this game away from him. I am a sore loser when I know that there were at least four to five calls that these ref’s ignored. THat is not counting their phantom calls. You wan flops, get ready, smart and white will be all over the floor, mark my words. Marcus was ticked off after the game, he just kept it in check. Smart move.
What can I say about Al Horford? He is a real trooper. I want this for him.

Let’s see what the Celtics are made of tomorrow nite, lose and it will be all but over. Win, and Milwaukee will be whining all over the place, just like they do now. They cannot feel so impressed with themselves, they almost blew that game to a team that stunk all afternoon until the 4th quarter run. I know I am not impressed with them, the ref’s handed them that W