POST GAME - PLAYOFF ROUND 2 - GAME 4 - MILWAUKEE BUCKS - AWAY

Why is the most liked player in the NBA - Giannis - Shaq-ting the fool lately? He's been fouling with a vengeance but not getting called for it. He tried disrespecting Al and Jaylen. How'd that work out for you, big guy?

This is becoming one of my favorite Celtics teams of all time, and I hope Nia Long shows Ime all the love he deserves. Great coach. Great team. Lots of love and trust amongst them.

This will forever be known as the Al Horford Podium Game.  Ok, maybe that's what I'll call it, but he really really showed everybody something last night.  What a 4th quarter by Horford.  He was a ridiculous +20 for the game.  He was guarding all over the floor.  It's amazing that at age 35 he is the protootypical modern NBA big, the big every GM and coach wants.  Can score from everywhere on the court, so he can spread the floor on offense, a very good passing big man and will defend anybody in the low post or out at the arc.  Embiid can do all this, maybe he can't guard guards at the arc but otherwise he can do everything Al does, but 2X MVP Nikola Jokic can't.  I can't top the tweets and pics posted by GYSO, all I can do is add my "WOW!".  

Mark Murphy @Murf56
yesterday
Horford admits a taunt by Giannis earlier in the night got to him: "“I don’t really know what he said to me, but the way that he was looking at me and the way he was going about it really didn’t sit well with me. And I think at that point, something switched with me in the game.”


Greg Dickerson @gregdickerson13
yesterday
If Horford had these 4 games back in 2008, the hawks would’ve upset the Celtics in that series




Down by 7 after 3 and winning by 8.  A 15 point turnaround in 12 minutes.  The Celtics shot 16-19 in the 4th.  That is not a typo.  I don't believe I can remember ever seeing a full quarter of shooting that efficient.  Al had a 16 point 4th, a perfect 6-6.  Jayson Tatum was right behind him with a 5-6 12 point 4th.  Smart with a 9 point 4-5 4th.  It's one thing when a single player goes off and takes over the game in the 4th, we've all seen that happen before many many times before, but have you ever seen a game where 3 players on the same team do it?  This was remarkable.


Jay King @ByJayKing
about 1 hour ago
Five fourth-quarter minutes for this Celtics’ small lineup last night: Smart, White, Brown, Tatum, Horford. They outscored the Bucks 24-9 while shooting 8 for 9 from the field with zero turnovers.




Giannis gets away with murder.  That's ridiculous too.  If he's one of the greatest players in basketball why does he need the refs to help him?

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Marcus Smart said when he and Giannis got tangled up, that Giannis wasn't exactly trying to accept his help up to make sure they didn't get back into the play and claims Giannis kicked him in the face


Tatum finally woke up.  Man oh man, he was looking like he was on his way to a 2nd straight stinker.  I remember thinking to myself, somewhere in the 3rd quarter, that after this game nobody will be putting Jayson Tatum in the MVP conversation anymore, but he turned it on in the 4th and made me look like a nervous little boy.




Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Marcus Smart on outlasting the exhausted Bucks: "Everybody’s fighting. You got the best players going at it. Both teams were exhausted, so we just made sure we weren’t the tired team and kept going at it no matter how tired we were."


They needed to come into Boston and earn a split.  They got the job done and went home needing the road win they had to have.  We needed to go to Milwaukee and earn a split too and we got the job done too.  This team's got ganas by the bucket load.  It's now a 3-game series with 2 in Boston.  Da Gahden's gonna be rockin'.  We need more Playoff Al.  This is why he came to Boston, right?  He said our fans were the loudest, the most inspiring and he wanted them cheering for him instead of against him.  He's earned that in spades.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Ime Udoka: "We were all pretty pissed about the way we lost the last game. Consensus of the team."

Being pissed about a result is one thing.  Going out there and doing whatever it takes to get some payback is ganas.  Put me in, Coach, I want this bad.

This is now, once again, our series to win.

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
And because why not...
@FiveThirtyEight
now gives the Celtics a better chance to both make and win the Finals than the other three East teams combined.

I mean, you can't tell a computer to 'pump the breaks', so enjoy.




Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
One last note from Monday's "Al Horford Game" as it will forever be remembered...

It was the 100th playoff win for the Celtics in the last 15 years. No NBA team has played, or won more playoff games in that span.

In the previous 15 years, Boston won a total of 18 playoff games.



https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401433613


Bob


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Wow was so angry watching this game, Giannis was still getting away with dirty deeds and no calls; finally the tide started turning with the charge on Smart and the dunk by Al, giving a taste of his own medicine to Giannis. Al with the biggest playoff game of his career, Giannis woke up the sleeping giant. There’s a reason Al was the no 1 pick of the draft many years ago. Amazing inspiring performance by Al both ends.

Then Tatum with the biggest stretch at a such a crucial time of the game in his career with 4 straight baskets, an old fashioned and 1 in the lane over Hill and the 3 right in his face after that that put us up 10!!!! Wow was pure Pierce/Bird and then some!!! He sure redeemed himself. Smart further finished them off with some bulldog post moves and White was crucial with some great defense and timely passing as was JB with a crucial 3 and attacking Giannis. That’s got to be breaking the code, shoving an airborne player in the body with no position to go for the ball. I’d pay to let me get on the floor and body slam Giannis for all the cheapshots he’s been getting away with….

Absolutely blown away by Al Horford.   He made every freakin big time shot that we needed. Every single one.  It was crazy.  He made them from everywhere on the court.  He carried us throughout the game until JT got it cooking in the game.  We also got 18 a piece from Jaylen and Marcus and White has stepped up on offense in B2B games while still playing lock down defense.

This was a really hard game to win.  Rob was out and Theis was a ghost while Grant played hard but made too many mistakes.

We won this game because of a late surge that they could not contain.  It looked like the Kentucky Derby.

Heading back home the Celtics accomplished what they had to accomplish.  Get at least a split and take back a hard earned home court advantage.

The Celtics have yet to really play great basketball for a full game.  Last night we made too many coverage mistakes and left guys open or we opened up driving lanes.  We can and will play better.

Know this, the Bucks do not have enough fire power to take us down.  

They are the defending champs but we have more than matched their mental toughness.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Wow was so angry watching this game, Giannis was still getting away with dirty deeds and no calls; finally the tide started turning with the charge on Smart and the dunk by Al, giving a taste of his own medicine to Giannis. Al with the biggest playoff game of his career, Giannis woke up the sleeping giant. There’s a reason Al was the no 1 pick of the draft many years ago. Amazing inspiring performance by Al both ends.

Then Tatum with the biggest stretch at a such a crucial time of the game in his career with 4 straight baskets, an old fashioned and 1 in the lane over Hill and the 3 right in his face after that that put us up 10!!!! Wow was pure Pierce/Bird and then some!!! He sure redeemed himself. Smart further finished them off with some bulldog post moves and White was crucial with some great defense and timely passing as was JB with a crucial 3 and attacking Giannis. That’s got to be breaking the code, shoving an airborne player in the body with no position to go for the ball. I’d pay to let me get on the floor and body slam Giannis for all the cheapshots he’s been getting away with….

Cow,

Agree with you on everything you said except one thing:  Al was the #3 pick, not the #1.  The #1 pick was the immortal Greg Oden.  The #2 pick, the guy who got picked right before Al, was Kevin Durant.  Two picks after Al, at #5, was The Tin Man, Boston's selection of Jeff Green.

Other than your inaccurate historical reference you were spot on with the rest. I got a real kick, in the Comments From The Other Side, where they were calling for "Bucks Bully Ball" and then weep when Giannis gets his own treatment.


Bob


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Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 4 hours ago
Marcus Smart as primary defender vs Giannis in Game 4 via NBA tracking: 4 PTS 2-5 FG 3 AST 2 TO 1 BLK 0 SFL 5:17 matchup time Smart accounted for a team-high 31.7% of Giannis matchup time.


Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 4 hours ago
In addition to his 30 points, Al Horford defended a game-high 28 shot attempts (no one else north of 20). Giannis got 16 points on 8-16 FG. Rest of Bucks vs Horford: 9 points on 4-12 FG. Celtics a plus-20.8 net rating in Horford’s 41:36 of court time. At age 35.


Bob


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Okay let me be the first to say that last night’s game alone earned Horford a spot in the rafters. Put #42 YUP THERE!