Bucks Showcase Championship Pedigree to Put Celtics on the Brink
Winning protective plays and grip shots assisted Milwaukee with flooding back from a twofold digit final quarter shortfall to take a 3-2 series lead.
BOSTON — What occurred?
No, truly — what simply occurred?
The Bucks beat the Celtics 110-107 on Wednesday, holding onto a 3-2 lead in the series.
Also, genuinely — how did that occur?
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"We beat ourselves," said Boston monitor Marcus Smart.
Said mentor Ime Udoka, "We realize we surrendered an amazing chance this evening."
Added forward Jaylen Brown, "We parted with it."
In a wild, unusual NBA end of the season game — the Grizzlies beat the Warriors by the number of? — this game might top them all. Ten minutes to play, Boston up 14, and this game was finished.
It wasn't so much that the Celtics were playing perfectly. A long way from it. Jayson Tatum had 34 focuses … however, required 29 shots to get them.
Brown had 26. Al Horford, the legend of Game 4, had eight. Daniel Theis, cleaned off again with Robert Williams sidelined, was the main Celtics sub in twofold figures.
Milwaukee wasn't fit for an assembly. Essentially they shouldn't have been. Didn't have the capability.
Essentially they didn't appear to. How frequently have we been reminded of the way that extraordinary Boston's protection was? Not a chance the Bucks could return against it.
With Khris Middleton sidelined, the last couple of rounds of this series has been the (Giannis) Antetokounmpo show.
He scored 42 focuses in a Game 3 dominate. He scored 34 in a Game 4 misfortune. Right off the bat in Game 5, the Bucks endeavored to move the ball around.
Jrue Holiday had nine focuses. Grayson Allen had five. Bobby Portis contributed four of the seat.
However, when the Celtics' safeguard was fixed, Giannis dominated. He scored 15 focuses in the subsequent quarter.
The other Bucks scored four. He added 13 in the third. Moving, Antetokounmpo was relentless.
He overwhelmed more modest protectors. He Euro-ventured around greater ones. He pulled down 11 bounce back, got to the free toss line multiple times, and associated on almost 60% of his shots.
Yet, he had no assistance. Through 3/4, just a single different Bucks player, Holiday, had broken twofold figures.
He had 16 focuses, yet he wanted 16 shots to make it happen. Wesley Matthews didn't contribute anything. Stream Lopez was a non-factor.
Boston had pummeled Milwaukee in the fourth quarters of the past two games and had the NBA's No. 1 guard to finish it off.
Just they didn't. A Pat Connaughton three with eight minutes passed on slice the lead to single digits.
A couple of Bobby Portis free tosses made it six. With under a moment to play, Holiday hit a three that tied it.
The Bucks followed by two when Antetokounmpo went to the free toss line with 14 seconds left. He made the first.
He missed the second yet Portis, back in the turn after playing only 15 minutes in Game 4, pulled down the bounce back and flipped back in.
Boston actually got an opportunity. Emerging from a break Smart sprung free on the benchmark. He arranged a short sprinter.
And afterward Holiday, maybe the NBA's best edge safeguard not named Smart, came over for the square. "That is the very thing that Jrue does," says Antetokounmpo. Two Connaughton free tosses extended the lead to three.
A Holiday take of Smart in the last seconds finished the game.
"Credit Milwaukee," Brown said. "They play hard for 48 minutes. We moved away from what we truly do well late.
We weren't as deliberate down the stretch and it set us back."
Title DNA is an expression tossed around freely in sports. Too freely. The Bucks just displayed it. They might have collapsed in the final quarter.
They were absurdly outgunned. Middleton's nonattendance had constrained Antetokounmpo into a consistent eating regimen of detachments and pushed Holiday into a subsequent scorer position he isn't really agreeable in.
A misfortune in Boston, in an eardrum-parting field, would have been passable.
Yet, they didn't overlap. The Bucks gave up nine focuses in the last eight minutes. Antetokounmpo, who has battled with his three-point shot all series, thumped down a major one. Mathews did, as well.
Portis made four free tosses in his last eight minutes. In any event, when the offense is faltering, the Bucks never lose confidence in one another.
"We're generally focused," said Antetokounmpo. "We generally give all that we have … more often than not we make the best decision.
Some of the time it doesn't turn out well for us. I accept everybody has the confidence in each other that we will make the right play.
That we will make the additional pass. That we will constantly be there come what may the result is.
I feel like this gathering, regardless of anything the result is, we can return home and feel better about ourselves.
Whenever we watch film, it wasn't actually necessary to focus on 'you have to give more exertion' or 'you must monitor this person better.'
The work from us, from this group, more often than not is generally there."
The series shifts back to Milwaukee on Friday and Game 6 figures to be similarly as close. These are two tip-top protections.
It's the Bad Boy's Pistons versus the mid-90s Knicks. Pernell Whitaker versus Floyd Mayweather.
The Steel Curtain versus The Monsters of the Midway.
Each belonging between these two groups has been a road battle.
At a certain point, late in the final quarter, Giannis made an effort to the side of the eye that drew blood.
In any case, the Bucks have driven the Celtics to the edge. Boston has shown extraordinary determination this season, adjusting to another mentor, beating an awful beginning, combating wounds and COVID-related disease. They should show a greater amount of it to beat Milwaukee on its home floor.
The Bucks played like bosses on Wednesday.
On Friday, we will check whether the Celtics can do likewise