By David Ostrowsky
Boston based sports writer
Special to the Banner
No one was expecting the Bucks to win two games in Boston.
Actually, hardly anyone was expecting them to win one, so the fact that the defending world champs are headed back to Wisconsin tied 1-1 with the Celtics is a victory of sorts. But that still doesn’t make Tuesday night’s meltdown at TD Garden any easier to digest.
After getting embarrassed on their home parquet during Game 1, the Boston Celtics came roaring back to pulverize Milwaukee, 109-86, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semis. In this statement win, the Celtics took back the much-coveted home court advantage as the series shifts to Milwaukee where it will resume Saturday afternoon for Game 3.
While the Bucks were once again sans sharpshooting forward Khris Middleton for this pivotal contest—and had a hard time finding secondary scoring to compensate for his glaring absence—the Celtics were short handed themselves without the services of Marcus Smart, their tenacious starting point guard (and 2021-22 NBA Defensive Player of the Year) saddled with a nagging right quad injury. But Smart’s absence didn’t prohibit Boston from rebounding following a dismal offensive performance in Game 1. If anything, it ignited their collective passion.
“We were pissed off at how we played last game from top to bottom,” said Boston’s All-Star forward Jayson Tatum afterwards. “We knew that we just had to play better. Simple as that. Everybody contributed and competed. We just picked up like if we had Smart, with toughness each possession.”
Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the Bucks, who were a one-man operation behind the inimitable Giannis Antetokounmpo. On this frustrating night, The Greek Freak needed 27 field goal attempts to tally his team-leading 28 points. He was virtually a non-factor in the first half (five points on 2-of-12 shooting) as Boston raced out to a commanding 65-40 lead, one that would not be relinquished. The stubborn Bucks did make things interesting in the second half and cut the sizable deficit down to 12 with 4:30 remaining in regulation before the resurgent Celtics pulled away courtesy of back-to-back three-pointers from Tatum (29 points) and reserve Grant Williams (21 points) in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. But ultimately it came down to Antetokounmpo being unable to carry his beleaguered team against a vastly improved Celtics’ frontcourt unit.
In his postgame remarks, Bucks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer was quick to credit Boston’s stifling defense for keeping his megastar (mostly) in check throughout the evening.
“The guys on him, they’re solid, good, good defenders and then quite a bit of help,” Budenholzer said. “That’s where he’s just got to see and feel it — do we kick it and get more 3s or he’s got to finish against one-on-one defense. So, I think it’s a little bit of both. But Giannis, he always figures things out.”
An assortment of Celtics defenders, twin towers Al Horford and Rob Williams along with reserve Grant Williams, befuddled Antetokounmpo from the jump. With Milwaukee’s lack of depth getting exposed (aside from Pat Connaughton, Milwaukee’s bench yielded hardly any production), the Bucks were overly reliant on Antetokounmpo for offense, a strategy that quickly backfired.
“It’s the playoffs,” Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously they’re going to be physical. They’re going to be more physical. It’s not going to be a lot of fouls called, there’s going to be more active, more discipline, but at the end of the day, it’s the same mentality, the mindset doesn’t change, you’ve got to keep chipping away, keep finding solutions to make the game yours. Make good plays. Find your teammates, get in the paint. No matter what they do, my mindset and the team’s mindset cannot change.”
Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, Milwaukee had a lackluster defensive performance. The Celts, paced by All-Star Jaylen Brown’s 30 points, shot a blistering 46.5 percent from downtown—a stark improvement from their underwhelming Game 1 showing.
“We wanted to match their physicality and punch back tonight,’” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “A big message was show them who we are.”
The message was sent in no uncertain terms—the Celtics are very much the Bucks’ equal and this series has seven games written all over it.
David Ostrowsky is a former sports writer for the Metrowest Daily News and current contributing sports writer to the Atlanta Jewish Times. He is also the author of Pro Sports in 1993 (McFarland & Company). His next book, Roberto Alomar: The Complicated Life and Legacy of a Baseball Hall of Famer, will be published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2024.
