Boston Celtics

Morning sports update: Bucks fans chanted ‘We want Boston’ ahead of Celtics series

Also: Celtics trivia, Chris Sale's unorthodox place for a throw, and more Brad Marchand banter.

Kyrie Irving Bucks fans
Kyrie Irving during a game in Milwaukee against the Bucks in 2019. AP Photo/Aaron Gash

By Hayden Bird

3 minutes to read

The Bruins face the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the teams’ opening round playoff series tonight at TD Garden. The puck drops at 7 p.m.

And the Red Sox play the Tigers in a doubleheader on Tuesday. Game one will start at 1:05 p.m., with the second game beginning at 7:10 p.m.

Bucks fans are looking forward to a Celtics matchup: As the Bucks pulled away from the Pistons in Game 4 of Milwaukee’s first-round sweep of Detroit, fans began a new chant. Looking ahead to the next series, Bucks fans got things going by declaring, “We want Boston.”

The Bucks are coming off the team’s first win in a playoff series since 2001. The Celtics, who lost in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago, will prove a tougher test for the top-seeded Bucks than the Pistons did.

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Trivia: The Bucks’ four-game sweep of the Pistons on Monday night extended Detroit’s active postseason losing streak to an NBA record 14 straight games. The string of defeats now includes three straight sweeps, but began with two consecutive losses (games five and six) to the Celtics in the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals.

In the Pistons’ 2008 Game 5 loss that began the streak, the Celtics won despite managing just three bench points, coming all at once from a three-pointer. Which Celtics bench player hit the shot? (The answer is at the bottom of the article).

Hint: After going to college at Xavier, he was selected by the Nuggets with the 18th pick in the 1999 draft. He’s won three NBA titles (two as a player, and one as an assistant coach).

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More from Boston.com:

Chris Sale got some work in despite the Monday Red Sox rainout

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No spoilers here:

Also from the Brad Marchand social media front:

On this day: Exactly 100 years ago, Babe Ruth led the Red Sox in a season-opening rout of the Yankees. The 10-0 win was highlighted by Ruth hitting an inside-the-park home run.

“Big George’s blow today wasn’t the customary wallop over the garden wall,” noted the Boston Globe game recap, “but it did the business jut the same.”

Ruth connected with a pitch on the outer half of the plate from Yankees starter George Mogridge. Duffy Lewis, formerly a Red Sox player (for whom the pre-Green Monster “Duffy’s cliff”  was named) was in center field for the Yankees. He misjudged the power of Ruth’s hit.

“Babe’s liner looked like a simple enough base hit, but O, how the old ball did travel,” wrote the Globe.

“Jack Barry, who was on second base when the hit was made, simply walked home; but, as for Ruth, he tore around the bases, galloping like mad, while Lewis chased the ball and then gave it up to Vick, his right-field mate. But there wasn’t a chance to stop old ‘Babe,’ and around he raced and crossed the plate still in his stride.”

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Ruth would go on to hit 29 home runs in his final season in Boston, the most in a single year (though he would famously double his own record after departing for New York).

Daily highlight: Giannis Antetokounmpo flashed a Michael Jordan moment on Monday night as the Bucks swept the Pistons (advancing to meet the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs). Pistons center Andre Drummond was so shocked by the move that all he could do was laugh.

Trivia answer: James Posey