How the Celtics fared against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks this season
“They got too comfortable.”
COMMENTARY
En route to 60 wins, the Bucks posted a scoring differential of 8.9 points per game — 2.8 points better than the next-best in the Eastern Conference (Sixers) and 2.4 points better than the West-best Warriors. But against the Celtics, Milwaukee’s separation was a mere 3.3 per contest, with a difference of just 10 points between the teams over 144 minutes of action.
Milwaukee came away the winner in two of three meetings, but as the teams ready for a best-of-seven tussle in the Eastern Conference semifinals it’s worth looking back at how things have played out between the teams thus far this season. Here’s a look at each game:
Nov. 1: Celtics 117, Bucks 113
Milwaukee came to Boston unbeaten, having opened the season with seven straight wins — four of which came against clubs that ultimately went on to make the playoffs. Without Jaylen Brown the Celtics inserted Semi Ojeleye into the starting lineup, and while he was mostly effective in defending Giannis Antetokounmpo (nine points on 24 possessions), at closing time Brad Stevens opted to keep Marcus Morris on the court, and Milwaukee attacked the matchup to cut deeply into what was a 15-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter.
“I think it was just high-intense,” Kyrie Irving told reporters that night. “Perfect for the beginning of the season. Great test.”
Antetokounmpo finished the night with 15 points in the 17 possessions he was marked by Morris, and when the C’s switched to a zone and tried to make an adjustment in the fourth quarter it just created opportunities for others. Khris Middleton made three straight shots, then Malcolm Brogdon burnt Jayson Tatum for a layup that brought the Bucks within a bucket with 1:45 to go.
At that point, both offenses tightened up. The Celtics missed three 3-point attempts on their next possession. Middleton lost the ball out of bounds, but again Boston failed to take advantage by bricking a bid from distance — the last of the 55 3-point shots the team hoisted on the night. Horford missed that one, but to his credit he got back on defense, and when Antetokounmpo drove baseline in transition, Horford forced him under the basket and the Bucks star missed a reverse. The Celtics still weren’t out of the woods, though, because Jayson Tatum had the ball stolen, then fouled Eric Bledsoe in what was a 113-111 game. Thankfully for Boston, Bledsoe missed the first of his two free throws, and with Milwaukee forced to foul from there, Irving and Horford put the game away from the charity stripe.
Antetokounmpo had a monster night with 33 points and 11 boards, but Middleton and Bledsoe combined to make only nine of 27 shots from the floor. For Boston, Irving finished with 28 points, while Horford and an aggressive Hayward had 18 apiece, and all five Celtics starters scored in double-figures (Ojeleye included). The 55 3-point tries proved to be a season high, nine more than the C’s attempted in any other tilt — but they made 24, also a season-high, seizing on what the Bucks were giving them.
“I feel like if they’re going to play that type of defense, we should just shoot it every time,” Irving said afterward. “At one point I think [centers] Brook Lopez and John Henson were in the paint. So, get ’em up. I hope we shoot 80 next game if they play defense like that.”
And that wasn’t the only future warning the Celtics felt they sent with their victory.
“It felt really good to break that streak they had going,” Morris said that night. “Let them know they still can’t win here.”
Dec. 21: Bucks 120, Celtics 107
Morris’s boastful claim had some basis, given that the Bucks failed to win at the Garden in four playoff games last April before losing again in November. But Milwaukee bashed through any barrier with a ruthless first-half run when the teams rejoined in Boston seven weeks after this season’s initial clash.
The Celtics came in wounded, on the heels of a brutal home-floor setback against the lowly Suns, and they responded by scoring 10 of the game’s first 11 points. But before Boston could feel too good about itself, Milwaukee delivered a statement on which of the two teams would command the top of the conference from then forward.
After Mike Budenholzer called a timeout with his team trailing 10-1, the Bucks went on a 57-22 run that spanned most of two quarters and opened up a 26-point lead for the visitors. Antetokounmpo had only nine of his 30 points over that span — a dunk, a layup, and five of the 17 free throws he attempted on the night — so it was Milwaukee’s other pieces that grabbed command of the game. Middleton, Brogdon, and Bledsoe did their work, as expected, but Tony Snell made all six of his shots to finish the game with 15 points, and Thon Maker hit four of five shots from 3-point territory.
As for what that all might mean going forward, though, Snell has an ankle injury that has limited him to five minutes of playing time since March 24, and makes him available only on an emergency basis at the start of this series. Maker, meanwhile, was traded to the Pistons in February.
On the other side, both Horford, Morris, and Baynes were missing for the Celtics, meaning big minutes for Daniel Theis and another start for Ojeleye — who was less effective on the defensive end this time, and saw Antetokounmpo score 10 points without missing a shot on their 15 head-to-head possessions. At the other end, Irving made just seven of 20 shots, including three of 10 in the 35 possessions when he was blanketed by Bledsoe. Also hampering the C’s were rough shooting nights from Hayward (3-for-13) and Tatum (5-for-15).
Brown was back for this one, leading the Celtics with 21 points and picking up a technical for flexing after a vicious left-handed dunk over traffic in the lane. It wasn’t a great look, given that the C’s were down 15 even after he brought the Thunder — but, then again, not much looked good for the Celtics after that night, which dropped Boston’s record to 18-13 and ended with a 35-minute, closed-door team meeting.
“We just have to play harder. The last three games I don’t think we played as hard as we did the previous eight when we were winning,” Tatum told reporters that night, according to the Globe. “I think we came out great on both ends, and we kind of relaxed, especially on defense,” Tatum said. “They got too comfortable.”
Feb. 21: Bucks 98, Celtics 97
The Celtics went 18-9 over the two months between meetings with the Bucks, losing ground to a Milwaukee team that went 21-5 in the meanwhile, but recovering from the ugliness of late December by winning 10 of 11 at one point. They went to Fiserv Forum for the first time feeling good, too, fresh off a win at Philadelphia, a home victory over the Pistons, and seven days to rest over the All-Star Break.
However, for the third time in three games, the Celtics met the Bucks without their full complement of players. This time it was Hayward (and Baynes) who was missing, while Milwaukee basically rolled out the rotation it’ll feature in the Eastern semifinals if and when Brogdon comes back. As the visitors, Stevens chose not to start Ojeleye in the third matchup, sticking instead with the lineup du jour for that part of the season, which included the Marcuses — Morris and Smart — alongside Irving, Horford, and Tatum.
Of the three games, this was the tightest throughout, with neither team gaining a double-digit lead after the C’s spurted to a 17-6 edge early in the first. It was a grind, with Boston spending most of the night trying to prevent Milwaukee from separating before finally retaking the lead on an Irving 3 with 2:48 left in regulation. The teams volleyed the lead back and forth for the next couple of minutes, until Middleton snapped a 95-95 tie with a triple from the top of the arc with 32 seconds to play. Irving got two of those back with a quick layup, then the Celtics got another chance when Smart tied up Antetokounmpo to effectively force a shot-clock violation, but with 3.5 seconds Middleton got away with a hold on the cutting Morris, so all Boston could create was a falling, left-handed runner from Irving that clanged the iron as the clock expired.
It was an ugly final possession typical of an ugly night. The Bucks defended the 2-point shot better than any team in the NBA this season, and that proved particularly critical against the Celtics. Irving scored 22 points in the rubber match, but it came on nine of 27 shooting. Horford paired 17 rebounds with his 21 points, but he made eight of the 21 shots he tried. Morris went 4-for-12, while Smart and Terry Rozier were each 2-for-8.
Overall, Boston made 39 of 102 field-goal attempts on Feb. 21, shooting 38.2 percent from the floor. That was the team’s worst shooting night of the season — with the fourth-worst also coming against the Bucks, during the second meeting between the squads. Again, the responsibility for Irving (and the effectiveness against him) was the work of Bledsoe, who held the Celts’ star to six points on 3-for-12 shooting in 30 possessions. George Hill helped, too. On the other side, Antetokounmpo went for 30 for the third straight matchup, but the bulk of it came when he got into matchups with defenders other than Horford, who held him to 16 points on 37 possessions. That is likely to be a matchup the Celtics try to maintain in the upcoming series.
“I thought we stayed with it,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said afterward. “I thought we stayed together. It’s certainly not worth celebrating when you get beat. So, there were good things, but there are things we can do better, and we’ll hopefully do that.”
And now comes their chance.
