The Boston Celtics were embarrassed on their home court in Game 1. They made sure it didn’t happen again in Game 2. Jaylan Brown scored the top 30 points as the Celtics came back with a dominant 109-86 victory over the Bucks in Tuesday night to level the series in the second round by one match. Match 3 is on Saturday in Milwaukee.
Boston was hot from the start, beating Milwaukee 65-40 in the first half. Boston’s result came largely behind the arc, as the Celtics made 20 of their 43 attempts for 3 points in the win. The Celtics’ defense made life difficult for defending champions who were below 90 points.
The Bucks entered Boston on Sunday and gave the Celtics a stunning 101-89 defeat at the start of the series. In the process of defending the championship, they stole the home court from number 2 in the East. Boston bounced back with a win at TD Garden and they did so without the services of Defender of the Year Marcus Smart, who suffered a right thigh injury. Here are three excerpts from Game 2.
1. The Boston Party 3
The Celtics tried 50 3 points in Match 1, but that was not an option. Milwaukee’s defense – already focused on defending the paint and sacrificing 3s – took things to another level with Bobby Portis, along with Janice Adetokunmpo and Brooke Lopez. The idea was to put such a large size on the floor that the Celtics would be tempted to shoot only jumpers. They fell and in the process made only 10 2s in the whole game.
Most speculated that Boston would try to find ways to take less than 3 in Game 2, but it didn’t. Instead, the Celtics decided that this time they would just make all 3 points. The Celtics scored 65 points in the first half and started the game 11 of 17 behind the arc. Grant Williams (6), Jaylan Brown (6) and Jason Tatum (5) did more 3 in the game than Bucks as a team (3). Boston overtook Milwaukee by 51 points from depth, but moreover, the hot shooting helped the Celtics find easier points in the first half. Milwaukee was so frightened by Boston’s shooting that his defenses finally began to close against the open Celtics. Boston responded with an incredible half-movement of the ball to create an easy look that takes advantage of Milwaukee’s scattered defense.
The problem for Boston was that it did not withstand this high-energy crime for four quarters. The Celtics scored only 44 points in the second half because their attack was lazy. Too often, he has become a ball manner who moves the traffic, distributes it feverishly, dies the energy, and Celtic takes the contested 3. The first half was proof that Milwaukee is easier to defend the immobile Celtics than the moving ones. If Boston manages to catch what they did in the first half ahead, he can win this series quickly. If he plays the low-energy crime he committed in the second? Milwaukee can take control of this series at home.
2. The Williams Wall
There aren’t enough superlatives for Grant Williams’ defensive performance in Game 2. There are dozens of plays that deserve to be highlighted, but I want to get involved in this one in particular. No need to tweak, let’s just look at:
Janice Adetokunmpo, a nearly 7-foot freight train that won two MVPs in the regular season and is the current MVP of the finals, ran into Williams at full speed … and crashed. Grant Williams is an absolute brick wall. If Janice can’t show her physical strength against the young Boston striker, no one will. The best part? He’s not even the Celtics’ best Williams defender. Robert Williams III could have won the Defender of the Year award, which eventually went to Marcus Smart if he had not been injured at the end of the season.
Grant is 23. Robert is 24. For now, they share the front zone with Al Horford, but if Boston can afford to keep both, he will have one of the best and most flexible pairs of defensive big men in all of basketball. for the foreseeable future, they both happen to have the same last name. Robert received the most praise throughout the season for his highlights, but Grant’s strength proved so important in Game 2.
3. Playing two different sports
In two games so far in this series, the Celtics have tried 41 more threes than Bucks. Again, part of that is by design. Milwaukee’s defense is designed to allow 3s. But his crime is meant to take them too. Milwaukee ranked fifth in the NBA with 38.4 3s per game in the regular season. Boston took less with 37.1 per game. Still, in Game 2, the Celtics took 43 3 and the Bucks took only 18.
These 18 3-point trials are the smallest of Mike Budenholzer’s Milwaukee era. Under his coach, the Bucks never took less than 22 in a game before Game 2. But Boston changed its plan to play defensively in a way that took the lives of 3s Milwaukee in attack. Instead of doubling Adetokunmpo and allowing him to collect double-digit assists, as he did in Game 1, Boston trusted Grant Williams and Al Horford to bring him against each other. They were largely successful. Yannis shoots 11 of 27 from the field.
Without having to spend extra resources on him, the Celtics managed to stay at the scorers’ home, and after Chris Middleton left, the Bucks lacked the punches to find their preferred looks in other ways. Now it’s up to the Bucks to figure out how they can get their shots against Boston just as Boston adjusted to them in Game 2.
Add Comment