Milwaukee Bucks Vs. Boston Celtics Game 3 Preview: Start Time, Channel, Who To Watch

If there’s one thing the Golden State Warriors know, it’s that a team must win on the road. Now, searching for their fourth title in five years, the Bay area squad has won at least one road game in an NBA record 20 straight series. The Boston Celtics, with wunderkind Brad Stevens and former champ Kyrie Irving leading the squad, have seen first hand the importance of being tough on the road.

Now, the Celtics will head back home with one win after a grueling two games against the no. 1 seed Bucks at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee. While veteran center Al Horford shut down MVP front runner Giannis Antetokounmpo, he stormed back in game two. The Greek Freak’s 29 points and 10 rebounds in a game two 123-102 Milwaukee win made the Celtics want to return home.

Now, on Friday, they’ll get their chance to play in the TD Garden in Boston. If Boston hopes to win this series, they’ll have to show some of the shot blocking they put on display in the series opener. They blocked 11 shots that game and held the Bucks to just 34.8% shooting. Irving and Horford also shot well, establishing an inside-out pair and forcing Milwaukee to over exert itself on defense.

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has done great at neutralizing young wing Jayson Tatum in this series on the offensive end. While he did contribute three blocks in game one, Horford and Marcus Morris Sr did as well. The Duke product who looked primed to take over Boston after leading them on a surprisingly deep playoff run last year has averaged averaging 4.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds, and one assists per game while shooting 23.5% from the floor, hitting nothing behind the arc on three attempts, and nailing only 50% of his shots at the charity stripe. While Tatum’s pre-draft concerns focused on his tendency to play inefficient iso-ball, he’s shown that he can knock down catch and shoot 3’s as well as imposing himself on the defense and driving to the rim. In Kobe Bryant‘s Detail episode on Kyrie it seemed as though he pointed out Tatum stopping ball movement and corrupting spacing by a foot or two each play.

If Boston wants to win this series, which they can, they’ll need to make adjustments. Brad Stevens is one of the best in the league at this so they’re in good hands. But Antetokounmpo is a force unlike anything the league has ever seen before and will be maybe his biggest test in his career. Currently, the Celtics are favored by two points in game three and the over/under is set at 220.

Article by Bill Piersa