The Milwaukee Bucks will play their second home game in a row on Thursday, April 30, against the Boston Celtics. While the Bucks came into the series as a heavily favored no. 1 seed, the Celtics showed that their playoff experience isn’t just another term tossed around by talking heads on sports networks.
After sweeping a heavily depleted Indiana Pacers team, the Celtics made quick work of the Bucks in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. They topped them 112-90 and held potential MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo to just 22 points on a seven-for-21shooting performance. Veteran center Al Horford and young wing Jayson Tatum split the defensive duties and shut down “The Greek Freak.” Game 2 will be held in Milwaukee and will air at 8 p.m. EST on TNT.
“Whenever I got in the paint and I spun or tried to change direction, a second guy was right there,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’ve just got to go watch tape. If they’re going to play like this the whole series, I’ve got to be able to make the right pass and trust my teammates to knock down shots.”
But Milwaukee is hoping to bounce back. Coach Mike Budenholzer about his star, “As great as he’s been, he hasn’t been perfect every night. He’s hard on himself, so there will probably be some point where I put my arms around him and tell him, ‘You’re going to be great.'”
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Game one of the series came as Milwaukee’s most disappointing loss of the season and maybe the first one that pushed them off of cruise control. Stakes are high but the Bucks lost only eight times at home this season and only once back to back. However, if they lose tonight, this series is almost completely over.
Well, they hit us in the mouth,” Milwaukee point guard George Hill said. “That was pretty surprising. But it’s the playoffs and you have to learn how to hit and get back up.” They’ll be looking to avoid that again.
Currently, the Bucks are favored by 7.5 points. The over/under for the game is set at 219.5.
Milwaukee may come out in this game hoping to reinvent the wheel. Boston, even with the braintrust that makes up their coaching staff, will only have to continue what they’ve already done.
After game one, Horford said “Our focus was to make sure that we just made it tough on him every time, just making sure he earned everything he got. I felt like we did a pretty good job of that.” They’ll hope to hear him say that again.
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