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NBA PLAYOFFS -- Blown in Game 1, Bucks brace for Game 2
By Taha Qureshi
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 30 Apr 2019
MILWAUKEE -- After coasting through the regular season with a 60-22 slate and then sweeping the Detroit Pistons in the opening round of these 2019 NBA playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks found themselves in an unfamiliar place peculiar place on Sunday as they lost Game 1 of the East Conference semifinals at home.
Losing to the fourth-seeded Celtics wasn't a surprise. But being blown away, 112-90, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, in front of a capacity crowd of 17,561 fans, was disconcerting.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will likely pocket this season's MVP award, looked like a different player against the pesky Celtics defense. He scored only 22 points and missed 14 of his 21 field goals.
So what happened?
"Whenever I got in the paint, when I spin or try to change direction, the second guy was right there," he said during his post-game media availability.
The Celtics defense didn't just do a good job of containing The Greek Freak, they pretty much shackled the entire Bucks team, which shot only 34.8 percent from the field (31-of-89) and 33.3 percent (13-of-39) from 3-point range. Ranked the No.1 offense during the regular season with a 118.1 points per game average, Milwaukee scored only 90 in Game 1, a shortfall of 18 points.
Khris Middleton helped Milwaukee's cause with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists but the rest of the starters struggled mightily as Brook Lopez, Sterling Brown and Eric Bledsoe accounted only for 12 among them.
The Celtics, meanwhile, connected 47 of 87 shots and 13 of 31 triples. They also won the rebounding war, 51-44, while issuing more assists, 25-19.
Kyrie Irving had 26 points and 11 assists while veteran Al Horford tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jaylen Brown added 19 points and Gordon Hayward came off the bench with 13. The Celtics converted 47 of 87 field goals (54 percent) and
"I can't promise that we will win Game 2 but we will try hard," Antetokounmpo told reporters as both teams practiced on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
Game 2 returns Wednesday morning at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Taha Qureshi.
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