‘Greek Freak’ tips in Bucks’ game-winner
Antetokounmpo scores 27 points, including big tip-in
MILWAUKEE — After losing a 20-point lead to the Boston Celtics, the Milwaukee Bucks were determined not to lose another playoff game.
Leave it to All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to come up with a big play in the final seconds on Sunday.
Antetokounmpo scored 27 points, including tipping in the go-ahead basket with 5 seconds left, and the Bucks held on for a 104-102 win to tie their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.
Boston’s Marcus Morris missed a 14-footer at the buzzer with Khris Middleton’s hand in his face to seal a nail-biting win for the Bucks.
Seconds earlier, the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo jumped and reached up with his left arm around Boston’s Jayson Tatum to put back Malcolm Brogdon’s missed layup for the game-winner. “It’s a heck of play,” coach Joe Prunty said. Game 5 is Tuesday night in Boston. Antetokounmpo added seven rebounds and five assists, while Middleton scored 23 points. The Bucks’ two best players were clutch in the closing seconds of a tense victory, another sign of maturity for the one of the league’s up-andcoming teams.
“One of the most important things that we can carry from this game moving forward is that we stayed disciplined and we trusted one another,” Antetokounmpo said.
It could just as easily have fallen apart for Milwaukee after losing a 20-point lead with 7:37 left
in the third quarter.
Jaylen Brown had 34 points for the Celtics, while Tatum added 21. Tatum’s 18-footer with 52 seconds left gave the Celtics a brief 100-99 lead.
He just couldn’t hold off Antetokounmpo on the other end for the decisive tip-in.
The disappointing end for the Celtics overshadowed their spirited rally from a 65-45 deficit. Play got chippy and the Celtics limited the Bucks’ transition game.
They came up one basket short at the end.
Antetokounmpo “made a great tip-in and he was battling for the ball. That’s what great players do,” coach Brad Stevens said.
Both teams traded clutch buckets down the stretch.
After Tatum’s long jumper, Brogdon hit a transition 3 from the corner for a 102-100 lead with 33 seconds left. Al Horford followed with two foul shots to tie the game at 102 with 29 seconds remaining.
They couldn’t send the game into overtime. Morris bent over in frustration near the Boston bench after his fadeaway hit the rim.
“We got the look we wanted … It’s a shot that (Morris) can make 10 out of 10 times,” Brown said. “It didn’t go in tonight. So Game 5, keep moving forward.”
SPURS 103, WARRIORS 90:
In San Antonio, Ettore Messina was screaming at the Spurs, and Manu Ginobili loved it.
Before Gregg Popovich, Ginobili played in Italy for Messina, and on Sunday he delivered a throwback performance for his old coach to save the Spurs’ season.
Experiencing a flashback to his days playing for Messina in the Euroleague in his early 20s, the 40-year-old Ginobili scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to help San Antonio beat the Golden State Warriors. The Spurs avoided a series sweep as Popovich missed his second straight game following the death of his wife, Erin.
In his 16th season in the NBA and perhaps the final home game of his career, Ginobili rebounded from a scoreless effort in Game 3 to help Messina capture his first playoff victory as a coach, albeit an unofficial one.
“For moments when he talks to the rest of the team, or when he gets upset and he yells at us, a lot of flashbacks,” Ginobili said, chuckling. “He’s very strict and he wants the team to play his way, so whenever we stopped executing the way we should have, the old himself comes back. It was good to see him coaching on this stage. Good memories.”
Ginobili played for Messina while both were with Virtus Bologna in 2000-02.
Kevin Durant had 34 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who can wrap up the series in Game 5 at home Tuesday.
“You have got to give them a lot of credit,” Golden State forward Draymond Green said. “They came out and they probably played with more intensity this game than they did the entire series.”
LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Spurs, but they were willed to the finish by Ginobili, who has said he will decide in the offseason if he will return for a 17th season.
“I am so happy for him,” Messina said. “I’m so happy. I think he deserves everything that is happening to him in his life and his career.”
CAVALIERS 104, PACERS 100:
In Indianapolis, LeBron James scored 32 points and combined with Kyle Korver for all but two of Cleveland’s final 13 points as the Cavaliers escaped with a 104-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to even the first-round series at two games apiece.
James added 13 rebounds and seven assists in his 100th career playoff game with 30 or more points. Korver made four 3-pointers and wound up with 18 points.
Domantas Sabonis scored 19 points for Indiana. Myles Turner and Victor Oladipo each scored 17, though Oladipo struggled through a poor shooting night.
This one looked and felt a lot like the three previous games — tough, physical and down to the wire.
Indiana led 93-91 with 4:28 to go — but managed only four baskets the rest of the way as James and Korver spurred the decisive 10-2 run that gave the Cavs a 10195 lead with 1:52 left.
WIZARDS 106, RAPTORS 98:
In Washington D.C., John Wall took over down the stretch after Bradley Beal fouled out, having a hand in 10 of Washington’s last 14 points and finishing with 27 points and 14 assists as the No. 8 seed Wizards came back to beat No. 1 Toronto and even the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at 2-all.
The game was tied at 92 with about five minutes left when Beal — who led Washington with 31 points — drew his sixth foul on a play in which he and DeMar DeRozan collided while Toronto had the ball. Beal raced along the sideline, put his hands on his head, then returned to the Wizards’ bench area and threw a red towel before being restrained by teammates.
The Raptors went up by two, but Wall pulled the Wizards even with a layup that drew a goaltending call, then put the hosts in front to stay by feeding Markieff Morris for a layup off the glass.