Long lapse leads to ‘L’
Late Freak tip-in evens series
MILWAUKEE — Brad Stevens was so impressed by Milwaukee’s Game 3 performance, Saturday he called it the best performance by a team in this series.
The Celtics coach said this before having painful flashbacks in the first half of Game 4 yesterday, with his team still missing shots, and the Bucks again building a significant lead.
That cushion was ultimately too much to overcome again, this time with the Celtics losing to Milwaukee, 104-102, despite a strong second-half comeback.
And Giannis Antetokounmpo added another big shot to his growing legacy, thanks to the Milwaukee forward’s ability to get to an Eric Bledsoe miss with 5.1 seconds left and tip it in for the game-winner as the Bucks evened the series at 2-2.
The shot was crushing for the Celtics, who fell short when Marcus Morris’ 15-footer at the buzzer bounced out off the back of the rim.
Morris bent over in front of the Bucks bench with his hands clamped to the sides of his head.
Yesterday’s bottom line was a 20-point Milwaukee lead early in the third quarter. A 20-6 Celtics run followed, and they even held a 100-99 lead with 52.4 seconds left on a Jayson Tatum jumper.
But a second straight 35-point first half, with a lot of missed shots supplying the chill, ultimately sent the Celtics home empty.
“We played great in the second half. We played great in the first six minutes of the game — 18 minutes that ended the first half were no good,” said Stevens. “They had a lot to do with that. Again, (Thon) Maker came in and made a huge difference in the game. I thought we were so much better after (halftime), even when they made those first few shots, I thought we were doing what we set out to do.”
Ultimately, though, that 18-minute stretch decided the game.
“I think you have to play with tremendous, tremendous poise,” said Stevens. “It takes a ton of ability to bounce back and win the next possession and focus on the next possession, but I thought they got us off kilter, and we started again trying to swing for the fences. We did a great job of not doing that in the second half though.”
Youth nearly saved the day for the Celtics, with Jaylen Brown setting another career playoff high with 34 points, and Tatum rebounding from a three-point first half to score 18 in the second.
But the firepower of Antetokounmpo (27 points) and the remarkably steady Khris Middleton (23) was again too much to overcome.
And in the end, the long reach of Antetokounmpo emerged from a pack of Celtics to tip in the winning shot.
“He made a great tipin. He was battling for the ball and our guys were battling for the ball, and that’s what great players do,” said Stevens. “I thought for the most part, we did a decent job on him. Probably better than we have in every other game, and he still goes 12-for-20. We were better on Middleton, I thought we did a decent job on Giannis, and we played more the way we want to play in the second half.”
Terry Rozier’s 3-pointer with 2:41 left cut the Milwaukee lead to 96-93, and after Malcolm Brogdon drove for a score, Brown put back a Tatum miss.
Following Antetokounmpo hitting one of two from the line, Brown stepped even further back for his fifth 3-pointer, cutting the Bucks’ lead with 1:29 left to 99-98.
Bledsoe lost the ball, and Tatum, getting the ball at the line, buried a 15-footer with 52.4 seconds for a 10099 lead.
One timeout and a Middleton block on Brown later, Brogdon took the lead back with a right corner 3-pointer for a 102-100 edge. Horford put the ball on the floor against Maker, drew the foul, and tied the score with two free throws.
But when Bledoe’s drive missed, Antetokounmpo got his long arm in the mix for a tip and a 104-102 Bucks lead with 5.1 seconds left.
Tatum threw a crosscourt inbounds pass to Morris, whose 18-footer bounced off the far side of the rim.
“The mindset is to get Game 5,” Morris said of tomorrow night’s game in the Garden. “They did what they were supposed to do. We gave them a rumble. They got this win and now we go back to Boston, where we play really well, and take care of business.”