Milwaukee grabs 2-1 lead after frantic final seconds
MILWAUKEE — The stage was set for Giannis Antetokounmpo to uncork one of his signature transition dunks, where his long strides eat up hardwood by the yard and his long arms allow him to finish from almost any angle.
Before the Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar could elevate, Grant Williams, the broad-shouldered Boston Celtics forward, deftly wrapped him up. The two players remained entangled for several seconds, and the aborted three-onone fast break ended with a minor tussle between members of both teams. Cooler heads prevailed, and the Fiserv Forum crowd’s calls for a flagrant foul went unheeded. It wound up being just another hard foul in an afternoon full of them.
Energized by the testy exchange shortly after halftime, Antetokounmpo helped the Bucks build a 14-point lead late in the third quarter and stave off a Celtics comeback to eke out a 103-101 Game 3 victory on Saturday. The defending champions now hold a 2-1 series lead.
Antetokounmpo repeatedly plowed to the basket, slaloming past two, and sometimes three, defenders in hopes of collapsing Boston’s defense. He bludgeoned the Celtics for several key baskets down the stretch, finishing with a game-high 42 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
“The physicality that (Antetokounmpo) takes in the game, the hits, to still finish and score and play,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “That’s how he’s built.”
Undeterred by Antetokounmpo’s late-game paint dominance, Boston had one last chance to force overtime in the closing seconds. With the Celtics down three, guard Marcus Smart was fouled by Bucks guard Jrue Holiday with 4.6 seconds left. Smart argued that he was attempting a 3-pointer, but the officials disagreed and awarded only two free throws.
Smart made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, flinging the ball off the backboard and the back of the rim so that it would ricochet toward him. Smart claimed the offensive rebound and missed a fallaway jumper that led to a scrum for control of the ball.
Celtics forward Robert Williams III rushed a putback that went over the rim, setting up an errant tip by center Al Horford. Horford attempted another tip that went in, but video review confirmed that time had expired before the ball left his fingertips. When the dust settled, Milwaukee had dodged three potential game-tying shots in the final four seconds.
“It was a long time,” Holiday said. “Marcus got off the line pretty quick. He caught the ball, shot it, there was another tip and Al had two more tips. Glad it went our way.”