Late-game heroics give Bucks 3-2 lead
Portis’s putback, Holiday’s D key to win vs. Celtics
Bobby Portis made a putback off Giannis Antetokounmpo’s missed free throw with 15 seconds left, Jrue Holiday snuffed Marcus Smart on Boston’s final two possessions, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Celtics, 110107, Wednesday night at TD Garden in Boston to take a 32 series lead.
Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 11 rebounds, Holiday finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists and Portis added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the defending NBA champion Bucks.
Milwaukee has a chance to wrap up the Eastern Conference semifinal in Game 6 at home Friday night. The Celtics need a win to force a decisive seventh game back in Boston on Sunday.
Other game
Grizzlies 134, Warriors 95:
Host Memphis never trailed as Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones each scored 21 points and to rout Golden State and avoid elimination, forcing a sixth game in the Western Conference semifinal. Dillon Brooks added 12 points for Memphis. Ziaire Williams and Brandon Clarke had 11 apiece and De’Anthony Melton 10. Steven Adams had 13 rebounds, six offensive. Notes
Denver Nuggets big man
Nikola Jokic earned a second consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player trophy to become the second consecutive international player to win two in a row. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo — who hails from Greece — earned the title in 2019 and 2020.
• Bob Lanier, the lefthanded big man who muscled up beside the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as one of the NBA’s top players of the 1970s, died Tuesday. He was 73. See obituary,Page B-4.