HOLIDAY COMES UP BIG ON ‘D’
Giannis Antetokounmpo was having his best shooting night of the playoffs. Milwaukee dominated on the boards. And still the Bucks trailed Boston by 14 points in a game that could send the defending NBA champions to the brink of elimination.
That’s when Jrue Holiday showed the Defensive Player of the Year a thing or two about defense.
Bobby Portis put back Antetokounmpo’s missed free throw with 15 seconds left, and Holiday snuffed Marcus Smart on Boston’s final two possessions Wednesday night as Milwaukee erased a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the host Celtics 110107 and take a 3-2 series lead.
“Obviously, in Boston you’re down 14 in the fourth quarter, people would say everything’s against us. But we come together,” said Holiday, who also hit the tying 3pointer with 43 seconds left. “We live and die like that.”
Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 11 rebounds, making 16 of 27 shots — including a long 3-pointer to make it 105102 with 1:40 to play. Holiday finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Portis added 14 points and 15 rebounds. The Bucks can advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a victory in Game 6 at home Friday night.
Jayson Tatum scored 34 points and Jaylen Brown had 26 for the Celtics, who need a win in Milwaukee to force a decisive seventh game back in Boston on Sunday.
The Celtics led 93-79 early in the fourth before the Bucks closed the gap, tying it at 105 with 43 seconds to play on back-to-back 3-pointers from Antetokounmpo and Holiday. Tatum hit a pair of free
Bucks 110, Celtics 107
throws to give Boston back the lead.
Antetokounmpo went to the the line with a chance to tie it and made the first, then Portis grabbed the rebound of the second and put it in off the backboard to give Milwaukee its first lead since early in the second quarter.
Smart drove to the basket but Holiday blocked him and came away with the ball, throwing it off the Celtics guard while falling out of bounds.
“Just a great instinctive play by Jrue,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s
a winner. Jrue Holiday’s a winner. You ask any player in this league or any coach in this league. He’s a winner.”
Pat Connaughton made a pair of free throws with six seconds left, then Holiday stole the ball from Smart on his desperation dash for a potential game-tying 3-pointer. The Celtics committed eight of their 10 turnovers in the second half and gave up a 4936 rebounding edge in all.
“If we box out we win that game,” Smart said. “They’re the defending champs. They made some championship plays. And now we’ve got to bounce back.”
Milwaukee had 17 offensive rebounds to Boston’s
five, with Portis grabbing seven.
Grizzlies 134, Warriors 95: Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones each scored 21 points and host Memphis routed Golden State to avoid elimination and force a sixth game in the Western Conference semifinal.
When Memphis fans chanted “Whoop That Trick! Whoop That Trick!” early in the fourth, Stephen Curry laughed on the court laughing while Draymond Green swung a towel in unison with the crowd.
Game 6 is Friday night in San Francisco, where the Warriors have won five
straight playoff games and their last seven overall.
Notable
Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic earned a second straight NBA MVP trophy to become the second consecutive international player to win two in a row. The 27-yearold from Serbia averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists to take home MVP honors. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo earned the title in 2019 and 2020. International players finished 1-2-3 in this year’s MVP voting. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid finished second and Antetokounmpo was third. Phoenix’s
was fourth.