Bucks rally for series lead
NBA PLAYOFFS
BOSTON 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 110-107 on Wednesday night to take a 3-2 series lead.
Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 11 rebounds, Holiday finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight 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.
The Celtics led by 14 in the fourth quarter before the Bucks closed the gap, tying it 105-105 on Holiday’s three-pointer with 43 seconds left. Jayson Tatum, who scored 34 points, hit a pair of free throws to give Boston the lead.
Antetokounmpo went to 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 Smart while falling out of bounds. 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 three-pointer.
The have Bucks won two of the three games in Boston to swipe home-court advantage. Antetokounmpo had his best shooting game of the series, going 16-for-27, but he also committed seven turnovers.
Repeat MVP
Nikola Jokic is the NBA MVP again. The Denver Nuggets’ big man is the second consecutive international player to win two in a row, after Antetokounmpo earned the title in 2019 and 2020.
This marks the first time international players have won the award in four consecutive seasons. Canada’s Steve Nash went back-to-back for Phoenix in 2005 and 2006, followed by Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki for Dallas in 2007.
International players finished 12-3 in this year’s MVP voting. Jokic got 65 first-place votes and 875 points from the panel of sportswriters and broadcasters that cover the league and decide on awards.
Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, born in Cameroon, was second with 26 first-place votes and 706 points; Antetokounmpo, from Greece, was third with nine first-place votes and 595 points.
The 27-year-old Jokic averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists on while becoming the 13th player to win back-to-back MVP awards.