Get ready for ‘good old Game 7’
Home court hasn’t been much of an advantage
On one hand, the fact the Milwaukee Bucks had to do a quick pack job to head back to Boston for Game 7 on Sunday afternoon was a bit of a surprise after they lost 108-95 on Friday night at Fiserv Forum.
It was the first time the team had lost in a clinching scenario in the Mike Budenholzer era as coach in nine tries.
And, coming into the game, Giannis Antetokounmpo had proven to be one of the greatest individual “closers” in NBA history, as the Elias Sports Bureau noted he had the third-highest points per game average in such scenarios at 31.7 behind only Michael Jordan (34.2) and Allen Iverson (33.3).
Antetokounmpo went ahead and dropped 44 points on the Celtics and collected 20 rebounds for good measure, a combination not seen in the NBA playoffs since Shaquille O’Neal had the same numbers in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.
Unfortunately for the Bucks, the reasons why they are indeed going back to Boston are all too familiar.
The Celtics hit 17 three-pointers, including eight in the first quarter and 11 at halftime. The Bucks made just 7 threes, a 30-point disparity that is nearly impossible to overcome.
“It’s the new-wave NBA right? Three points is worth more than two,” Bucks guard Pat Connaughton acknowledged. “You can’t do away with twos. At the end of the day I still think the best shot in basketball is the layup, but you’ve got to find ways to move the basketball and get some open threes.”
In Games 2 and 4, Grant Williams and Al Horford had career nights in helping lift Boston. Facing elimination, Celtics star Jayson Tatum scored 46 points, the second-most by a player in the history of the franchise in such a game.
“He made some tough one-on-one plays from three, getting to the basket,” Bucks point guard Jrue Holiday said. “But he had it going today. That’s something we kind of have to go back, evaluate, but at the end of the day, man, he’s a great player, a great offensive player, and it’s a close-out game for his team and he handled that.”
Tatum got scoring support from Jaylen Brown (22 points) and Marcus Smart (21), which bested the efforts of Holiday (17) and Connaughton (14). The stat lines for the other four key rotation players for each team matched one another with 13 total points.
So, now what?
“Good old Game 7,” Antetokounmpo said with a grin. “Beautiful.”
Yes, the game is in Boston – but clearly home-court advantage means nothing now as each team has won twice on the road.
And no, the Bucks aren’t going to be rattled in heading to Massachusetts for the third time. Not only have they won twice in TD Garden already in this series, they traveled this path year ago in having to beat Brooklyn in New York in a classic seventh game to advance to the conference finals.
“I think it gives us confidence to be able to know that we’ve done it on the road, in a hostile environment, win-orgo-home type of situation and against a seed that was essentially a higher seed than us,” Holiday said. “That gives us confidence knowing that we’ve been here before and we’ve experienced it, we know what it’s like, so it gives us a little bit of whatever you want to say going into this game.”
Unlike last year, however, there hasn’t been any real discernible momentum in this punch-for-punch series. The Bucks haven’t had to build a head of steam off a 0-2 series hole, nor face the specter of facing a “must win” until now.
While it may not sound overly thrilling, but to advance to the Eastern Conference finals the Bucks just need to stay the course.
After seeing the starters pulled early in Game 2 after Boston hit a record 20 threes, the math evened out for the Celtics. It likely will do so again Sunday. The Bucks did a good job of disrupting the role players after their breakout performances, and they’ll have to maintain a wary eye on Williams, Horford and Smart.
Antetokounmpo and Holiday will continue to take most of the shots, as they have all series, but Bobby Portis or Grayson Allen or Brook Lopez will need to score in double figures. Wesley Matthews, George Hill and Holiday must continue to harass Tatum and Brown.
It’s easier to type, and to say, than to do, of course. That’s why Game 7 is on the horizon.
But the Bucks already have done it for three wins in this series and twice in Boston. Keeping it steady isn’t a mantra for the Bucks, but they have lived by it to great success to date. There’s no reason to try and do more than they’ve done.
“Hey, at the end of the day as I said, hopefully we can play good basketball and put ourselves in a position to win,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s all we can do. But, play good. We’ve played good. We’ve won twice on the road there. They beat us twice at home. Hey, Game 7, baby. Hopefully we can play good basketball.”