Playoff Al Horford, an attacking Jaylen Brown & other leftover thoughts from Celtics-Bucks

A mix of leftover thoughts and analysis after the Celtics' thrilling Game 1 win over the Bucks on Sunday.   

1. The return of playoff Al: While Isaiah Thomas got most of the postseason accolades last season over the first two rounds, Al Horford was quietly the Celtics’ best player over that stretch, giving the game whatever it needed on a nightly basis. After an up-and-down final two months of the regular season, this version of the All-Star emerged yet again against the Bucks in Game 1. He posted team-highs in nearly every major statistical category (24 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks) and managed to do it while guarding one of the best 10 players in the league for the better part of his 44 minutes. The 32-year-old also posted a career-high in free throws made (13) and attempted (14), drawing a plethora of fouls in the post despite facing endless ball pressure. Hitting nearly every crunch time free throw in the final minute and overtime was no small feat either.

“We wanted to post him,” Brad Stevens explained. “We wanted to make him play in the post, and make Giannis defend down there, and I thought Al did a good job. He earned all 14 free-throw attempts, I know that, because he was – he was really, really working to get to the line and really working to get position early. And, you know, I thought Al battled. I thought everybody on both sides looked a little gassed at the end of overtime; I’m not sure anybody was more tired than Al, because he put in an incredible effort for us.”

The biggest part of Horford’s night, however, may have been his ability to assert control in the face of an aggressive Giannis Antetokounmpo. He turned the ball just one time over 44 minutes, negating one of the Bucks biggest defensive strengths (forcing turnovers). The way Milwaukee is going to win this series is by getting out in transition and while other Celtics had trouble on this front (15 turnovers), Horford didn’t contribute to that mess, despite a spike in turnover rate recently. If he can continue to handle the pressure and punish the Bucks for it, the Celtics should win this series.

“We’re going to ride Al,” Stevens added. “He’s been unbelievable in being a facilitator for us all year. He has his moments because of the way that we’re being defended, where he gets to be more of a featured scorer. With where we are now, he’s going to be more of a featured scorer, and facilitate, and guard Giannis, and do everything.”

2. Eric Bledsoe wasn’t ready for primetime: It wasn’t the debut for the 28-year-old point guard, but the speedster had not been on the postseason stage for over five years prior to Sunday. He spent his time with the Clippers back in 2013 as an energy guard off the bench but looked overwhelmed in a more prominent postseason role against the Celtics. He shot poorly from the field (4-of-12) and had a team-high five turnovers as his forays into the teeth of the C’s defense led to trouble throughout the day. His inability to become a viable third option for Milwaukee within this offense could turn into a major storyline for this series if it continues. The Bucks have few places to turn for scoring outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, and the Celtics weren’t punished by Bledsoe’s perimeter open looks yesterday. Combine that with his gambling defensive mentality (which led to six fouls and a ugly fake out on Terry Rozier’s jumper at the end of regulation) and the C’s can feel good about the odds that Rozier wins this head-to-head matchup.

3. The Celtics punished the Bucks on the offensive glass (without help from their bigs): On a day when the Celtics shot miserably from the field (41 percent), their saving grace was work on the offensive glass. They crashed the boards for 11 offensive rebounds, which produced 22 second-chance points on the afternoon, giving them a 22-4 edge over the Bucks in that department. While matchups kept the minutes down for two of Boston’s best rebounders (Greg Monroe and Aron Baynes), the C’s stayed extremely active as a team on the glass, with seven players grabbing at least one offensive board.

More importantly, they were able to punish the Bucks on the glass when they went with Giannis Antetokounmpo at the five. Jayson Tatum and Marcus Morris used their length to get good position inside against the Bucks defenders at the end of regulation and overtime, which produced some scrappy extra opportunities.

When the Celtics can get Antetokounmpo out of the paint by contesting Horford, the Bucks are left with no good defensive rebounders on the floor when they go small. Boston has the length advantage at nearly every position and they’ll need to exploit that as this series moves forward. Game 1 was a good start on that front.

4. Big day for Jaylen Brown attacking the basket: The 21-year-old guard made a point of attempting the rim on Sunday and found plenty of opportunity on that front. 12 of his 19 shot attempts came in the restricted area and he made managed to finish seven of those for bucks on his way to a 20-point outing. The ability for the 6-foot-7 guard to use his athleticism to beat smaller/slower defenders like Brogdon and Jabari Parker will be pivotal in this series to punish a Bucks team that likes to pressure hard on the perimeter. Brown didn't receive a lot of help from the officials — he drew no shooting fouls on his repeated forays in the paint — but this type of mentality is a promising sign for the guard, who posted a post career-high in Game 1, along with Terry Rozier. Brown delivered strong two-way play for most of the afternoon (team-high plus-18). With no reliable backup behind him, the C’s are going to need to ride him in a similar vein to Horford for timely offense.

5. The Celtics played Jabari Parker off the floor: The Bucks went small to end the game, but they did it without one of their best offensive weapons in Parker. That’s because the C’s happily exploited him in the 14 minutes he played, with multiple C’s scoring past him on drives and finding easy buckets in his vicinity. This is a good news/bad news proposition if you are the Celtics. On the one hand, defending the Bucks without him is a far easier task, given his strong inside/outside gain. On the flip side, Parker not playing big minutes gives the C’s one less weakness to pick on. Milwaukee ended up playing a stronger defensive lineup down the stretch with Malcolm Brogdon, Tony Snell, and Bledsoe but there’s far less playmaking within that group than there is with Parker. With Giannis and Middleton already make life tough for the Boston on defense, not having to deal with Parker was a nice change bonus with the game on the line. It should be a tough decision for Joe Prunty on a nightly basis for the rest of this series.