BOSTON -- Defense has always been the strength of this Celtics’ team. At least it was until the postseason started.
Injuries and a high-powered Bucks offense had taken away that identity from Boston over the first four games of this first-round matchup. Milwaukee topped all 16 playoff teams in field goal percentage (54 percent) and 3-point percentage (43 percent) over that span, which forced the Celtics to win games in this series with their offense, rather than defense. Boston rode hot shooting to two wins at the TD Garden during Games 1 and 2, but relying on that kind of production for a series win was a dangerous path for a team that had a middle-of-the-road offense this season (17th overall), even with a healthy Kyrie Irving in the lineup.
After watching Semi Ojeleye play some strong defense in the second half of Game 4 to spark a near-comeback win in Milwaukee, Brad Stevens came to an important realization: Defense was the best path to a series win for this group. One key lineup switch combined with the return of one of the best defensive guards in the league got this group back to their roots in the C’s hard-fought 92-87 win over the Bucks in Game 5.
Semi rises to the challenge
The rookie had to wait through 77 NBA games to get his first career start in place of center Aron Baynes, but he was ready for one of the toughest assignments any player can have in the NBA: Slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo. The second-round pick had done an admirable job on limited Giannis duty as he bounced in and out of the C’s rotation over the first four playoff games. However, the equation changed in Game 5. Giannis was going be all his whenever he was in the contest.
“Just try to make it tough on Giannis as a scorer,” Ojeleye said about his instructions from Stevens before the game. “He’s a tough player and a tough matchup for a lot of guys. Just trying to make it as tough as possible. He made a lot of tough shots.”
Antetokounmpo did make some tough shots, but the biggest key to Ojeleye’s performance was the All-Star didn’t have many enticing openings to take shots. He settled for 10 shot attempts over his 41 minutes, the second-lowest shot total for him during the 2017-18 season. He went 5-of-10 from the field, scoring a series-low 16 points.
“Giannis is a heck of a player,” Stevens explained. “You’re not going to be perfect against him. You’re not going to hold him down by any means. He makes plays for other people, he’s very unselfish if he’s not the one scoring. But we just felt like we needed a little bit more ball pressure overall, and so that was the decision to go smaller. Semi is a guy who has been a versatile defender for us all year, and that’s a tall task, to ask a guy to guard Giannis the whole night.”
Ojeleye has been a favorite of Stevens all year long situationally for his defensive ability, but the coach recognized his ability to defend Antetokounmpo in the first couple weeks of the season.
However, Ojeleye's presence also gave the C’s some needed versatility up and down their lineup. The Bucks had been wreaking havoc with mismatches all series long, but having Ojeleye out there gave them four players that could hold their own against switches.
“It made it a little bit easier for us, because we could switch,” Jaylen Brown explained. “Me and Al can switch, me and Semi switch, Morris and Al, JT ... we’re all the same size, so it made it a lot easier for us.”
Ojeleye’s presence at power forward also freed up Al Horford to play more of a quarterback role on the defensive end, instead of focusing all of his efforts on locating Antetokounmpo on every possession. He cleaned up the glass with a game-high 14 rebounds and managed to block a couple shots while serving as a help defender on drives and on the perimeter.
“I’m not going to take anything away from any player,” Antetokounmpo said. “It wasn’t just Semi Ojeleye, it was everybody guarding me. He did a great job. He played hard and competed for his team.”
Smart's return brings aggression, options
While Ojeleye may have made life easier for the starters, Smart’s defense breathed a different kind of life to the Celtics defense as he returned to the floor in Game 5 following surgery on his torn thumb tendon. The point guard helped bring a different sense of unpredictability to Boston’s attack as he loomed as a timely help defender all over the floor for the majority of his 24 minutes.
He had a game-high three blocks, one steal and countless strong contests of Bucks on drives that helped force them into a 36 percent shooting night as a team.
Welcome back, Marcus! pic.twitter.com/gzsu00QB7U
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 24, 2018
Marcus Smart ?
?: https://t.co/idy2OHo9V3 pic.twitter.com/dAk2MmG891
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 25, 2018
That defense though>> pic.twitter.com/I7vK82YFte
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 25, 2018