Everything you need to know about the Bucks' 123-102 win over the Celtics with BSJ insight and analysis
Box Score
HEADLINES
Regular season demons haunt Celtics in Game 2 blowout: The Celtics played the first five games of the postseason with few appearances from their regular season demons. That changed in a hurry in Milwaukee on Wednesday night as the Bucks erupted for a 34-4 run midway through the second half to quickly turn a tight game into a commanding win for the hosts. Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 29 points thanks to 18 free throw attempts while Khris Middleton was lights out from beyond the arc, going 7-of-10 from 3-point range on the way to 28 points in the 23-point win. Eric Bledsoe chipped in with 21 points and five assists as well in a big bounce-back performance for the point guard.
The Celtics meanwhile saw their offense fall apart in the second half, largely thanks to the struggles of Kyrie Irving who managed just nine points on 4-of-18 shooting in perhaps his worst postseason performance of his career. Marcus Morris led the Celtics with 17 to help the visitors keep pace with Milwaukee's firepower for the first 2.5 quarters before the Bucks went on their huge run.
The series is now tied at 1-1 with a two-day break before heading back to the TD Garden on Friday night for a primetime showdown.
Bucks throw a curveball with Mirotic starting: After insisting the Bucks weren’t going to change much heading into Game 2, Mike Budenholzer elected to go with a jumbo line in Game 2 by starting a frontcourt of Mirotic at small forward in place of Sterling Brown. The grouping didn’t get much time together in the first half after Mirotic picked up two quick fouls but the power forward was a net positive for the Bucks all night with his nine points and nine rebounds, helping to space the floor more around Antetokounmpo and the other Bucks 3-point shooters. Collectively, Milwaukee went 20-of-47 as a team, two 3s short of their franchise record. The Celtics failed to take advantage of defensive mismatches with Mirotic in the second half and that proved costly in the midst of the game-changing 34-4 run.
TURNING POINT
The Bucks closed the third quarter with a massive 24-2 run to turn a three-point lead into a commanding 25-point lead at the end of the frame. The Celtics went 1-of-12 from the field over the final seven minutes of the quarter with six turnovers, a stretch that they never recovered from.
TWO UP
Horford: The veteran continues to do his job in the offense, even though he failed to get as many shot attempts as he should this time around. He made six of his first nine shots, including three from 3-point range to score 15 or more points for the fifth time in six games this postseason. His five turnovers was an ugly blemish but the Celtics had no answer for Antetokounmpo whenever he was off the floor.
Marcus Morris: With Irving, struggling, Morris helped to keep the Celtics in the game early with his perimeter shooting, going 3-of-4 from 3-point range and posting a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds while going 6-of-8 from the field.
TWO DOWN
Kyrie Irving: This was an early candidate for worst playoff performance of Irving’s career. He dragged the Celtics offense down for the better part of four quarters, going an ugly 4-of-18 from the field including 1-of-5 from 3-point range while coughing up five turnovers. That production combined with some lazy defense set the stage for Bucks explosion from 3-point range.
Aron Baynes: The big man was a walking foul over his 10 minutes, even though he got a couple of tough calls from the officials. He picked up four fouls on Antetokounmpo over his brief stint, helping Antetokounmpo pile up 18 free throws on the night. The Celtics were outscored by 19 points in his brief stint, which could leave Brad Stevens looking for some alternatives entering Game 3.
TOP PLAY
Are you kidding me, Jaylen? pic.twitter.com/kFzKD879m9
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 1, 2019
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
The Celtics devolved into the regular season version of themselves in the third quarter: The Celtics have been infamous all year long for letting runs get out of hand in a hurry and after avoiding that type of play all postseason prior to Tuesday night, they finally let go of the rope in the third quarter. They settled for lazy jump shots early in the shot clock, failed to take care of the ball (six turnovers) and lacked discipline on the defensive end as they became deflated by the number of 3s the Bucks were knocking down on the way to a 24-4 scoring to close out the quarter. The Celtics were due for one of these in postseason, but it was a bit discouraging to see they still had this type of performance in them. The Bucks certainly shot the lights but there were plenty of self-inflicted wounds here as well.
The Celtics should still be happy with the split here: A missed opportunity for a win with the Bucks lacking Malcolm Brogdon may come back to bite them but sweeping the first two games from the best team in the East would have been a very tall task and was never going to happen with the way Irving played tonight. The Celtics were lucky to be in this game for two and a half quarters with the way he was playing. The Celtics come home with home court advantage in the series now and some problems they need to solve. They will need to adjust to the likely return of Brogdon in Game 3 but they will have a chance to pick on the Bucks aggressive defense in ways they did not tonight. While the Celtics were atrocious in the third quarter, they’ve been the better team for the majority of the first eight quarters in this series and have been a much better team at home all year long.