BSJ Game Report: Celtics 109, Bucks 86 - Jaylen Brown, C's shooting, come alive in Game 2 win

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of their semifinal series, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out on FIRE behind a rejuvenated Jaylen Brown, who dropped 17 first-quarter points. The first half was played nearly perfectly as they built a 25-point lead. The Bucks made a run in the third quarter as the Celtics got away from a lot of the patient ball movement that built their big lead, but the Celtics answered late to keep Milwaukee comfortably at bay. The fourth quarter was a disjointed mess thanks to a ton of reviews, and the Bucks made a couple of pushes to whittle the lead down, but the Celtics were able to hold them off.

Box Score

HEADLINES

This is how you do it: Sorry for the Montel Jordan earworm, but this was exactly how the Celtics were supposed to play in Game 1. Well, mostly, anyway. 

“There was a little bit of a lull in the game at times with all the replays and the reviews and all that,” Ime Udoka said after the game. “Credit them, they upped their intensity a little bit, they made the adjustment in the second half not closing out as hard and we adjusted to that and kind of got it back in the fourth quarter.”

That first half set the tone, and the Celtics got back to playing Celtics basketball. When things got tough down the stretch, they remembered who they were and got back to what worked to salt the game away.

Jaylen Brown returns: I had a strong feeling he’d be back to his usual self in this game. He did have a moment where he grabbed his hamstring at the end of the game, but it didn’t look like he was hobbled. The three days off will be huge for him. Now the question is can they keep managing it throughout the series (and beyond, if they can win). 

Big-time defense: They shut down the Bucks shooters, holding Milwaukee to 3-18 shooting from deep after they went 12-34 on 3-pointers in Game 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo woke up in the second half, but his first half was so bad (2-12 fg, 5 points) that it was just too much of a hill to climb for the Bucks. 

TURNING POINT

With the Bucks down just 12 in the fourth quarter, Jayson Tatum drove and kicked with a little more than four minutes to go, giving Brown a potential corner 3. A minute later, Tatum made the same decision with Derrick White on the second attack with the same result. Tack on a Grant Williams 3 right after that and the lead got back up to 21. 

FIVE UP

Jaylen Brown: Night and day from Game 1. He came out aggressive right away and got himself going with midrange shots. 

“We shoot over 30 percent of our shots from midrange on the season and only took 17 percent in Game 1. We knew those were open,” Udoka said. “You don't have to overpenetrate and drive into the bigs or take the 3 only. We have two elite midrange shooters and we welcome those shots, especially when they are back in that drop. I talked to Jayson, Jaylen specifically about that and we wanted to set better screens and free them up and we knew we would have those looks and they knocked them down.”

Midrange shots get a bad rap, and there's a good statistical reason for that in general. But these kinds of shots where the defense is playing way off and guys can comfortably step right into them are shots that have to be taken.

He finished with 30 points on 61% shooting to go along with 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block and only 2 turnovers. 

Jayson Tatum: A very patient performance for Tatum who was very happy to give the ball up (8 assists) and wait for the right time to strike. The two corner 3-pointers he hit late in the game were picture-perfect. 

“I think it’s all about pass and relocate,” he said after the game. “You don’t want to pass and just stay in one spot. Just always try to find an opening on the court. It’s something we talked about and watched film over. So just a read that we’ve drilled in practice and watching film. I think it was just the chemistry of guys knowing where you’re supposed to be at wherever it is.”

Grant Williams: He was one of the guys tasked with taking Giannis head-on defensively, which he did very well most of the game. And as if running into that brick wall (or having that brick wall run into you) all night isn’t enough, he turned around and dropped a career-high 21-point night on 7-14 shooting, including 6-9 from 3. 

To top it off, he had a fan club in the stands rocking his Tennessee Volunteer orange: 

He lit up when he was asked about it. “That's kinda dope. I've never had that in my career,” he said with a huge smile on his face.

Al Horford: Another guy who took on the Giannis challenge early and passed with flying colors. He didn’t shoot well from 3 in this one, but his 11 point, 11 rebound, 3 assist, 4 steal, 1 block night was solid all around. 

Robert Williams: He made more of an impact in this one with 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks, though the Celtics can definitely get him more involved. Udoka says the Celtics missed Williams a few times at the rim, but this was a marked improvement. Expect this trend to continue upward. 

ZERO DOWN

I thought the Celtics generally played well in this game. They also only played 7 guys in the game until garbage time so that doesn’t leave many options. 

I will take this opportunity to mention White, who missed all six of the shots he took but still managed to be a +22 because he was moving the ball and playing defense. He had 5 assists in the game and 4 rebounds. 

“We don't lose a lot as far as that, which is hard to say with Marcus (Smart) being Defensive Player of the Year,” Udoka said. “But we don't lose anything schematically or coverage-wise with Derrick with his size and versatility. We went to the short rotation as far as that. We knew with these three days off coming up, we could play guys a little heavier minutes."

I’ll just mention Payton Pritchard who played nearly 24 minutes to a standstill. The Celtics were able to match the Jevon Carter minutes to a lot of Pritchard’s, giving Pritchard a smaller opponent he could guard most of the time. The Bucks did get some switches onto him, but he was actually able to force an Antetokounmpo turnover, which got the bench going. 

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This is the Jaylen Brown that needs to show up every night. 

Brown is an All-Star level player, but he is prone to the occasional off night. That can’t happen anymore. 

The Celtics formula for most of the 2022 season has been Brown gets them started and Tatum brings them home. If Brown isn’t there to be part of the 1-2 punch, Boston is getting knocked out at this point of the season. 

Luckily for Boston, he was ready to go in this one. 

“Yeah, JB was locked in, locked in from last game, locked in from shoot around,” Tatum said. “If I was a betting man, I would have bet that JB was gonna have a great game. And he set the tone, and that was big for us. Just how aggressive he was coming out making the right plays for himself and for others. He kind of got us going tonight.”

There might be a time where the Bucks just play great defense on him and keep him in check, and if they do, you tip your hat to them and move on. But his level of awareness and ball movement in Game 2 stood in stark contrast to Game 1. 

This is going to be a tough series. It very easily could go 7 and come down to the last couple of minutes. Brown is going to have to be present and locked in the whole way. No more singular-focused scoring attempts, no more hazy-eyed turnovers.

He’s too good for that. He proved how good he could be in this game. Boston built a 25-point lead because of what Brown was able to do. The Celtics have championship aspirations now. He has to live up to them. 

- Grant Williams is the X-factor

All that said about Brown, it might actually be Grant Williams who swings this series. Game 3 will tell us a lot about how this will go. 

Will he be able to go chest-to-chest against Antetokounmpo and not get into foul trouble, or will these bang-bang plays start to go against him in Milwaukee?

The Celtic were able to stay home on Giannis and the Bucks bench only hit ONE 3-pointer. It won’t go quite like that in Milwaukee, but being able to stay home on him again will make it pretty close.