BSJ Game 4 Report: Celtics 116, Bucks 108 - Horford, Tatum bury Bucks down the stretch to reclaim home court

MILWAUKEE -- Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics looked like a team ready to quit in the first quarter. They were giving up easy buckets, turning the ball over, and allowing offensive rebounds to fall behind by double-digits early. They kept it close, though, going into the half only down by one. Things started to fall apart again in the third quarter with Milwaukee opening up a 10-point lead with 1:33 to go, but Boston outscored Milwaukee 46-28 from there thanks largely to Al Horford. The Celtics salvage the split, regain home court, and play for the series lead Wednesday night in Boston.

Box Score

HEADLINES 

Al Horford was brilliant again: I honestly thought they’d wasted the “Al Horford” game when they couldn't capitalize on his 22-point, 16-rebound night in Game 3. All he did was come out in Game 4 and drop 30 on nearly 80% shooting. 

“Anytime you have (Brook) Lopez that far back in the drop, we can literally run a pick-and-pop anytime we want and get a wide-open 3 at least,” Ime Udoka said. “When you see him going a little bit, obviously have multiple sets where we can get (Jayson Tatum) or (Jaylen Brown) downhill against Lopez and always have that outlet to throw back to."

Jayson Tatum picking on matchups: The Celtics finally got to break through and find some matchups to pick on, including Tatum on George Hill (more on that in a second).

“I think Jay had it going different ways and we know the guys that switch with their team and the guys that hedge,” Udoka said. “I played with George as a rookie in San Antonio, so I know a bit about George and tried to take advantage of that.”

Bucks run out of gas: Two very real issues have become clear for Milwaukee: The stress of Giannis Antetokounmpo having to create his own offense and Jrue Holiday having to contribute as much as he is on the offensive end is taking its toll on them both. What we saw at the end of this game was Holiday getting backed down by Marcus Smart because he had no legs and Giannis waving as Tatum drove by because he was too gassed to help. This is why Boston has its chances to win even when down 10 late in the third. Mike Budenholzer had to take Antetokounmpo out of the game to get him a breather and Tatum ended it. 

TURNING POINTS

I’ll say there were two. 

Boston opened up the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run, punctuated by a massive Horford dunk on Antetokounmpo. His flailing off-arm caught Giannis in the face and drew a technical, but it didn’t matter. The Celtics were awake from there, and it was a fight after that. 

Then Hill came into the game with 5:09 left and it was Tatum’s time to feast. He scored 8 straight points to turn a 2 point game into a 10 point game. 

FOUR UP 

Al Horford: I have to save something for the main story (it’s Horford night here at BSJ), but Horford was perfect in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points while shooting 6-6 (2-2 3pt), 2-2 ft, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist. Not bad for the team dad. 

Jayson Tatum: He was almost perfect in the fourth, scoring 12 on 5-6 shooting. He turned what was an okay night into a spectacular one: 30 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists. 

“It’s a long game. Knowing I still had 12 minutes left to put my mark on this game and try to help us win,” Tatum said. “I always believe the next shot gonna go in, and just my teammates believe in me. They want me to be aggressive and they trust I’m gonna make the right play, and that’s what I was trying to do.”

Marcus Smart: He had 9 points in the fourth capping the game off (and answering the Bucks when they scored late) by backing down Jrue Holiday and scoring in the paint. 

“I'm 6-foot-4, I'm a strong guy,” Smart said. “It was really just putting our head down, putting pressure on the rim on the guys and then making the right read. Sometimes that read was us pulling up and being us. That's what we did. We took what they gave us and nine times out of 10 it was us taking those shots.”

Smart also had 8 assists and some spectacular defense all over the floor. 

“He showed tonight why he was the Defensive Player of the Year,” Horford said. “Just the number that he did in guarding Giannis, guarding Jrue, just taking the challenge. He was unreal. And I don’t think – probably people aren’t talking about that enough. But he was just, for me, that was the game changer. He was unbelievable defensively.”

Derrick White: He has really answered the challenge after struggling the first couple of games. He finished with 11 points on 4-6 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and was a +18 in 34 minutes filling in for Brown, who was in foul trouble all night long. 

TWO DOWN

Grant Williams: Just under 25 minutes of playing time for Williams and just 19 seconds in the fourth quarter. Those 19 seconds involved one play, really, a 3-pointer for Grayson Allen where Williams bit on an upfake and Allen side-stepped it for the bucket. Udoka called a time out and had words for Williams coming off the floor and then benched him. Williams was 1-5 from deep and is now 2-11 in Milwaukee after going 8-13 in Boston. 

Daniel Theis: This just isn’t the series for him. He was 0-5 early on and led the Celtics in shots for a short time. That didn’t go well. 

TOP PLAYS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This is where the floodgates open

I said it in the series preview: Split in Boston, split in Milwaukee, all Boston from there. 

Check, check, … we’ll see, but I’m feeling good about a check there too. 

Like I mentioned earlier, the Bucks can’t play a full 48 against Boston. They barely held on in Game 3 and they would have lost that if Tatum was even halfway decent. They got Brown in massive foul trouble all game and Grant Williams being nothing near what he was in Game 2 AND Robert Williams missing the game and they blew a 10-point lead with 93 seconds to go in the third quarter. 

The Bucks are asking their guys to do too much. Boston knows that even if they don’t have it right away, they can grind it out and steal the game late. 

“We like to (put their guys in actions) and not just let Giannis and those guys roam on the weak-side,” Udoka said. “They're doing a lot, getting 32 shots and playing 41 minutes takes a toll on you alone. But we want to put them in actions and make them work and not let them rest on the defensive end."

If the Celtics can put it all together and head into the fourth quarter with a lead, they will win Game 5 going away. But if they have to gut it out, they're just fine doing that too.

“It's a physical game. The whole game, everyone is fighting, got the best players out there going at it,” Smart said. “Both teams were exhausted but we tried to make sure we weren't the more tired team. We wanted to keep going no matter how tired we were.”

I don’t know where Milwaukee goes from there. Budenholzer will have some tricks, but either way Antetokounmpo is going to have to work really hard all game long. He only played one game of more than 40 minutes all year long and his inability to handle the added minutes and responsibility is showing. 

This fourth quarter was the Drago bleeding moment for me. I think the Celtics picked up a lot of confidence after this one, and they're going use it to close out this series.