BSJ Game Report: Celtics 109, Bucks 81 - C's throttle Milwaukee in second half, advance to ECF

Everything you need to know about the Boston Celtics Game 7 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics came out ice cold in the first quarter -- like, 10 degrees outside with a wind chill of -15 cold -- but they were able to keep things close despite Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly dropping a triple double. It was all Boston after that, though, as the Celtic slowly, but steadily, gained, and then built a lead once their 3-pointers started to fall. Grant Williams took 18 of them, hitting 7, to be the unlikely hero in a 109-81 Game 7 win over Milwaukee. The champs have been dethroned, and Boston moves on to face Miami Tuesday night. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Grant Williams finds his shot: He’s spent a few days in the “down” portion of the game story, but that changed in this game. He broke out of an early cold streak to ultimately go 7-18 from deep. Ime Udoka told him to let it fly, and Williams obliged in a big way. He took more shots than any Celtic and outscored everyone on the floor. 

Incredible defense: The Celtics held the Bucks to just 81 points and they finally got Giannis to buckle. He scored 25 points but it took him 26 shots. Jrue Holiday scored 21 on 21 shots. 

“It felt like we kind of started to grind them down a little bit tonight,” Udoka said. “Missed some of the easier shots around the basket and that's what we talked about. We’re not relying on one guy, and you look at Holiday and him you know, a lot of the times they're taking close to the number of shots to get that amount of points. And so we stuck with that, making them work, kind of locking in on the other guys. And every game you looked at the stat sheet it was a bunch of zeros across the board.”

Yup. Wesley Matthews, Pat Connaughton, Grayson Allen, and Holiday were a combined 0-18 from 3. Some of that is just luck, but a lot of it is great defense. Milwaukee was held to two 17-point quarters, and a 21-point quarter. 

This is why you want Game 7 at home: The Celtics were more than happy to bring up the fact that they won their last game of the season while Milwaukee didn’t in an attempt to avoid Brooklyn. The decision gave Boston home court in this one, and it mattered. 

“This is what we played for, why we played the season out, to have home-court advantage in a Game 7,” Udoka said. “If you believe in the basketball gods, those things matter. And so for us, we played it out, and did what we did really most of the second half of the year - not fearing anybody and playing the way we have. So it’s good to kind of be rewarded against a really tough test.”

TURNING POINT

The Celtics opened up the third quarter on an 11-4 run to take command and open up a double-digit lead, which could be considered one. But I’ll go with the three-minute stretch where Payton Pritchard basically knocked the champs out with three 3-pointers. After one of them, he ran back yelling “that’s what I do!” That was the game.

FOUR UP

Grant Williams: How many times is Williams going to take 22 shots, more than Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown?

“Every shot he took tonight was a good shot. He took 22 shots and he easily could’ve took 30,” Tatum said. “We just say play the right way. Make the right plays and if Grant took 10 open shots in a row, that’s what we expect. When guys be hesitant and pass open shots, it kind of throws the rhythm of that play off. We tell everyone, when you’re open, shoot the ball."

He finished with a career-high 27 points. 

Payton Pritchard: 14 points off the bench and that pivotal stretch of 9 points to break things open was one thing, but he was also getting into the paint to grab offensive rebounds. He’s a hustler. He had 5 rebounds overall and 3 assists. 

Jayson Tatum: 23 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds for Tatum. He hit Williams 3 times, Pritchard for a couple of 3-pointers, and one pretty alley-oop to Brown. 

Jaylen Brown: A steady game from Brown, too. It feels weird that these guys weren’t the story in this game. He did play a big role in the third quarter, scoring 9, including a mid-range jumper against the drop coverage that we’ve been talking about. 

Marcus Smart: Did not shoot well but he did have 10 assists. He also drew a foul on a half court heave at the end of the first half and he did this: 

ONE DOWN

Derrick White: Just his shooting, really. He was 1-10, but that 1 was a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter that made it a 15-point game. The rest of his game was fine. 

TOP PLAYS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The Basketball Gods at work

No, I don't believe in a spiritual kabal pulling the strings of a basketball game. The “Basketball Gods” are basically a way to say comeuppance, and the Bucks got plenty of that. 

Boston played their season out the right way. They didn’t duck anyone and they were rewarded with a home Game 7, which matters a whole lot. 

“Super important that we played a Game 7 on our home floor,” Brown said. “I think our crowd, our energy, definitely, we fed off that tonight. Especially when you have guys like Payton and Grant who get into the game and feed off the energy of the crowd, it’s different if we’re in a different arena. So having homecourt was huge for us. I’m glad we made the decision that we did.”

We like to talk about things like karma or the Basketball Gods because we like to believe in the concept of getting what you deserve; that working hard and doing things the right way will lead to positive results. I know that's not always the case, but it’s great to see it happen nonetheless. 

It’s not that I even blame Milwaukee for what they did. I understand it. But the bottom line here is that they sent the Celtics a message with that decision: We’ll cede home court to you in a potential Game 7 because we don’t think it will matter. 

It did matter, and they got what they deserved. They were outscored 61-38 in the second half. 

- Miami is in trouble

Game 1 of this series was predictably difficult because the difference in physicality between Brooklyn and Milwaukee is the difference between a pillow fight and a rock fight. Miami is a physical team too, but not like this. 

“Milwaukee, I think did a great job of preparing us for Miami because Milwaukee is a super physical team,” Brown said. “So I think just maintaining that same mindset and going into the next series that is going to be physical, and we can't be afraid to take on that challenge and can't shy away from it. I think Milwaukee did a good job of preparing us for what's next.”

There is a short turnaround with Game 1 being Tuesday night, but the Celtics know Miami well. They will walk into the FTX Arena sore, but calloused from their battle with the Bucks. There won’t be a surprise to start the series, because the Bucks played at the absolute highest level.