The Celtics are moving on to face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s a very short turnaround for the team after beating the Milwaukee Bucks last night in Game 7 of the semis.
While I get my thoughts together for a full preview in the morning, here are some parting thoughts from the Bucks series.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo is just unreal.
I know, I know … he travels sometimes and they don’t call it. It’s frustrating. Also, they don’t call some of the push-offs or when he lowers his shoulder. That's not his fault. Celtics fans want Jayson Tatum to lower his shoulder too.
What he really is, is the most dominant player on the planet. He averaged 33.9 points, 14.7 rebounds, and 7.1 assists in this series, and was the single reason why the Bucks even made it to a Game 7.
The Celtics did an incredible job on him. They forced him into 36 turnovers, the most he's ever turned it over in a series. That's 8 more than he did against Brooklyn in their seven games last year. His 45.7% shooting was his fourth lowest in a playoff series, and lowest ever in a seven game series.
And he still averaged 34 points a game.
That's amazing. They beat the hell out of him and he didn’t run out of gas until the very end.
- Boston might regret not finishing this when they could
All that said, This is a tough spot for the Celtics. I feel like they're going to beat Miami, but they're going to have a tougher time, I think, because of how much the Heat can junk up the game.
The Celtics could have won Game 3 if Jayson Tatum had any juice. They blew Game 5 by collapsing in the fourth quarter. After benefiting from some rest before and after the first round series against Brooklyn, the Celtics are going from Milwaukee to Miami in a day.
“It’s definitely a challenge,” Al Horford said before hopping on the team flight to Miami today. “Obviously just a very quick turnaround, but I wouldn’t have it any other way to be in this position and have this opportunity in front of us.”
Considering the options, going to Miami on a short turnaround versus not going at all is the better choice. I still wonder how that will impact them in Game 1.
This is where the assistant coaching staff is going to be really put to the test. The video guys and the assistants tasked with putting this game plan together are going to have to be clear and thorough. While Udoka and his main guys were focused on getting by Milwaukee, others were gathering everything the team would need to know to get ready for this series.
Obviously, Udoka could take some time to divert some attention to the Heat plan, but he puts his trust in his staff to handle things like this. This is their time to show their worth.
- I don’t care to hide this: I’m happy Grayson Allen lost.
- I’m very curious how Milwaukee re-tools this offseason.
This could be a long stretch of Boston vs. Milwaukee for East supremacy, but one thing that has made Milwaukee so formidable is Brook Lopez patrolling the middle. Boston was able to push him off the floor by going smaller, which really helped in Game 7. He was the biggest reason why they had an early lead, but Boston rendered him unplayable when they downsized.
But he’s also 34 now and under contract for two more years. I’m not sure how much longer they can rely on him to make it through a full season. They also have to figure out Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis, and Wesley Matthews, all of whom can be free agents this summer.
They are heavily invested in the Antetokounmpo/Khris Middleton/Jrue Holiday core, paying them a combined $115.5 million next season. That doesn’t leave much room to spend after that.
The Bucks will be a threat as long as Giannis is there. But if they're not careful, Milwaukee could be in for a lot more hard-fought losses like this moving forward.
- Ime has some cojones giving Robert Williams a DNP-CD in Game 7
I’m sure he would have broken glass in case of emergency if the Celtics were really reeling, but it still took a lot for Udoka to say “nah, we’ll still roll with a sprinkling of Daniel Theis here and see how it goes.”
A lot of coaches would have gone back to the formula that worked. Maybe you can count Mike Budenholzer among them for starting Allen instead of Connaughton. Udoka didn’t. It worked.
- I hope Marcus Smart holds up.
He took a wicked fall in the middle of Game 7. He’s been beaten to a pulp, and he’s questionable for Game 1 in Miami with a mid-foot sprain, but it seems to be something he can play with.
Still, that dude puts his body on the line all the time. I hope he can make it through two more rounds.
This Bucks series was a rugby match in basketball shorts, and it will impact the Celtics somehow here. I’ll dive into how when I put my full series preview together. Miami is a different team, and they’ll be challenged in different ways, but Boston has a lot of advantages they can lean on.
It’ll be a fun series. Hopefully a little more fun than the last one for Boston. With the elimination of the Phoenix Suns, things seem wide open for a title run.