Game 3 Final: Bucks 103, Celtics 101 - C's comeback falls a half second short

ROUND 2, GAME 3
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Milwaukee Bucks
Series tied 1-1
Fiserv Forum
3:30 PM - ABC

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams

Milwaukee: Jrue Holiday, Wesley Matthews, Bobby Portis, Grayson Allen, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Marcus Smart was listed as “probable” and is expected to play. 

“Marcus is doing much better. Went through shootaround (yesterday), walked through, got some extra work in,” Ime Udoka said. 

- Jaylen Brown is fine. 

“He felt fine after the game,” Udoka said. “I took him out of (Game 2), late in the game, because of those long stretches and our lead at the time. So Jaylen’s fine.”

- Sam Hauser is out with a “right shoulder instability episode.”

- Milwaukee is favored by 1.5

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- It’s finally game time.

After an unusual three day break between games, the Celtics and Bucks finally resume their semifinal series. 

“It’s different,” Horford said. “And I’ve been in playoffs where we play every other day. When that’s the case you’re hoping, you’re wishing, ‘Man, I hope we get an extra day.’ Now with this case it’s like a ‘When are we playing?’ type of thing.”

As antsy as the group may be, the extra days off have allowed for some necessary healing, especially Marcus Smart and his deep thigh bruise. He is probably going to play today, but he most likely would not have been ready to go if the game was on Thursday. Missing time is not something Smart enjoys. 

“It was very difficult. I was very, very antsy that whole day,” Smart said. “Couldn't sleep, couldn't even take a nap. Just wishing I was out there with my guys. It's really tough, and my guys know, anybody who knows me understands that if I'm gonna miss a game, especially a playoff game, something's really got to be wrong with me. So it was really tough.”

Smart has gone through the work to get back on the floor. Meanwhile, the coaching staff has gone through the work of making sure Smart and his teammates are in the right spots this afternoon. 

“Obviously, this time of year, guys are banged up a little bit here and there and that benefits us as far as that and it gives us preparation time to make adjustments, look at the games and see what we want to do better in areas to improve in,” Udoka said. “After this, it goes to every other day so I think you have to take advantage of these last breaks you have before it gets to every other day. We've done that, had our preparation time with the week off before Brooklyn and after Brooklyn. I think it's benefited us going into the playoffs, these breaks have been great.”

The only way Boston gets another break like this if they win out in this series, which would be nice but is not very likely. The Eastern Conference Finals will start on either May 15 or 17, depending on how all these series finish. The only chance Boston has to pull off the unlikely gentleman’s sweep is to be healthy, which this break allowed them to be (at least healthier than they would have been if they played Thursday). 

However the rest of the series goes, it will go every other day. The rest periods, and the waits, are over. 

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Milwaukee’s 3-pointers: This might be their highest priority coming out of Game 2. They buried Boston off Antetokounmpo assists in Game 1 and were summarily shut down after that due to the Celtics focusing on guarding him straight up. 

So how will the Bucks generate some open 3’s this time around? My guess is that Giannis as the screener will create some of the same driving lanes as late in Game 2. Boston will come up with a counter and the answer to that counter will be to find someone spotting up on the opposite side of the floor. 

The help defense will have to be ON. POINT. Milwaukee is not going to settle for just three made 3-pointers this time around. 

2. Jaylen Brown spreading the wealth: This applies both to his scoring and to his passing. It was great to see “first quarter Jaylen” back in Game 2. Now let’s see him grow that a little bit to get some “third quarter Jaylen” involved and “Jaylen the distributor” to be the second or third attacker in plays to really open up the floor for others. 

Milwaukee is going to do everything they can to bottle up Tatum. Brown is their ace in the hole on offense. Nail the mid-range shots early, find the dump-offs if the Milwaukee defense softens, and then when they get unsure, bury them with the attack.

3. Aggressive attacking (and Robert Williams’ role in that): When Udoka said “it’s not Wilt Chamberlain out there. There’s guys we can get downhill and attack and we’ve got guys that can finish,” it made me think ‘oh boy, these guys are going to have a plan to attack the rim in Game 3.’ When Udoka is flashing that kind of attitude, it means he’s (a) upset that his team hasn’t attacked and (b) he’s going to hammer it home that they need to attack. 

That plan has to involve more Robert Williams. He’s slowly been doing more on the offensive end, but I still believe that he’s the key to wearing out that rim defense. Milwaukee’s defense is physical and tough, but they are HYPER-focused on the ball and there are seams in there that will give Williams runs to the rim.

The Celtics can hit jumpers, and they’ll have to if they're going to win this series, but they also have to find their way to the rim. There are ways to do it. 

A LITTLE MORE 

I get into what we can look forward to in Game 3, along with some of what we saw in Games 1 and 2, with Locked on Bucks host Kane Pitman in the latest Locked on Celtics podcast. You can watch below, or subscribe wherever you get podcasts. 

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments