Game 4 Final: Celtics 116, Bucks 108 - Career game from Horford evens series

ROUND 2, GAME 4
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee leads 2-1
Fiserv Forum
7:30 PM - TNT

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

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

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

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Robert Williams is out with left knee soreness. To everyone's surprise, Robert Williams was ruled out of tonight's Game 4 with sorness in his surgically repaired left knee. 

“Had some soreness today," Ime Udoka said. "Just kind of flared up and kind of out of nowhere and didn't really feel anything yesterday or during the game, it wasn’t an incident, so a little flare up and got irritated. Tried to warm up and didn't feel good enough.”

Udoka stressed this is not a surprise or a setback. 

"It's not unexpected to have this after a surgery, but it's been soreness at times and just a little more irritated today than usual," Udoka said. "So they took a look at it, tried to warm him up. But in between other games, he's had some natural soreness and just was a little worse today. So not much more to test, just pain tolerance and flexion.”

Grant Williams gets the start in his place. 

- Sam Hauser on the Celtics injury report. He’s listed with a “right shoulder instability episode.” According to Udoka, Hauser fell and hurt his shoulder trying to keep himself up. It won’t be a long-term issue, but Udoka says it will probably be a few weeks out for Hauser. 

- Interesting stats via Celtics radio voice Sean Grande: 

• Tatum has shot below 30% three times in 2022. He shots 61% and scored 96 points in 104 minutes in the games following those performances. 

• The Celtics haven't lost back-to-back games in which Smart has played since the early January Spurs/Knicks losses. 

• Boston hasn’t lost consecutive road games since that Knicks loss

- Milwaukee is favored by 1

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Poise and discipline. Forget all the technical stuff for a minute. What the Celtics are missing here is the poise and discipline to get through these tough stretches.

“Lot of wasted possessions in the third quarter where we didn't get into anything with any pace or execution,” Ime Udoka said. “They kind of climbed up into us and our main thing is playing with poise and composure. That's the theme going into the series, they're trying to be physical. So we could do a lot better job as far as that. That carry-over has to be game-to-game. It can't be what we did well in Game 2, forget about it and don't do it in Game 3. The formula is what it is and we understand what we have success doing. As far as that, going back and looking at the fourth quarter, we upped our defense and kind of transitioned that into good offense. It has to work hand-in-hand."

Look around the league and you’ll see the best teams playing with poise under pressure. When the Celtics are at their best, they're doing the same thing. It takes intense focus and maturity to get to that place menatally, but Boston has to be better about keeping things together when Milwaukee makes a few plays. 

It’s very “action hero walking away from an explosion without flinching.” Find a way to stay cool, and the plays will come. 

2. Screen setting. "We gotta set screens and free these guys up and they can walk into a wide open shot,” Udoka said in his assessment of Game 3. 

This is simple, and it’s on both the bigs and the ball handlers. The defender needs to be set up to be screened and then the screener needs to set them at good angles, and be strong with them to give the ball handler room to make his move or take his shot. 

If Milwaukee is going to play drop coverage against Tatum, then the Celtics can make them pay with good screens and easy midrange jumpers. Those shots are basically warm up shots, and against this defense, they need to be taken. 

3. Switching off of Giannis. The Celtics have to have a better defensive plan against Antetokounmpo than switching Jaylen Brown onto him and hoping for the best. My friend Mo Dhakil explains that very well here.

Basically, in a close game down the stretch, Boston has to be a lot more creative than just letting Giannis go one-on-one against ANYBODY. I’m very pro single-coverage, but as good as Brown can be defensively, that's too much to ask. 

A LITTLE MORE 

I discuss the potential Tatum bounce-back game, using Robert Wiliams better, backlash from the officiating, and more with ESPN’s Andrew Lopez 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.