Milwaukee Bucks vs Boston Celtics summary: stats and highlights | NBA Playoffs
Milwaukee Bucks vs Boston Celtics
That is going to all for our live coverage. Stay in touch with all of the NBA action here at AS USA.
So the Eastern Conference semi-final series is now three games to Milwaukee and two games to Boston, as it moves back to Milwaukee for a critical Game 6. The final score here at Boston Garden tonight Milwaukee Bucks 110, Boston Celtics 107.
As for the Celtics, they did most things right tonight, with the exception of second half turnovers. They must get that under control if they are to stay in this race.
They may be able to get through the Celtics, but then what? They would need to face the Heat or 76ers and then likely the Suns. With the beating that Giannis is taking in these playoffs, Milwaukee have to get other players involved in the scoring. They have shown that they are capable of scoring, now let them do it.
While Giannis had 40 points tonight, the real key element to their victory was getting points out of the supporting cast. Holiday finished on 24, while Portis and Connaughton had 14 and 13 respectively. All of those were in the second half, and without their contribution, the Bucks couldn't have done it.
Cargando...
That cut looks like it will need a stitch or two.
Cargando...
Cargando...
The Bucks will now take the series back home for Game 6, up by 3-2 and have a chance to put it away. The Celtics will try to bring the series back to Boston for a Game 7.
An incredible come from behind story by Milwaukee. What resolve. The key to the comeback is that in the second half, the Bucks managed to get a few other players into their attack, notably Jrue Holiday.
Smart takes the ball in and Holiday picks him again! That is it! The Bucks win it 110-107!
Connaughton gets the ball and the foul. He heads to the line and makes it a three point game.
With 6.6 on the clock, Milwaukee take a timeout.
Celtics have to get the ball down the court and Jrue Holiday strips the ball off Smart!
This is the first time that the Bucks have been in front since very early in the second quarter.
Giannis sinks one and misses two. But Portis gets the rebound and sinks it to give the Bucks the lead! 11 seconds left and Boston takes a timeout at 108-107
Giannis takes the ball and draws a foul from Williams.
Tatum puts in both shots giving him 34 on the night. 105-107 Boston
37 seconds remaining. Celtics take it to the rim and Tatum draws the foul.
Blood is streaming down Giannis face. We have another timeout and it will be Boston's ball.
With a minute left, the Celtics are trying to slow the game down and the Bucks are trying to pick it up. Holiday gets the ball and hits a three! We have a tied ball game at 105!
Giannis hits a three, his second of the game. Now we are at 102-105
Giannis had blood above his eye, leading to an official timeout to take care of that.
Milwaukee has the ball and give it away. The Celtics head down the other end and Horford slams the rebound home!
The Bucks take another timeout at 99-103
Jayson Tatum hits a two for his 32nd of the night. The ball goes up to the other end and Smart is fouled by Giannis, his fourth foul.
The Bucks get the turnover and Jrue Holiday gets one in to make it a two point game.
Giannis drives the board and puts in two. He now has 36 on the night.
Tatum hits a mid-range jump shot and brings it to 95-101 and the Bucks call timeout
Matthews knocks in a three and pulls the Bucks to within four, 95-99
The turnovers are coming thick and fast on both sides of the ball.
Portis sinks both and the ball now goes down the other way, where Brown gets a trip to the line as well
Brown throws the ball away for the Celtics and the Bucks drive down and give it Portis, who draws the foul. This is his third trip to the line this half.
Connaughton hits another three and the Celtics take a timeout with an eight point lead. It is 90-98
Giannis drives on Horford and has the ball stripped. Giannis fouls Horford for his third foul.
With just under nine minutes to go, Boston have an 11 point lead at 96-85
Connaughton hits a much-needed three for Milwaukee and then Tatum gets the ball and drives over Connaughton and slams it home.
Pritchard hits one as the shot clock expires and the Bucks take a timeout.
Giannis gets the ball and charges Williams. Boston now has a 12 point lead
Boston runs the court and get the ball to Jayson Tatum who gets the basket and the foul. He sinks it and makes it a three point play.
Fourth Quarter
We get going with the fourth quarter. This has been the deciding time of all four previous games and the team that finishes strong usually gets the win.
Cargando...
The third quarter ends 77-86 and Jaylen Brown has 26 points, 16 in the third quarter. What a performance!
Jaylen Brown hits another three! Giannis takes it down the court and sinks his first three of the game.
The Bucks get it back and Giannis draws the foul, hitting both of them.
Brown comes back down with it after a turnover and hits a two. He now has 22 on the game.
The Celtics get the ball and Brown hits another three to give Boston an 11 point lead.
Giannis and Horford return to the game.
Marcus Smart hits his third three point shot of the evening to take it to 70-78.
The Celtics get a turnover and Jaylen Brown drives on the goal and draws the foul by Allen. He sinks both and brings the score to 68-75 to the Celtics.
The Celtics immediately give up another foul and Portis sinks both. Boston is looking decidedly more shaky now.
As we get going again, Allen drives it in for the Bucks and gets the bucket and the foul. He sinks it. Three points! Whew! The Bucks really needed that.
The Bucks call a timeout and we are at 63-69 to the hosts.
Both teams are now driving into the paint with much more frequency. The game has become more and more physical as it goes on.
Jalen Brown drives down and the layup doesn't go for him, but he gets his own rebound and puts that away for two.
The Celtics look shaky in the second half. They have turned the ball over three times now in the second half, having turned it over only once the entire first half. Jayson Tatum drives on the goal and his feet slip out from under him. With the turnovers and missed shots, the Bucks are drawing back into the game. They are only one point back now at 59-60
Giannis gets the ball back and drives on the bucket, drawing the foul. He misses both. Holiday gets the rebound and hits the three to make it 55-58
As the third quarter gets underway, the Celtics turn over the ball and the Bucks can't captalize. They get the ball back and Jayson Tatum does hit the three.
The Bucks need to address the turnovers and defense, but a better use of their energy would be to try and work some players apart from Giannis into the scoring.
As the clock runs down to zero, White gets a shot off for two. No! It is waved off as too late. Wow! What a half. We go to the break at 47-54 .
So far, it really seems as if the Celtics are asking all the questions and the Bucks have only one answer. They seem incapable of thinking of anything other than getting the ball to Giannis. That is a terrible game plan, no matter how good he is, no man can keep pace with a group of five solid goalscorers.
Smart hits his first three and Giannis misses another one with a wedgie. They jump it at center court and the Bucks get it back. Why is Giannis continuing to take these threes?
Cargando...
With just under five minutes to go in the second quarter, it is 38-51 and Boston have scored 11 unanswered.
Great pick by Smart and the Celtics take it on a fast break for the one-two feed and slam dunk! Beautiful full court play by Boston. Milwaukee calls timeout, more to catch their breath than anything else.
Brown takes the ball up the court and draws the foul, sinking both shots to make it 38-49. Boston are on a 9-0 run
The Celtics are doing an effective job of shutting Giannis down. Without him, the Bucks look rudderless.
Giannis and Horford both come back in the game. They are shadowing each other all night long.
Theis hits a long three point shot, he has nine in the game.
Milwaukee get the ball and bring it up the court, just to turn it over. That is their seventh turnover in the game.
Astounding defense on both sides of the ball. Neither team is able to sink a basket. The Celtics eventually get a foul called in their favor and Jayson Tatum sinks both shots from the line. We are at 38-42.
Giannis draws the foul and misses his free throw. The Celtics take it up the court and miss the three. Bucks give it back to, guess who? Giannis is called for travelling.
White hits another tray for Boston. He has stealthily put up some impressive numbers tonight. Boston has been spreading the scoring around and that looks to be the element that, if it stays the way it is, will see them pull ahead in this game.
If the Bucks don't figure out a way to get someone other than Giannis into the scoring, they are in for a long evening. Somebody needs to tell him to stop trying to hit threes as well.
They have quietly pulled out in front now, stretching their lead to five, 32-37 and Milwaukee takes a timeout.
With a steal and a three, Boston have now taken the lead for the first time, 32-33
Boston's defense has looked the stronger of the two teams. With Giannis carrying the lion's share of Milwaukee shooting, the Celtics are keeping pace with him. You feel that at some point, the team effort of Boston will pull them out front as Giannis simply won't be able to keep up.
We get underway and Giannis scores for the Bucks. Tatum takes it back up the other end and draws the foul. He sinks both shots and we keep our two point gap.
That is the end of the first quarter as we are keeping things close at 28-26
Marcus Smart goes to the floor grabbing his hamstring. He gets up and stays in the game but that could be a bad sign for the Celtics.
Lopez called for goaltending and the Celtics get the ball back up to Theis for a powerful dunk. It is now 28-26
Al Horford and Giannis both preparing to come back into the game. Jrue Holiday draws the foul and hits both from the line.
Bobby Portis fights for a bucket on the Bucks end and gets the two.
Great pick by Tatum! He lays it in up the other end. They have now hit six unanswered.
With Brown on the floor after losing his footing, Marcus Smart called for the timeout. Bad move. The timeout is more valuable than possession at this point.
Boston calls another timeout at 19-14
The Celtics call timeout as it stands at 13-10. We get back into the action and both teams switch tack to go back to inside play.
Both teams are going for threes, mainly with nothing to show for it. Even Giannis is getting in on the act although he is on 2 for 17 from that range.
A nice bit of passing by the Celtics, multiple players had a chance to take the shot, everyone got a touch, eventully getting the ball into Horford's hands for an easy layup.
Bringing the ball back into play and Giannis is fouled as he drives in. He hits both from the line to make it 13-10
Jaylen Brown gets a baseline drive and dunk to bring the crowd to life! It is now 11-10
We have our first foul on Williams for Boston. This is something that both teams will need to keep a rein on in this match, with the fourth quarter being the turning point in all four previous games, they can't afford to have anyone foul out.
Jayson Tatum goes for three and the ball goes in and out, before coming down for a miss.
Giannis is carrying a heavy burden on the Milwaukee offense but he is starting to get a bit of help on the outside. The Celtics are calm throughout the attack and the crowd starts to get into the game. Giannis turns in the paint and hits for two to bring it to 11-8
And Horford responds immediately. The back and forth that we saw in the first games is repeated here as the Bucks take it straight back down for another three. With a miss by the Celtics, the Bucks start to draw out into a lead 9-5.
Bucks draw first blood with a three from Grayson Allen
Celtics starting lineup
M Williams
A Horford
M Smart
J Brown
J Taytum
Bucks starting lineup
G Allen
W Matthews
B Lopez
J Holliday
G Antentokounmpo
With both teams lined up for the national anthem, the Garden has all of the atmosphere that you would expect from a Celtic crowd.
We are minutes away from tip off and the Garden holds a minutes silence for the passing of Hall of Fame legend Bob Lanier.
The real turning point in all four games so far has been the fourth quarter play. The scores have been either fairly close or a blowout that would be overturned at the end of three in every matchup. The team that took their game up a notch in the last quarter has come away with the victory every time.
Do the Bucks or the Celtics have the depth on the bench to maintain pressure on the opposition going into the final stretch?
The Bucks opened the series with a 101-89 win at Boston and the Celtics turned the tables on them in Game 4, so both teams have shown that they can win on the road. The Celtics need to keep that momentum going, especially in the three point game, where they often looked completely in control in Game 4.
Cargando...
Game 4 Recap:
The story was nearly written halfway through the fourth quarter. The Bucks were cruising and in control, largely on the back of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s seeming unstoppability. But then something happened.
It was almost like a switch flipped. Milwaukee started dropping shots, while Boston’s play from the three point line looked at times unguarded. In the end, Al Horford and Jayson Tatum came away with 30 points each and Boston overcame what was at one point an eleven point deficit to win game four 116-108. Giannis Antetokounmpo put up 34 but, he was largely a one-man band with the rest of the Bucks offense falling mute.
With Robert Williams questionable for tonight's game, the Celtics will have a difficult time of it. The Bucks have problems of their own with Khris Middleton still out of their lineup.
We are live from the Boston Garden
Hello everyone and welcome to Boston for Game 5! The series has been back-and-forth from the outset, although the Celtics managed to come from behind in Game 4 to post a decisive win in Milwaukee. Can they carry that momentum over to their home stand?
Bucks vs. Celtics
We are all even in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals as the series heads back east to Boston. Tonight the Celtics will host the Milwaukee Bucks after splitting the last two games on the road. AS English will have you covered with live coverage, stats, scores and highlights of tonight’s matchup from Boston Garden.