There’s no other way to put it: the Boston Celtics picked up one of the signature wins of their season on Sunday afternoon, smothering the Milwaukee Bucks in the Fiserv Forum, 112-90. After waltzing past the Detroit Pistons in the first round, the NBA’s best regular season team seemed completely outside their comfort zone against the Celtics, shooting just 35% from the field while giving up 54% shooting to Boston’s offense on the other end. At the heart of the blowout was Al Horford, who had arguably the best individual game of his three years in Celtics Green. Horford scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished three assists, and blocked four shots — three on MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo — and commanded both ends of the floor during his 32 minutes. Alongside him were strong performances from Kyrie Irving (26 points, 11 assists) and Jaylen Brown (19 points). On the other end, Antetokounmpo struggled through one of his worst games of the year, shooting just 7-of-21, and Milwaukee’s starters combined to make just 15 of their 50 shot attempts. The story of the first quarter began with a statement effort on the defensive end from the Celtics, who held Milwaukee below 30% shooting from the field and forced four turnovers. The Bucks just looked uncomfortable for nearly the entire period; Antetokounmpo missed his first three shots, and the team missed seven consecutive shots collectively during an 11-1 Celtics run shortly after their MVP candidate sat for the first time of the afternoon. Meanwhile, 12 combined points from Irving and Hayward — including three ridiculous Irving fadeaway jumpers — powered the Celtics to a 26-17 Celtics lead at the end of the first. Al swats it then scores it ❌ pic.twitter.com/VrKfBpAV8d — Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 28, 2019 It didn’t take long for Antetokounmpo to re-establish himself, scoring five quick points to start the second quarter, but the opening minutes of the period belonged to Boston. The Celtics kept their foot on the gas, powering their lead as high as 15 points even as Irving rode the bench and Antetokounmpo stayed on the court. In particular, the early minutes of the second quarter were Hayward’s playground, as he diced the Milwaukee defense to pieces with an array of crafty floaters. If you’ve followed this Celtics team for long, though, the ensuing Milwaukee run was not necessarily surprising. What was surprising was that it came with Antetokounmpo on the bench — the Bucks poured on a 15-0 run behind a trio of threes from Mirotic and steady play from George Hill, and regained the lead with two minutes to play in the quarter. Irving would restore order to the game with a quick five points, but the damage was done, and the Celtics would enter the halftime break with just a two-point lead, 52-50. While the second quarter run felt familiar, Boston’s third quarter was a surprise of a positive kind: absolute dominance on both ends of the court. The Celtics outscored the Bucks 36-21 on the back of a monstrous 32-9 run that lasted the bulk of the quarter. This was Horford’s signature stretch of the afternoon; working off his customary pick-and-pop game with Irving, he drilled a pair of threes and bullied the Bucks in the paint. In perhaps the defining play of the afternoon, he picked up two of his many blocks on Antetokounmpo at the rim — on consecutive possessions. While the Celtics won the quarter on the scoreboard, they did suffer a key loss with just under two minutes left to play in the quarter: Aron Baynes, who rolled his ankle badly while contesting a shot under the basket and did not return to the game, though the Celtics did announce he was available to return. Baynes has been a crucial piece of the Celtics’ defense while healthy, but managed only 51 games during the regular season due to a variety of injuries. At the start of the fourth, it was time for the Celtics to face the Bucks’ last stand. Milwaukee opened the quarter swinging, quickly trimming Boston’s lead down to 12 while Irving rested behind a pair of threes from Antetokounmpo, prompting a well-placed timeout from Brad Stevens. The last gasp wasn’t nearly enough, however: Irving returned to the game, hit a layup and connected with Horford for yet another pick-and-pop, and suddenly the Celtics led by 18 in the blink of an eye, with 6:40 left in regulation. A subsequent Rozier layup would extend the lead to a neat 20 points, and Boston would never look back. Next up, the Celtics will remain in Milwaukee for Game 2 against the Bucks, Tuesday night at 8 PM EST on TNT.<doc-sep>BOSTON (CBS) — The Celtics and Bucks meet in the playoffs for the second straight season, but the stakes are much higher this time around. Last year was a thrilling seven-game series in the first round, but now they’re fighting for a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo has taken his game to a new level with the Bucks, who were also one of the best defensive teams in the NBA during the regular season. Slowing him down will be no easy task for the Celtics. But Boston now has a healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, which they didn’t have last year at this time. Add it all up and we should be in for another incredibly entertaining series. Will this one go the distance like last year? The WBZ-TV and CBS Boston sports team thinks so, though we’re split on who will be victorious in that deciding Game 7 in Milwaukee. Dan Roche, WBZ-TV This is a series that will determine if this Celtics team can win a title this year. We’ve heard all along that come playoff time, the C’s would get things in order. Their first-round warmup against the Pacers was solid, but here comes a gigantic test in the Bucks. Giannis should get plenty of attention from Al Horford and a slew of others. After that, how will a healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward affect the series? How do Eric Bledsoe, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova match up? Lots of good things to look forward to. If the Celtics win, and I think they will, it’s a team that can win it all. If they lose, who knows what the future holds for this group. Celtics in 7 Scott Sullivan, WBZ-TV This should be an epic series. The Bucks had the best record in the NBA this season and swept the Pistons in the first round. The Celtics had a disappointing regular season but showed glimpses of how good they can be by sweeping the Pacers. The key for the C’s will be containing Giannis Antetkounmpo. “The Greek Freak” is sure to get his points, but Boston has to limit the cast around him. Guys like Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Eric Bledsoe can’t have huge nights to go along with Giannis. If so, the Celts are in big trouble. As for Milwaukee, it will be interesting to see if they double Kyrie Irving to get the ball out of his hands, or mimic what the C’s may do with Antetkounmpo, and allow the point guard to get his while trying to limit the cast around him. Irving saw plenty of double teams in round one and consistently made the right play. If he does the same here and his teammates respond accordingly, the Celts will be tough to stop. Ultimately, this series feels like a flip of the coin and mine just landed on heads. Celtics in 7 Michael Hurley, CBS Boston What an intriguing spot. After sleepwalking through the entire regular season, the Celtics showed up in the playoffs and were who we thought they were. As a result, they’re inspiring confidence in the city. At the same time, because of that dreadful regular season, they’re now going to have to steal some games in Milwaukee, against the Bucks, who are much improved from last season and were the best team in basketball this year. That won’t be easy. I’m on the record as being a doubter of these Celtics, but it was hard not to like what they showed in the first round. It’ll be an entirely different story against Giannis, though, and I’m going to have to stick with the safer pick. Bucks in 7 Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston The Bucks are who the Celtics were supposed to be, and this series is a great opportunity for Boston to prove that they are the title contender we all predicted they’d be in the preseason. This is going to be an epic series and I’m not expecting any blowouts. Every game should be close and come down to executing in the fourth quarter. The Celtics didn’t play great overall against the Pacers in the first round, but they played great when it mattered most. Playoff Kyrie will be at a different level against Giannis, and we’ll be left shaking our heads at what both can accomplish with the basketball in their hands. But it’ll come down to the non-studs in this series. Whoever gets better performances out of their supporting cast will advance. Lots of people are pointing to the fact that the Kyrie and Hayward-less Celtics won last year’s series, so they should win this year with both of those players on the floor. But the Bucks are much, much better than last year, when they were the seven-seed in the East. Mike Budenholzer is a great coach and Brook Lopez has becomes a defensive stud. The Celtics can beat the Bucks, and they’re going to give them a heck of a series. But it will come down to a deciding Game 7 in Milwaukee, and I’m going to go with the team that has gone 35-8 in their home floor this year. Bucks in 7<doc-sep>MILWAUKEE – He sat at his locker in the Bucks’ dressing room long after the 112-90 loss to the Celtics Sunday. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s right foot rested in a bucket of ice. His left elbow was planted on his left knee. His right hand, tucked into a fist, covered his chin and mouth. The Greek Freak looked like the creation of a French sculptor: Rodin’s “The Thinker.” His head was in the room, but his mind was clearly elsewhere – perhaps out the door and back onto the court where the Celts had crowded and jostled him into a simply awful afternoon. The late-season favorite in the MVP race had hit just 7-of-21 shots from the floor and scored 22 points, but even those numbers were not indicative of his day’s depths, as he went for nine points on 3-for-5 shooting in the last quarter when things were out of hand. Slowly Antetokounmpo unwrapped the elasticized bandages that had been holding the ice in place on his knees, the common post-game remedy for players his size. Then he stared down… at what? A stat sheet? His phone? No. At the gray and deeper gray pattern of the carpet. Several minutes later, after cleaning up and pulling on a sweatsuit, Giannis walked to the other side of the room and stood before the assembled pens, cameras and microphones. He was first asked about his quiet time. “What was I thinking… It doesn’t matter what I was thinking,” he said. “Right now we’ve just got to focus on playing better. Obviously it was one of the toughest losses we’ve ever had all season long, and especially at home. We’ve just got to watch clips and tapes and be ready for Tuesday.” The Celtics had beaten Antetokounmpo’s body between the lines on the floor, and they’d done a number on his head, as well. The Bucks, owners of the best record in the NBA this season, will need both to heal by Tuesday’s Game 2. “You know, Giannis, as great as he’s been this year, he hasn’t been perfect every night,” said Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer. “He’s hard on himself, so there’s probably some point I’m just going to put my arms around him and tell him, ‘You’re going to be great.’ He’s been so good so many nights. “And I think, again, credit to Boston. They’re doing some things well. But I think Giannis will play better. We’ll work. We’ll look at some things between now and Tuesday. I’m sure he’s looking forward to Tuesday just like we are.” To avoid a greater problem than simply losing homecourt advantage, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will, barring a letdown from the Celtics, have to use GPS to find a way out of the defensive maze that was thrown their way. And they will have to get over the fact their best player was a minus-24 in his 34 minutes. Al Horford had harassed him, with more than a little help from his friends. Frustrated inside, Antetokounmpo stepped beyond the arc and hit 3-of-5 3-pointers – two of those makes in the last quarter. “They were loading a lot,” Giannis said. “There was a lot of guys in the paint. Whenever I got in the paint, when I’d spin or try to change direction, a second guy was right there. I’ve just got to go watch the tape, and if they’re going to play like this the whole series, I’ve got to be able to make the right pass and trust my teammates to knock down shots.” But his teammates were not much better at 35.3 percent from the floor. Starters Brook Lopez, Sterling Brown and Eric Bledsoe combined to go 3-for -7 as the Celtics scrambled to get into Milwaukee faces. Chief among their tormentors was Horford, who essentially stole Giannis’ spanikopita and also found time for 20 points, 11 rebounds and three of the Celts’ 11 shot-blocks. “You know, Horford’s a big guy – 6-10, 6-11 probably – and we’ve played against each other a lot of times,” Antetokounmpo said. “He knows my moves, and it’s easier when you can send me one way and you know the help’s coming the other way. So I think overall they did a great job guarding me, and especially Horford sending me the way that the help was.” It was a dilemma for Giannis. He wanted to make the right plays, but, because of the Celtics’ diligence on defense, those plays weren’t always available. And he wanted to carry his club when things were falling apart, but that didn’t work out either. “It’s tough to move the ball, especially when they switch a lot,” he said. “There’s a lot of mismatches, and you take pride and your ego, and when you have a mismatch, you want to attack the mismatch, right? But if you keep doing that the whole game, you know, you don’t move the ball as much and guys don’t touch the ball as much, and you don’t play like ourselves. So even though they switch a lot, you’ve got to be able to move the ball and stay within our offense and our game plan.” That, however, was not easy. Not when the Bostonians were actually playing the kind of cohesive, unselfish game they were expected to show from the beginning of the season but hadn’t with any measure of consistency until these last few weeks. “The Celtics just came out, played hard and moved the ball – put more effort, put more energy into the game than us,” Antetokounmpo said. “And they’re a great team. That’s what they’re supposed to do.” Great enough on this afternoon to ruin Giannis’ Greek Easter Sunday and make him seem freakishly mortal.<doc-sep>
They say that a playoff series doesn't truly begin until a road team wins a game. Well if that's the case, then the second-round series between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks is underway. Coming out with an impressive defensive game plan, the No. 4 Celtics frustrated the top-ranked Bucks all afternoon long, before pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 112-90 victory to take a 1-0 series lead. Al Horford was tremendous, finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, while also shutting down potential MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on the defensive end. The Greek Freak couldn't get anything going, as his drives to the basket were shut off on a consistent basis. He finished with 22 points, but needed 21 shots to get them. Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving finished with 26 points, 10 assists and six rebounds in another stellar postseason performance. The Celtics also got strong games off the bench from Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier, who combined for 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. The surprising blowout win for the Celtics sets up a vital Game 2 on Tuesday night. Already down 1-0, the Bucks cannot afford another loss to open up this series. Here are some takeaways from a stunning Game 1: Horford steps up Al Horford is somehow still underrated after all these years, but he stepped up once again on Sunday afternoon with a huge performance. Not only did he finish with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, but he played fantastic defense against Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak couldn't get going in Game 1, and it was due in large part to Horford. The veteran is one of the few players in the league with the combination of strength and athleticism to make life difficult for Giannis, and he certainly did so in the opening game. Though Giannis got 22 points, he needed 21 shots in order to get them. Celtics' defensive game plan stifles bucks The Celtics were one of the best defensive teams in the regular season, and they proved as much in Game 1. It all started with the way they were able to contain Giannis. Horford led the way in that regard, but the entire team was committed to collapsing down into the paint in an effort to shut off his drives and frustrate him. It worked, as Giannis never really got going in Game 1. He made just seven shots, and three of them were 3-pointers, which the Celtics are happy to live with. Giannis' shot chart from Game 1 NBA.com/Stats And in exchange, they were willing to give up some open 3s to the Bucks' role players and force them to hit shots. They didn't, with Brook Lopez, Sterling Brown, Ersan Ilyasova, Eric Bledsoe, Pat Connaughton and George Hill combining to shoot 4-of-26 from downtown. Though the Bucks were one of the league's best 3-point attacks in the regular season, they did so more through volume than having elite shooters. That came back to bite them in Game 1, as they went cold. Irving and Hayward prove their worth The Celtics beat the Bucks in the first round last season, but needed seven games to do so with their shorthanded roster. This time around, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are healthy, and though it didn't pay dividends in the way they hoped in the regular season, it has so far in the playoffs. Both were strong in their sweep against the Pacers in the first round, and both had strong games in Game 1 on Sunday. Irving, in particular was special, hitting a number of incredible shots in the first quarter to help the Celtics get out to an early lead. He finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists, and made the right decision between shooting or passing on a consistent basis. Hayward, meanwhile, came off the bench for 13 points, four rebounds and five assists. His ability to not only score, but facilitate is vital to keeping the Celtics' offense afloat when Irving is out of the game. He may not be 100 percent back to his All-Star form, but it's clear that Hayward is feeling confident in himself, and that's a huge boost for the Celtics. Revisit all the news, highlights and updates from Game 1: No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 4 Boston Celtics How to watch Game 2 Date: Tuesday, Apr. 30 Tuesday, Apr. 30 Time: 8 p.m. 8 p.m.