The Milwaukee Bucks continue to battle history and the Celtics as they visit TD Garden for Game 5 of their opening-round playoff series with Boston on Tuesday night. Parker and Maker have stepped up in recent games, but it remains to be seen if they can sustain those type of numbers, particularly on the road. The C’s now rank last in defensive rating among the remaining teams in the postseason and have also allowed the highest opponent field goal percentage and 3-point percentage. Milwaukee opened up a 20-point advantage in the third quarter, but Boston went on one of its patented runs to get back in the game and ultimately take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
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Henson has missed each of the past two games in the series due to back soreness.
The Warriors, who were led by Kevin Durant’s 34 points and 13 rebounds, could advance to a second-round series against New Orleans with a Game 5 home victory today.
The Boston Celtics looked much more comfortable playing at home than they did in Milwaukee. “So Game 5, keep moving forward”.
“He hasn’t played in a month and a half, so this is just an opportunity to come in and do what he does best, and that’s impact the game with his energy, his physicality, his savvy, and his skill”, Stevens said.
The Boston Celtics aren’t out of the woods just yet.
Most playoff series have a big adjustment in Game 3 that either reshapes the matchup or fails completely.
“He’s the only reason we were in the game in the first”, Boston coach Brad Stevens said. But Boston has to get there first, and they have some work to do that Marcus Smart will now assist in as he’s been announced as available for tonight’s game five. “So there’s no question about it that he helps us a lot”. He’s just so good, and he makes everything tough, especially when he gets in [the paint] so my job is to make every attempt he gets a little bit tougher.
This one is going to be a pivotal swing in the series one way or the other.
The Celtics have some clear problems with the Bucks, and have not figured out how to respond to this emergence of Thon Maker. Life was great for the Celtics and Terry Rozier.
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His scoring numbers (10.6 points) were modest and the shooting clips repulsive (36.7 percent overall, 30.1 percent from three), but Smart can handle the ball and is a solid facilitator (4.8 assists).
