“You know, we were on our heels the whole time – and they did a good job of creating that”.
Advertisement
The Greek Freak came up when the Bucks needed him most at every occasion. If all goes well, Smart could potentially be cleared to return in time for Thursday night’s Game 6 (which will be played if the Bucks extend the series they now trail 2-1). Milwaukee’s offense seems to be in a good spot right now and it might play a bit faster with Henson off the floor.
Kevin Durant had 34 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who can wrap up the series in Game 5 at home Tuesday. The lefty putback, which followed a missed runner by Malcolm Brogdon, evened the first-round series at two games apiece.
Despite Boston’s best efforts, Antetokounmpo finished with a team-high 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists. “We made an adjustment in the second half and it helped us. Everybody has to be out there ready to do their part”. Jabari Parker also had 16 points coming off the bench for Milwaukee. The Bucks finished the game with 14 blocks. Terry Rozier, who outplayed Eric Bledsoe in the first two games of the series, scored just 10 points on 12 shots, and shot 2-10 from beyond the arc. To the outside world, it looked like the wheels had finally come off for the Bucks after an up-and-down season. The results for their last suit game didn’t pan out very well. Even with the Celtics having a poor offensive game in Game 3, the total got to 208.
“Against those type of players you just try to stay aggressive on them”, Bogdanovic said.
LeBron James amassed 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in 46 minutes as the Cavs prevailed, 104-100, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
With the agile Ojeleye playing power forward alongside Al Horford, Boston’s defense was more versatile. The Bucks shot 57% from the field for the second straight game.
Big plays at the end helped, too.
“It comes back to trust”, Antetokounmpo said. Cleveland overpursued and it left wide open lanes for players like Thaddeus Young to get to the rim.
Bucks starting center John Henson missed Game 3 with a sore back, but it mattered little as the hosts rolled 116-92.
That said, it has been proven the Bucks are a better team over the long haul on that side of the court when Henson plays because they are a more fundamentally sound team not prone to breakdowns.
“I just tried to contest it”, Middleton said. They did that early, but things again fell by the wayside as they trailed 24-17 after one. “They had it going. and we really didn’t have an answer for them tonight”. Yes, they rattled off the 16-game winning streak, but everyone knew this team wasn’t a title contender without Hayward (they probably weren’t even with him, but you never know), and the season-ending surgery for Kyrie Irving simply sealed that fate.
Advertisement
The Celtics had one last chance to tie things up and force overtime with 5.1 seconds left on the clock following a timeout.
