The Bucks ruled out Giannis Antetokounmpo with a bum hamstring Wednesday morning in Boston and looked dead on arrival that night at the Garden.
The Celtics led by 11 within minutes and 21 in the fourth quarter after Payton Pritchard splashed a 3-pointer to the delight of a sold-out crowd. Pritchard had already set Bucks instigator Patrick Beverley on fire in the second quarter, scoring or assisting on 15 straight points after Beverley gestured Boston was “too small” defensively.
A big Pritchard performance is as sure a sign as any as the Celtics are hitting cruise control en route to a blowout win. But then, Milwaukee fought fire with fire — and a familiar formula.
Zone defense, hot 3-point shooting and a surprise bench performer.
The Heat infamously followed that recipe to an upset in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals and a near upset in 2022. The Celtics survived Wednesday, 122-119, something they may not have done were Antetokounmpo present. The Bucks rode a 21-6 run in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to three at 2:56 left, then closed the gap to one possession twice more before getting closed out themselves.
Most Celtics veterans dismissed the impact of Milwaukee’s zone, saying they simply missed open shots against it.
“We got some good looks,” Jayson Tatum said of the zone post-game. “I say it all the time: it’s a make or miss league, right?”
“I thought we had it pretty good tonight,” Jaylen Brown said. “I thought that we got to our spots, we took our time.”
The raw numbers offer a lukewarm endorsement. Overall, the Celtics shot 2-of-10 against the zone in the fourth quarter and committed three turnovers. On those turnovers, Al Horford got stripped on a late, unplanned post-up, Brown let it slip on a late drive and Kristaps Porzingis chucked the ball out of bounds after Derrick White unexpectedly relocated across the court.
Their offense was slow to trigger, and ineffective. As Boston's offense stalled out, Damian Lillard (11 points, 3 assists) and Bobby Portis Jr. powered Milwaukee back to life in the fourth quarter. Portis Jr. had an out-of-body experience, scoring 14 points and snatching seven rebounds.
Now, breakouts like Portis's will happen. The Bucks know all too well how a hot-shooting bench forward can change their fate in Boston. See: Grant Williams in Game 7 of their 2022 second-round playoff series.
Back to the Celtics.
Of their eight misses versus zone in the fourth quarter, four were wide-open 3s, most out of the corners. That's pure, no-good, very bad luck. Pritchard, White and Porzingis all misfired despite ample time and space.
Milwaukee shot 56.5% overall in the fourth quarter, and routinely jogged back on defense, where they sprinkled occasional ball pressure and double teams into their zone and even flipped back to traditional man-to-man.
"The toughest part was we weren't getting any stops and we were allowing them to set their defense," Tatum said. "They got hot. They made some shots. Credit to them."
The Bucks' initial zone possessions all followed baskets and led to a couple mid-range Celtics misses, then Horford's turnover. Tatum stopped the Celtics' hemorrhaging seven minutes later, following Portis's only missed 3 of the quarter. He drove straight at Milwaukee's man-to-man defense and drew two foul shots, which he drained at 2:06 left.
Ahead by five, Boston survived another 3-point miss, this time from Lillard, and Tatum cooked Malik Beasley off the bounce again for a layup on the next possession. Tatum's downhill drive embodied what Brown identified as a key.
"We just have to match their physicality a little bit more, getting used to how they're calling the game and the whistle. We feel like we're the better team," Brown said. "But if teams are trying to out-physical us, we gotta be ready to take on that each and every night out."
Another key? Brown's free throws.
Brown went 0-for-2 at the line with three-plus minutes remaining, then hit two foul shots while leading 116-114 at 0:20 to play. More late-game Brown misses will lead to more trouble down the road, but his final makes Wednesday provided enough breathing room.
So yes, Milwaukee's zone bothered them. It briefly dragged their offense into the mud and set up poor shots. The Celtics can initiate their actions quicker to fix this. More 3-pointers will fall.
In the meantime, Brown believes the tight finish will ultimately benefit the Celtics -- a test of their mettle and late-game offense before the playoffs will stress them again.
"It’s something we’re going to look at," Pritchard said, "and we’ll get better at.”
