Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from 123-102 win over Boston Celtics
By Robby Cowles
The Milwaukee Bucks got hot from deep and flummoxed Kyrie Irving on their way to a Game 2 win to tie the series with Boston at 1-1.
Coming off their worst loss of the season and facing a practically insurmountable 0-2 series deficit, the Milwaukee Bucks dominated the Boston Celtics in the second half on the way to a 123-102 victory in Milwaukee on Tuesday night.
The Bucks evened the series at 1-1 with the win, and avoided going back to Boston down 0-2 behind hot shooting from behind the arc and a much stauncher defense.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo bounced back from one of his worst games of the season by notching 29 points, 13 of those coming via the free throw line, on 7-of-16 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Although Giannis still was trying to figure out Boston’s defense in the early-going, Khris Middleton took the reins of the offense and got red-hot from deep, hitting five of his first seven three-point attempts in the first half.
Middleton finished with 28 points behind 7-of-10 shooting from deep along with seven rebounds.
The Bucks led by just four points at halftime but used a monster third quarter to essentially put the Celtics away before the fourth quarter had even started.
A couple of minutes into the third quarter, the Bucks’ lead was still just 74-71. But the Milwaukee defense clamped down on the Celtics and Giannis took over en route to a 24-2 run in the final seven minutes of the quarter to take a 98-73 lead into the fourth quarter.
During the run, Giannis scored 13 points in just five minutes while the defense forced six turnovers and allowed the Celtics to go just 1-of-12 from the field.
The Bucks ended up making twice as many three-point field goals than the Celtics, going 20-of-47 from deep to Boston’s 10-of-28 and suffocated Kyrie Irving into one of the worst games of his playoff career.
Irving finished with just nine points on 4-of-18 shooting from the field thanks to improved energy from Eric Bledsoe and the Bucks’ defense. Marcus Morris led the Celtics with 17 points.
Even though it was just the second game of the series, Game 2 was a must-win game for all intents and purposes for the Bucks, with the series switching to Boston for Games 3 and 4.
After an embarrassing performance in Game 1, Coach Budenholzer and the Bucks adjusted on both ends and came out with a dominant victory led by outside shooting and stout defense.
Now, let’s get to the big takeaways from the Bucks game two win.