Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 119-112 win over Boston Celtics

Takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ 119-112 win over Celtics: Giannis vs. Smart

As has been the case on multiple occasions in recent meetings between the Bucks and Celtics, it was no real surprise that the most prominent players for their respective teams turned out to be Giannis Antetokounmpo and Marcus Smart.

Antetokounmpo, as the soon-to-be back-to-back MVP, is the star of the show almost every time he takes to the court, but although that isn’t always the case for Smart, he has a knack for landing at the forefront of matchups with Milwaukee.

All of that came to a head with a decisive block/charge call that correctly went in Antetokounmpo’s favor late on. Yet from a Celtics’ perspective the decision was viewed as a contentious one, in spite of the fact that Giannis was already in the air before Smart came close to setting himself to draw a charge.

In actuality, that play was an exceptionally dangerous one, and it only followed up a previous incident from earlier in the game where Smart bizarrely earned himself a call by locking up Giannis’ arm and hauling him to the floor.

Aside from the physical battles, Smart put in an impressive performance with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting to keep the Celtics afloat. But that wasn’t anywhere close to matching the brilliance of Giannis who contributed 36 points, 15 rebounds, and seven rebounds on 14-of-20 shooting in 32 minutes.

With further meetings between the Bucks and Celtics remaining a possibility in the postseason, further battles between Giannis and Smart may well be on the agenda. There’s no real question as to who’ll win the basketball side of that battle, but whether Antetokounmpo would get out of it in one piece is a different matter entirely.