Milwaukee Bucks: How the Big 3 has performed against top contenders
By Dalton Sell
How did the Milwaukee Bucks’ trio play against the Boston Celtics?
Battling it out in three thrilling matchups, the Boston Celtics bested the Bucks this season by beating them two of out three times.
As he oftentimes does, Middleton kicked it into high gear against the Celtics by averaging 24.3 points on 54.9 percent shooting from the field, including 52.9 percent from 3-point range. He has been lethal scoring the basketball against the Celtics but has made good elsewhere on that stat sheet by grabbing 10 boards and handing out 5.3 assists per contest. Something about that Boston team has always brought out the best in him.
Holiday has also been a large factor in these games by averaging 18.3 points on 52.3 percent shooting while grabbing 3.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Between Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics have given Holiday no shortage of offensive weapons to defend in these matchups as he has also stepped up defensively.
The Bucks have needed that increased production from those two as the Celtics have slowed Antetokounmpo down to an impactful degree. In those three games, Giannis has averaged just 21.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and a subpar 4.7 turnovers per game. Boston has a collection of talented pieces to give Antetokounmpo different looks defensively and they have made life hard for him at times.
That will make things particularly interesting if these two teams meet in the postseason, particularly in the first round. That remains a realistic scenario that could come to fruition over the final few regular season games and it would be must-see television.