Grades from the Milwaukee Bucks’ tough Game 3 win over Boston Celtics

Grading the Boston Celtics in Milwaukee Bucks’ tough Game 3 win

Boston Celtics: B-

Credit to the Celtics, the Milwaukee Bucks played a nearly flawless third quarter, outscoring Boston 34-17 and taking an 80-67 lead into the fourth quarter, Boston made 11 of their first 14 shots in the final quarter and even took a 100-99 lead with 1:49 left on the clock.

However, Boston needs more out of their superstar Jayson Tatum. As mentioned on the previous slide Tatum was 0-10 when guarded by Wesley Matthews and finished with just 10 points on 4-of-19 shooting. While it would be foolish to count on Tatum having another poor shooting night like he did Saturday afternoon, Game 3 was his second poor shooting night of the three games played in this series so far.

Another underperformer for Boston was Marcus Smart, who despite his toughness, finished with just nine points, six of which came at the free throw line. Smart was 1-for-8 from the field.

Jaylen Brown has bounced back very nicely for the Celtics after his 4-for-13 showing in Game 1. Brown dropped 30 in the Celtics’ Game 2 win and in Game 3 shot 8-of-16 and made 10-of-11 free throws while adding 12 rebounds and four assists but also four turnovers.

Perhaps the most surprising contributor in Game 3 for the Celtics was the 35-year-old Al Horford who scored 22 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and dished five assists with no turnovers. Credit to Horford for knocking down over 50 percent of his shots that he found himself open for often. Horford was quite clearly Boston’s second-best player Saturday afternoon.

Game 3 was another physical slugfest and there are no signs of letup or that Game 4 will be any different. Hopefully the Milwaukee Bucks can clean up some of their inefficiencies and win more convincingly on Monday and save some stress before heading to Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday.