3 takeaways from Milwaukee Bucks’ tense Game 3 win vs. Boston Celtics
By Dalton Sell
After splitting the first two games of the series on the road, the Milwaukee Bucks returned home to host the Boston Celtics at Fiserv Forum for Game 3 yesterday.
Right from the start, this game felt like a boxing match. Both teams traded blows throughout, with neither team establishing a lead larger than six points in the first half. The Celtics held a four-point lead at halftime, but a rejuvenated Bucks team came out to begin the third period and quickly built up a double-digit lead that was 14 at its largest. When it looked like the Bucks may have started to pull away, the Celtics found their stride and trimmed that deficit throughout the fourth to the point where they eventually took the lead in the closing moments. However, due to some clutch heroics on Milwaukee’s end, the Bucks secured a 103-101 Game 3 victory in a matchup that literally went down to the final second. With all that being said, let us take a look at three takeaways from what was a nail-biting matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics.
Wesley Matthews did an outstanding job of limiting Jayson Tatum, who had a poor showing in Game 3 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics
The Milwaukee Bucks have utilized Wesley Matthews heavily on the defensive side of the floor in this series. The veteran has been tasked with guarding Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who has proven to be one of the best in the business when it comes to scoring. Following a 29-point effort by Tatum in Game 2 that propelled Boston to a victory, Milwaukee needed Matthews to play his reputable brand of defense to try and slow down the All-Star forward in Game 3. Thankfully, he did just that in what was an incredible defensive effort from start to finish.
The Bucks, Matthews especially, made things far more challenging for Tatum this time around as he shot just 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from the floor, including 0-of-6 from deep, en route to scoring just 10 points in Game 3. Matthews shouldered a large portion of that workload as Tatum shot an eye-popping 0-of-10 when defended by the swingman, per ESPN Stats & Info. Matthews did an outstanding job of limiting Tatum’s contributions throughout, but particularly in the fourth quarter, where he shot the basketball just two times in nearly eight and a half minutes of action as he was constantly hounded by Milwaukee’s defensive ace.
Milwaukee’s defense has been the backbone behind their playoff success, and Matthews, who has found a nice groove as a full-time starter, has been an essential piece to that puzzle. Following his stellar showing in Game 3, the Bucks will need more of this defensive excellence from Matthews. Coming off the second-worst shooting performance in his playoff career, Tatum will look to come out firing right from the jump in Game 4, and the Bucks will need Matthews to combat that once again. For now, Matthews deserves his props for a phenomenal defensive effort in Game 3.