3 questions before Game 5 between Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics

Well, we expected a close and tense series coming in and it has not disappointed one bit. The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics are all evened up at two games apiece heading back to TD Garden for an incredibly important Game 5 tonight.

Teams that go up 3-2 in a series go on to win the series nearly 86 percent of the time and in the case of the Bucks, they would be coming back home for Game 6 with a chance to close the series out. But, as we saw just last year, going down 3-2 after losing on the road isn’t a death sentence either.

The Bucks collapsed in the fourth quarter of both home games and are lucky to come away with a series split, even though they should be up 3-1 right now. Regardless, Game 5 is the most important game of the Bucks’ season so far and they’ll need a big performance tonight.

Can Bobby Portis break out of his slump for the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 against the Boston Celtics?

After a strong finish to the series against the Chicago Bulls, Bobby Portis got the chance to start Game 1 against the Celtics.

Portis had a solid Game 1 with 15 points on 58 percent true shooting and 11 rebounds which led to a start in Game 2. The Bucks struggled defensively with their jumbo starting unit getting torched by the Celtics but Portis’ offense was fine. He had 13 points on 78 percent true shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.

Portis has since been shifted back to the bench in favor of Grayson Allen (more on him in a moment) and things haven’t gone well. He’s scored 13 points on 38.5 percent true shooting and gone 1-of-5 from 3. The good news is that he’s grabbed six offensive rebounds, though!

Portis has struggled from 3 basically all playoffs (as the Bucks have for the most part), shooting under 31 percent from deep on over four attempts per game. In the series against the Celtics, he’s shooting 21.4 percent on 3.5 attempts from 3.

He was seen after the game getting shots up in the arena, trying to help break through his shooting slump.

The Bucks need Portis’ scoring as much as his overall energy in general, but especially so without Middleton and now Holiday struggling to find his shooting touch. He won’t start Game 5 but he’ll have a big role yet again and he’ll get his shots. Just needs to convert those looks.