Following a nauseating Game 6 loss on their home floor, the Milwaukee Bucks were handed one more chance to beat the Boston Celtics in Game 7 on the road.
Though the Bucks came out with some fire and even claimed a 10-point lead at one point early in the first half of action, the sunshine went away quickly. Boston stormed back and not only erased Milwaukee’s double-digit lead, but they built up one of their own as they outplayed the Bucks over the final three quarters in every single facet of the game. After a grueling and embarrassing game, the Bucks exited the court with a 109-81 loss and their title hopes eradicated. With all that said, here are three takeaways from this ugly Game 7 gut-punch loss on the road.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ defensive approach predictably did not work as they were exploited by the Boston Celtics in Game 7
The Milwaukee Bucks’ defensive gameplan of packing the paint while leaving the perimeter open has been a mixed bag in this series, but they rolled with it in Game 7. While the Bucks had seen a smidge of success with this at times, it backfired immensely in this do-or-die match as the Celtics fired away from 3-point land all afternoon. In total, Boston shot a blistering 22-of-55 (40 percent) in Game 7, having torched the Bucks from the outside just like they did throughout the series.
Boston was led by Grant Williams, who sunk seven 3-pointers in an eye-popping 18 tries as there were multiple occasions where Milwaukee failed to even contest him. As the Budenholzer scheme calls for, Grant was given wide-open looks throughout the game, and he made Milwaukee pay as he buried one after the other to tally a game-high 27 points. The same went for Payton Pritchard, who shot 4-of-6 from behind the arc and capitalized in his brief playing time. There will be more on Milwaukee’s offense in a moment, but it is worth noting that Pritchard knocked down just as many 3-pointers as the Bucks did as a team. That is outright pathetic by all accounts.
This approach defensively has been criticized for years, and it came back to bite the Bucks in this crucial Game 7.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ offense was laughably subpar as they failed to generate anything in Game 7 against the Boston Celtics
Along with their hit-or-miss defense, the Milwaukee Bucks’ offense has been a hot talking point in this series because of how awful it has been. With Khris Middleton sidelined due to an MCL sprain, the Bucks had failed to run any legitimate offense and had seemingly just decided to wing it each and every night, which would obviously not get the job done. In Game 7, the team’s biggest game of the entire season, they once again could not muster up anything close to a working offense.
In total, the Bucks shot a vile 33-of-90 (36.7 percent) from the floor, having struggled all around. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s portion of those struggles will be dissected more closely in a moment, but the supporting cast needs to be highlighted. Jrue Holiday actually had his most efficient game of the series as he shot 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) from the floor, but it was not enough as he scored only 21 points. Grayson Allen proved to be a liability once again as he missed all six of his shots and scored only one point, which came courtesy of the free throw line.
Bobby Portis helped out to some degree as he added 10 points, but it took him nine shot attempts to get there. He looked off from the beginning, and after getting himself into foul trouble early on, he was pulled from the game, which certainly did not help his rhythm. Pat Connaughton, who had been playing some incredible basketball throughout the series to this point, was surprisingly out of character in this crucial game as he tallied two points on 1-of-6 shooting, having missed all of his five 3-point looks. George Hill did not even attempt a shot which probably helped the offense more than anything, but he still made no impact on the game whatsoever.
The one player that did see some success on the offensive end was Brook Lopez, who had his best game of the series with 15 points on 50 percent shooting. The Bucks finally looked to get Lopez in on the action offensively after everyone had clamored for it throughout the series, but it was too late in the end. Aside from Lopez, it was ugly in this one, and the Milwaukee Bucks will have to live with that moving forward. The loss of Khris Middleton was an absolute killer in this series as the Bucks could not function without him offensively.
Following a stellar first half, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s struggles picked up and doomed the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 against the Boston Celtics
Giannis Antetokounmpo was the driving force behind the Milwaukee Bucks’ success in this series, and they needed one more herculean effort out of him in Game 7. Unfortunately, they did not get that, as the 27-year-old had himself a tough outing after he put together one of the best series of his career to that point.
Things started off incredibly promising for Antetokounmpo as he was scoring and facilitating at a high level throughout the first quarter. After the first 12 minutes, it looked like another dominant performance was on the way for Antetokounmpo as he tallied 10 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, having done a bit of everything. This carried over into the second quarter as he scored seven more points, added four more rebounds, and notched a block and steal each. Unfortunately, everything went downhill from there as Boston flipped the switch and made things far more difficult for Antetokounmpo on every play the rest of the way.
In the second half, Antetokounmpo scored just eight points on an abysmal 4-of-16 shooting from the floor. He looked discombobulated as ever, having missed a handful of easy shots at the hoop that typically would be his go-to. It was a strange development, to say the least, especially after he was such a dominant force in the opening half. Nevertheless, with everyone else but Lopez struggling, Antetokounmpo’s rough second half was the final nail in the coffin for the Bucks as they fell to the Celtics in an incredibly disappointing finish.
Time will tell what the Milwaukee Bucks might exactly have in store moving forward.