BOSTON — Mike Budenholzer shocked the Bucks press core by announcing his starting lineup 90 minutes before the Celtics and Milwaukee face off. Head coaches don’t need to share and some, like Budenholzer, often don’t. This time, he proudly exclaimed he’d stick with the same jumbo starting five that pummeled the Chicago Bulls defensively in Game 1. The follow-up went right to how the Bucks would adjust if something went wrong, Budenholzer answering that starters don’t necessarily dictate how teams end games.
That proved true for the Bucks in an emphatic 101-89 Game 1 win, a wakeup call for the Celtics after sweeping the Nets in round one. Milwaukee played big, shifted into smaller units to open its transition scoring and held the Celtics to 10 two-point baskets through — nearly becoming the fourth team in the shot clock era to make fewer than that. Boston settled at a historic rate, turned the ball over 18 times and Jayson Tatum shot 6-for-18 against another sellout effort on him, this one coming in the form of a defense that collapsed like a defensive line on a running back.
“Just crowd him. He has great handles, he has the length too. Just to be able to crowd him, and then it’s not just me,” Jrue Holiday told CLNS Media. “It’s a team effort to be able to funnel him and for him to see two or three guys, sometimes even four, it makes it like I’m doing something, but I really rely on my teammates a lot.”
That defensive scheme left the Celtics open to fire away from three, and they did 50 times, statistically a death sentence for teams in the playoffs. Al Horford and Marcus Smart converted early looks, which Holiday matched.
Boston’s switching defense gave Giannis Antetokounmpo momentary pause, falling out-of-bounds on the first possession before throwing away a pass to a slipping Brook Lopez, losing the ball in the lane against Jaylen Brown and dumping off a pass against a double team to Wes Matthews, who stepped out-of-bounds himself. The Bucks’ giveaways didn’t turn into Celtics offense though, both sides grinding to a halt early.
Boston led 18-12, when Budenholzer downsized with Pat Connaughton spacing out Robert Williams III with an early three. Bobby Portis attacked Derrick White with a timely double team, running a steal back for two points after his own three-pointer above the break. Antetokounmpo, struggling against Horford and crowds inside, entered facilitator mode and found Jevon Carter and Matthews for five straight points to enter the second quarter ahead on a 10-0 run.
Tatum hit his first shot on a breakout midway six minutes later, but Connaughton and Grayson Allen buried threes with Ime Udoka noticing his defense doubling too early on Antetokounmpo. Sloppy turnovers by Brown and Tatum bringing the ball past half court, Matthews and Allen capitalizing with another pair of triples and the Celtics trailing by 10 points at halftime.
“I don’t feel we played with the best poise and composure,” Udoka said after.
The Celtics attacked the Bucks’ drop defense well to start the third quarter, Tatum drilling a pair of threes over the top before tossing Williams III an alley-oop flush. Smart returned from a thigh contusion and stinger that left him darting toward the locker room with his arm hanging in a scary moment that resembled Kevin Love’s season-ending shoulder dislocation in Boston in 2015.
Smart shot 1-for-5 in the second half. He hobbled over in pain after contesting a Holiday shot in the lane, while White bounced back from a rough first half with a three and feed to Grant Williams for free throws. Smart’s thigh had tightened up, Udoka noted later.
Boston pulled within 68-62, Tatum lured Lopez higher than he had all game in some pick-and-roll action, blew by him downhill and Antetokounnmpo swooped in to bat the shot out-of-bounds along the baseline. Tatum called for a goaltending call, but none came. A loose ball foul on White following Horford’s stop on Antetokounmpo on the other end further incensed the Celtics and their fans.
“I would say the turnovers that lead into transition (hurt us) more than us complaining about calls,” Udoka said. “Some of those were live ball turnovers, they’re getting out and running, 28 points in transition, 27 off our turnovers, way too high. Especially when they only score one-on-one, so got to be stronger with the ball, understand what they’re going to be. They’re going to have five guys in the paint every time we have penetration. So being stronger with the ball, and having our outlets there is the first part, I think, to stopping their offense. It’s us running good offense as well.”
The officiating swung back in their favor with a quick third and fourth foul call on Antetokounmpo. By that point, Holiday had taken over, peppering the Celtics with three short-range jumpers to close the third with a 78-70 lead.
The Bucks took command into the final frame, Brown and Payton Pritchard launching difficult fadeaway jumpers. Antetokounmpo hit a mid-range jumper over Williams and worked the ball methodically to Carter on the weak side to beat Pritchard in isolation. Portis buried a corner three on the fast break from Giannis, and the Bucks established full control, ahead 87-72.
“We were a little bit sped up, missed a lot of shots,” Brown told CLNS. “Defensively, we gave up 100 points. Offensively, we’ve got to find ways to be better, we turned it over a lot. We’ve got to get back to doing what we do best. In hindsight, we still have our confidence, we’re still ready, so we’ll get back to Celtics basketball.”
Holiday tipped a Horford entry pass away from Tatum and ran it back for three, then Tatum lost another possession against Matthews’ blitz. Tatum chased the loose ball to the floor and fouled, Horford darting toward Tatum before he could approach Scott Foster and complain, pulling him away. The Celtics, as they had in spots early in the season, began spiraling.
“During those games, there’s times where you’re going to get rattled. That’s a part of it. That happens, and then we move onto the next play,” Horford told CLNS. “That was just an instance where I saw Jayson just needed to be pulled away from the official, and that was it. Officials did a good job, they let us play, it was a hard-fought game. You’ve just got to give them credit, they played harder than us. They were better.”
Antetokounmpo, lined up against Tatum on the next possession, fired a self-pass off the backboard and dunked to cap an afternoon where he posted 24 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, never appearing uncomfortable as he struggled to shoot. Minutes later, Boston’s bench spilled into the game.
The Celtics lost themselves after a strong start, Horford stressing that the team can shake off their worst loss since December. He repeated the mantra as he walked out of the press room, smiling.
“On to Tuesday.”
