The Celtics can’t win their NBA conference semifinal series with Milwaukee tonight. They can, however, lose it.
“As far as Boston’s concerned, it might as well be Game 7,” a Western Conference coach told Heavy.com.
Win Game 2 and you’re back in the series with still a lot of work to do. Lose it and you’ve got to win four out of five against the defending champion Bucks — a task just slightly less daunting than scaling Everest in flip-flops.
Sunday’s series-opening loss left the Celtics with a laundry list of corrections to be made. After dealing with the Nets’ alleged defense in their first-round sweep, the Celts appeared unready for Milwaukee’s physical and engaged approach to that end of the floor — even though they had to know it was coming.
The problem wasn’t just that Boston missed a whole bunch of shots (33.3 percent overall, a woeful 10 for 34 on 2-pointers). It’s that the hosts fell into a frenzy that compounded their issues. They committed 18 turnovers, which became 27 Buck points. Meanwhile, the Celts derived just six points from Milwaukee’s 14 giveaways — a significant discrepancy in a 101-89 game.
The legendary John Wooden famously told his UCLA Bruins, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”
Celtics Must Lose the Iso-Ball Approach
Ime Udoka was telling the Celtics the same thing Sunday, but they evidently couldn’t hear him over all the traffic they were driving into.
If they are to find the way out of that jam tonight — and perhaps even to victory — the Bostonians need to be short and crisp with their moves. They did miss some way open 3’s in Game 1, but even those attempts seemed largely rushed.
Worse yet, there were occasional echoes of the early-season C’s who stumbled to three games below .500 by trying to steer out of their skid with iso-ball. There were wobbly drives that ended in missed shots, turnovers and regular complaints to the officials.
It is accepted human officiating nature that the more aggressive team gets the better whistle, if only because the more passive team is a beat behind and left to reach. The Bucks were the party of the first part on Sunday, and while there some questionable calls from both sides’ point of view (there always are), driving players with little control are highly unlikely to be bailed out by the refs.
To get straightened out now, the Celtics have to remember that hero ball is what’s gotten them eliminated from the postseason in three of the last four years (Kyrie Irving’s 2019 resignation the exception). As we’ve noted before, the tendency comes from players trying to take responsibility individually — basically a good instinct, but one that is mortally wounding to what you’re trying to do as a team.
Brown, Tatum Must Improve
If the Celts succeed in Game 2, it will be because they pass up good shots for better ones, because those extra cuts and passes can get the Bucks’ defense moving side to side and because that type of offense leads to better floor balance, which can help avoid a repeat of Milwaukee’s 28-8 Game 1 edge in fast break points.
Also, Jaylen Brown can’t shoot 4-for-13 and turn the ball over seven times again. Jayson Tatum has to do better than 6-for-18 from the floor. Payton Pritchard has to be closer to the 10-for-15 shooter he was against Brooklyn and further from the 2-for-8 guy he was Sunday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is still gonna Giannis, but the Celts can do a better job of not over-helping and leaving wide-open Bucks on the perimeter.
The Celtics can do all of these things and still find themselves in a fourth quarter fight — especially if Marcus Smart (bruised quad) is absent or limited. It’s a fight they have to win.
Losing tonight would technically mean a 2-0 series deficit. In reality, getting their home serve broken twice would bring the Celtics significantly closer to the wrong end of match point.
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‘Might as Well Be Game 7’: Celtics Challenged vs. Bucks in Game 2