Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Bucks

2. Al Horford vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Throughout the game we saw Al Horford matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo. Guarding Antetokounmpo is not an easy task for any player, but Horford did a great job “slowing” him down. It’s nearly impossible to stop the Greek Freak, but you can do your best to limit what he does in a game.

Your best bet is to try an eliminate any chance of him getting inside or in transition. If you can get him to pull up from mid-range or from 3, you’re in pretty good shape as that’s not his strong suit. Horford finished the game with two steals and three blocks on the defensive end. Those are good numbers and to go along with that, he played great on-ball defense the majority of the game.

He played big defensively and was the Celtics’ leading scorer in Game 1. He finished with 24 points and went to the line 14 times – converting on 13 of those. Horford getting to the line played a big part in the Bucks’ foul troubles, which proved to be another key reason Boston was able to come out on top.

There’s no argument that Antetokounmpo is the Bucks’ best player. In order for Boston to win, they’ll need to minimize his damage. The Bucks go as far as he does.

Even with the Celtics; best efforts to slow him down, he still finished with a game high 35 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field. To go along with his scoring output, he delivered in every other category on the stat sheet. He ended up with 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

The battle between Horford and Antetokounmpo will be key moving forward in the series. If Boston wants to make it out of the quarterfinals, then it’ll need Horford to continue to do a great job slowing Antetokounmpo down.