Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from Game 2 vs. Celtics

The Milwaukee Bucks were supposed to have the easy draw, but they are now down 2-0 in the series. What takeaways do they have from Game 2?

The Milwaukee Bucks ended the 2017-18 regular season on a sour note, losing big to the Philadelphia 76ers. But the result of that loss was to push Milwaukee down to seventh in the Eastern Conference for a matchup with the hobbled and fragile Boston Celtics.

With Giannis Antetokounmpo playing at an MVP level and key rotation players such as Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova healthy, the Bucks had the perfect draw. Win in the first round, and the second round would avoid the statistically elite Toronto Raptors and LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers.

Yet despite playing without All-Stars in Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, not to mention defensive bulldog Marcus Smart, the Celtics have looked like the more talented team through two games. A group of young up-and-comers surrounding Al Horford have come out and absolutely punched the Bucks in the mouth, and Milwaukee finds itself down 0-2.

Tuesday night, that came in the form of a 120-106 Game 2 loss in Boston, where Milwaukee repeatedly won the battle inside and yet came away empty. Giannis Antetokounmpo poured in 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting, and Khris Middleton scored 25 on 10-of-14 shooting, yet the Bucks never led after the midway point of the first quarter.

For Boston, it was Terry Rozier directing the show, scoring 23 points and tallying eight assists. Jaylen Brown stepped up with the best postseason game of his career, scoring 30 points against a variety of defenders. Marcus Morris continued to be big off the bench with 18 points and a game-high +19.

Old-fashioned basketball pundits will tell you that the series hasn’t truly started until the home team loses a game. So what are the takeaways from the second game of the series? Can Milwaukee turn this thing around?