Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from Game 3 vs. Bucks
After looking strong in the first two games, the Boston Celtics fell short in Game 3 of their first round playoff series. Here’s three takeaway’s from Friday’s action.
There weren’t many high expectations for the Boston Celtics heading into the 2018 NBA Playoffs. This was mainly due to losing Kyrie Irving for the rest of the season, including the playoffs. They’ve had a lot of injuries throughout the season, with the most notable one being newly acquired free agent Gordon Hayward on opening night.
Surprisingly, the shorthanded Celtics came out strong to start the series — much like they did throughout the regular season. In Game 1, it was a wire-to-wire finish for both teams. We saw practically two buzzer-beater shots that caused the game to go into overtime. In the second game, we saw a completely dominant performance from Boston, which won 120-106.
After losing the first two games at the TD Garden, the Milwaukee Bucks came through in a big way in Game 3. From the start, Milwaukee controlled the game with transition offense and of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to stop the Greek Freak in transition and if you slow him down, he can just hit one of his teammates.
That’s exactly where things went wrong for the Celtics. They did make things interesting in the third quarter, but never fully came back. Despite getting it to within 14, the Celtics never really had enough steam to keep going.
Khris Middleton led the charge with 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Giannis finished with 19 points, six assists and five boards. Jabari Parker and Eric Bledsoe added 17 points apiece. Al Horford led the Celtics with 16 points, while Greg Monroe had 15 points and 12 rebounds off the bench.
Moving forward in the series, Boston will need to stop any sort of transition offense the Bucks try to ignite or any sort of spark the Bucks develop. If it is unable to do so, this series may turn for the worse. Let’s take a look at our Game 3 takeaways.