Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from Game 3 vs. Bucks

2. Lack of defense

The Celtics live and breathe through the art of defense. This season they finished with the best defensive rating at 101.5. In Game 3, however, that was not the case at all. The Bucks ended up winning by 24 points, and giving up 116 points is uncharacteristic for this Boston team. We’re accustomed to seeing opposing teams score under 100 or in the low 100s.

It’s hard to win games when you don’t play defense — it’s arguably the most important part of the game. Defense wins championships, and when you allow the opposing team to score the ball at will, you’ll often find yourself losing the game.

It’s next to impossible to stop Antetokoumpo, so in that sense you can’t really fault the Celtics on that front. There are a lot of talented players in Milwaukee, but allowing them to shoot the ball with such success is a cause for concern.

• Giannis Antetokounmpo: 19 points, 8-13 FG, 3-4 3P
• Khris Middleton: 23 points, 10-17 FG, 3-6 3P
• Eric Bledsoe: 17 points, 8-13 FG, 0-3 3P
• Jabari Parker: 17 points 7-12 FG, 1-4 3P
• Thon Maker 14 points, 3-5 FG, 3-4 3P

There were other players who found success shooting the ball, but those five highlight who did the most damage Friday night. Allowing Milwaukee’s top three players to score and shoot that well is a guarantee for bad results.

Maker and Parker were surprises Friday night because they weren’t much of a factor in the first two games, or in Maker’s case, just one. The Bucks finished the night shooting it 57.0 percent from the field on 79 attempts. They also shoot 48.5 percent from 3 on 33 attempts.

Moving forward, if they can’t play defense against the Bucks, the Celtics may find themselves in a very competitive series.