Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks carried over the same dominance shown in round one into the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics. After losing Game 1, the Bucks rattled four consecutive victories, stamping their place in the conference finals with a Game 5 win.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Milwaukee Bucks.
The NBA playoffs are often an intricate chess game between two teams filled to the brim with some of our planet’s greatest athletes who are only enhanced by coaching minds that continue to innovate and spearhead the evolution of the game.
Other times, it’s as simple as park rules: The team with the best player wins.
That is much if not all of what was solidified throughout the gentlemen’s sweep that Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks delivered to the uber-disappointing Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
After multiple pregame declarations from a few Celtics players in regards to the confidence levels going into a game that wound up being their final disappointment in one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, it’s evident that Boston quit before the game started.
After falling behind early in the first quarter 18-8, the Celtics managed to go on an 11-0 run to take a 19-18 lead, for all of 25 seconds. And that was pretty much it.
From there on out, the Bucks suffocated a stagnant Boston offense that shot a porous 31.2 percent from the field along with an 17.9 percent conversion rate from the 3-point line, getting bounced out of the playoffs in lopsided fashion. Here are three takeaways from the closeout win in Game 5.