NBA: Pure dominance! Milwaukee Bucks sweep Celtics out of the hall

That was clear! The Milwaukee Bucks have been the better team from the start and can defend their early lead throughout the match. The Boston Celtics catch a pitch-black evening and lose 92:116 (BOXSCORE).

It got off to a good start from the Bucks’ point of view. Giannis Antetokounmpo completed the first move of the game with a cracking alley-oop, shortly afterwards the Greek also proved his rank: he brought his Bucks to the front early with 12:6 in a threesome. And that was far from over.

Milwaukee had almost everything going while the Celtics just couldn’t get a foot on the ground. By the end of the first quarter, Milwaukee extended his lead to 27-12, in the second half, after another three from Giannis, the lead even shot up to 24 points (43-19).

So while the Bucks fans hovered on cloud nine, absolutely nothing came together in the Celtics’ offense. At halftime, the Bucks had a 58-35 lead on their account. After all: Celtics coach Brad Stevens apparently found the right words in the cabin. With a 16-4 run Boston returned in the middle of the third leg of the game.

In the meantime, the guests reduced the gap to 14 points, but the Bucks always found a suitable answer – this time in the person of Jabari Parker. After the Big Man last complained about his role, Parker put a strong performance on the stage and, with 8 points in the third stage, played a big part in Milwaukee moving into the fourth quarter with an 18-point lead despite the guests’ comeback attempt.

After that, the Bucks didn’t let anything burn anymore. In the middle of the final section, the very hot hosts sank a few three in a row, setting off again to 25 points (103:78). About six minutes before the end the decision was made, Boston continued to fight bravely, but the gap was too big.

Besides the strong Parker (17 points, 7/12 FG, 5 rebounds), Thon Maker was also convincing from the bank. Southern Sudan scored 14 points (3/4 trio), took 5 rebounds and also cleaned up the zone with 5 blocks. Altogether the Bucks dominated with 13 (!) blocked throws in the zone.

Antetokounmpo (19 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists), Khris Middleton (23, 8 and 7) and Eric Bledsoe (17) also performed well. Al Horford was even better with 16 points, Greg Monroe contributed a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds) from the bank.

All in all, however, the Celtics had a very weak evening, so Milwaukee was able to shorten the series to 1:2 without any problems. On Sunday evening at 19 o’clock German time game 4 is on the program.

Milwaukee Bucks vs. Boston Celtics 116:92, series 1:2 (BOXSCORE)

Giannis Antetokounmpo. The star of the Bucks set the tone in the first seconds of the game with his cracking alley-op. The Greek Freak also impressed with his versatility and filled the statsheet with 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in just 27 minutes.

Terry Rozier. In the first two games of the series, the Celtic point guard averaged 23 points, 5.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds. But that evening he was miles away from that. Rozier had a pitch-black evening and had 4 ball losses after the first quarter. In the end, he came out of the field with only 9 points (after all 9 assists) at 2 out of 7.

At first, after the half-time break, it seemed that the Celtics could make an impressive comeback. Head coach Brad Stevens made this possible mainly through a change in the defense. Boston got the Bucks out of rhythm with a zone defense, but after a few minutes and strong actions by Parker and Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee had found the right answer. Thanks to the security of downtown, the spacings worked perfectly that evening. The Bucks emitted a lot of danger both from downtown and in the zone.