After a disappointing Game 1, and despite the absence of Marcus Smart for this second round, the Celtics start very strong and deliver a first half close to perfection. With a first quarter with 32 points scored, including 17 for Jaylen Brown alone, then a second quarter with 33 points, the Celtics simply slapped the completely inert Bucks, like their leader Giannis Antetokounmpo (5 points at 2/12), unrecognizable following a grand first match.
Driven by 25 points from Jaylen Brown, well supported by Jayson Tatum (10 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists) and Grant Williams off the bench (11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists), and thanks to a collective game licked (17 assists, 23 baskets), Boston flies away and points to +25 at the break (65-40)! The Bucks are not necessarily clumsy (15/35), but they simply lack inspiration in attack, and willpower in defense.
The second half is better billed from an offensive point of view for Milwaukee, like this interesting third quarter, during which the “Greek Freak” increases in power and plants 16 points. The Bucks come back to fifteen points, but it’s not enough to worry the Celtics, who without much difficulty, quickly and definitively bury their hopes in the last act.
The gap explodes once more, and Boston is heading for an authoritative victory, acquired in the first minutes of this Game 2 (109-86). The Celtics stepped on the accelerator from the in-between, and the Bucks did not fold. “One everywhere, ball in the center”, following these first two rounds in Massachusetts.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
The outside address wins in the playoffs. In steamroller mode during this Game 2, the Celtics built their success on a sharp attack. The reason: an outdoor address close to insolence, with a nice 20/43 behind the arc. That’s 60 points, or nearly 55% of the Celtics’ points in this game, compared to just 24 points scored inside the key. Conversely, the Bucks, terribly clumsy behind the 3-point line (3/18), fell back on baskets near the circle (54 points in the racket).
Marcus Smart absent. A few hours before the meeting, we learned that the Celtics point guard was not recovered from a big crutch received in Game 1. Ime Udoka warned that the best defender in the NBA would be present for the 3rd inning, which take place in three days.
TOPS / FLOPS
✅ Jaylen Brown et Jayson Tatum. The former scored 17 of his 30 points in the first half, when the latter scored 19 of his 29 points following the break. Each in turn, the two stars of the Celtics fueled the “scoring” of their team, and finally signed a match with 59 points in total, almost as much as the 5 major of the Bucks (66 points). This Game 2 will do them a world of good in terms of confidence, following a painful and winded first game (12 points at 4/13 for Brown, 21 points at 6/18).
✅ Grant Williams. The former ball of muscle from the university of Tennessee is needed, with more and more regularity, like the X factor of the Celtics. Very valuable for his outside address (6/9 behind the arc), exemplary in defense in the racket once morest Giannis Antetokounmpo, the strong winger signs an ideal match off the bench in this Game 2 (21 points at 7/ 14, 5 rebounds and 2 assists).
✅⛔️ Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s a mixed feeling that emerges when analyzing the performance of the Greek. Ghostly in the first half, he unsurprisingly gained momentum following returning from the locker room. Only, his team was already more than 20 points behind at that time, and therefore the feeling that he fought and woke up much too late, and for nothing, prevails. Nothing very alarming overall, since his awakening, in absolute terms, is the sign of a desire to catch up. He still finished with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
THE FOLLOWING
Game 3 : in Milwaukee, Saturday, May 07, at 9:30 p.m. in France
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