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Bucks Vs. Celtics Game 2 2022
The Milwaukee Bucks are headed home from Boston with three days before their next game in the Eastern Conference semifinals. That is a lot of time to let a bad loss marinate, and Tuesday night’s outing was certainly a bad loss.
Things started bad for Milwaukee, with an 18-3 run from the Celtics to open the game. It wouldn’t get much better from there. It felt like there was a lid over the rim on the Bucks’ half of the floor, with each shot rimming out, likely falling into a Boston player’s hands for the rebound. Once again, the Celtics jammed up players in the paint, making Tuesday an especially long night for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Rather than allowing Milwaukee to move the ball to the open man, though, Boston was able to collapse on several Bucks players with ease, creating defensive traps and forcing nine turnovers in the first half alone.
On the other end of the floor, the Celtics simply could not miss a shot. By halftime, Boston had three players with multiple three pointers and a perfect percentage beyond the arc. Grant Williams, Payton Pritchard, and Jaylen Brown all went without a three-point miss before the break, with Brown racking up five threes in an unreal showing. The Bucks, however, made just two three pointers in the entirety of the first half, thanks to Pat Connaughton and Jrue Holiday. Milwaukee went 15-35 from the field in the first two quarters, and it all added up to a 25-point lead for Boston by halftime.
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With the game out of reach, any semblance of a comeback would be marred by Bucks errors in the second half. Jrue Holiday would juke nearly the entire Celtics defense only to get blocked at the rim. A Jason Tatum technical foul resulted in Grayson Allen missing the technical free throw. Whenever the window would slightly open for Milwaukee, Boston found a way to close it back up. Both teams scored at a steady clip in the second half, but it was never enough for Milwaukee to close the gap to even single digits. A 109-86 final score doesn’t look as bad on paper as it felt on Tuesday night.
With the best-of-seven series tied at one game each, there’s plenty to still be optimistic about for the Bucks. Taking one game on the road is important, especially when neither Boston or Milwaukee had lost to one another on their home court all regular season. The series also returns to Fiserv Forum on Saturday afternoon for two games, and ideally, the Bucks can be up 3-1 before returning to TD Garden for game five. It will very much hinge on game three, however, which can’t come soon enough for Milwaukee.
Fiserv Forum will host game three of the Bucks-Celtics series on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., with national coverage on ABC. Tuesday night’s watch party was limited due to inclement weather, but Deer District is ready to welcome thousands of fans this weekend, with warmer temperatures and sunny skies in the forecast. You can’t have a “Bucks In 6” scenario without losing a couple of games, but hopefully Tuesday’s outing is the last loss of this series.
