Giannis Antetokounmpo limited as Bucks fall to Celtics in Game 5
BOSTON — The Milwaukee Bucks and the BMO Harris Bradley Center will be facing elimination Thursday night.
That's because the Bucks followed the all-too-familiar pattern of getting down by double digits in the first half, battling back to make things close during the second and failing to get over the hump as they fell to the Boston Celtics, 92-87, Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
The Celtics now lead the series, 3-2, as each team has won on its home court. Milwaukee struggled offensively throughout the night, shooting just 36.8% (32 of 87) from the field, including 27.3% (9 of 33) on three-pointers. Facing a re-energized Celtics team buoyed by the return of defensive menace Marcus Smart, the Bucks struggled to get anything going offensively for most of the game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited to just 16 points on 10 shots, looking gassed as he played the entire second half. He also had 10 rebounds and nine assists. Khris Middleton had a team-high 23 points but was much less efficient than he has been this series, shooting 9 for 21. Jabari Parker added 17 points off the bench in an overall solid performance, and Eric Bledsoe finished with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
Yet, the Bucks had plenty of chances late in the game. They trailed by 11 at halftime and by as many as 16 in the third quarter. Shortly after Boston's lead peak at 16, Shabazz Muhammad made his first entrance to the game and put the Bucks on his back. The seldom-used forward put up 11 points in four minutes, including a pair of three-pointers, to get the Bucks within four.
Boston followed that spurt with a 7-0 run, beginning the back and forth that continued for the rest of the game.
The Bucks would make a run, get within four, then get pushed back. It happened again early in the fourth quarter, when Parker grabbed three offensive rebounds in a minute to spur a 7-0 Milwaukee run. It happened again with about three minutes to go when the Bucks whittled a nine-point Celtics lead down to four thanks in part to another Parker offensive rebound that led to a three-pointer by Bledsoe.
Down five with just over a minute left, the Bucks looked like they had gotten a stop, but it wasn't to be. Al Horford fired up a three-pointer with 1 minute 16 seconds left that was off the mark, but the Celtics grabbed the rebound. More important than that, based on replay Horford's shot came after the shot clock expired.
The referees did not review the play, and even though the Celtics didn't score on the ensuing possession, the Bucks didn't get the ball back until there were 48.8 seconds remaining.
From there it turned into a free-throw contest, with the Bucks getting as close as three points, but they couldn't get any closer as the Celtics salted away the win at the line.
The tight finish came after the Bucks had dug themselves into an early hole. Milwaukee went 1 of 12 from the field to close the first quarter, taking an eight-point deficit into the second.
Then in the second, after the Bucks got within their magic number of four, the Celtics got rolling to build a 16-point lead thanks to contributions from up and down the roster.
Horford finished with 22 points, Terry Rozier added 16, Jaylen Brown had 14 and Smart had nine points, three blocks and a steal in his return.
Outside of Muhammad, the Bucks didn't get much from their role players, with Thon Maker, Matthew Dellavedova and Tony Snell combining for two points on 1-of-12 shooting.
Matt Velazquez covers the Bucks for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the Paste BN Network.