Tag: 2022 East Second Round

Marcus Smart turned his bitter end to Game 5 into fuel to win Game 6 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks on the road

A sleepless Marcus Smart leaned on his teammates to find a way to win Game 6.

There is no better salve for the sting of a loss than the rush of a hard-fought win in the NBA playoffs. After a pair of steals and a Jrue Holiday block of what might have been a game-winning shot sent Boston Celtics veteran point guard Marcus Smart to a bit of a dark place after the Celtics’ Game 5 loss to Holiday’s Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, that became quite evident to the Flower Mound native on Friday.

“I’ll just say that tonight will be the first night after that, since that game, that I got some sleep,” shared Smart after Boston’s big Game 6 win at Fiserv Forum against the Bucks.

“I haven’t been asleep yet,” he related.

NBA, Celtics media react to Jayson Tatum’s 46 points, Boston forcing Game 7 with 108-95 win

Tatum’s big night came exactly when Boston needed it most.

The fans of the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks who witnessed Game 6 in the series between the two Eastern Conference teams were in for an all-time great battle between the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum.

As has been the case throughout their second-round playoff series, nearly the entire contest was intensely competitive with the Greek Freak nearly fighting the Bucks back from being down as much as 18. A late assault from Tatum on his way to a 46-point night has forced a Game 7 at TD Garden on Sunday.

The media and fans took to the league’s unofficial social media to tweet their response to the Celtics’ Game 6 win; let’s take a look at what they were saying.

Celtics highlights: Boston forces Game 7 with huge night from Jayson Tatum vs. Milwaukee Bucks

Game 7 now heads to TD Garden.

If the Boston Celtics were going to avoid seeing their 2021-22 season end on the road, they would need a huge performance out of one of their players to counter the perrenial double-double machine that is Milwaukee Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 6 of their East semifinals series.

And that is exactly what they got out of All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, who put up 46 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block while shooting a red-hot 17-of-32 from the floor, 7-of-15 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. Now, the Celtics will head back to Massachusetts to play a decisive Game 7 on their own home court of TD Garden.

If you missed the game, or just want another look at Tatum’s masterpiece again, check out the clip embedded below put together by NBC Sports Boston.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics at Bucks: Boston survives Milwaukee onslaught with career night from Jayson Tatum, force Game 7 with 108-95 win

Some of the best plays of the season-saving win captured in images.

The Boston Celtics overcame a strong start by the Milwaukee Bucks and a furious comeback from their star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Bucks on the road to force a Game 7 at the Garden with a career night from Boston star forward Jayson Tatum.

The St. Louis native put up the second-highest scoring game of his pro career with 46 points and 9 rebounds on a sizzling 17-of-32 shooting from the floor to counter a 44-point, 20-rebound, 6-assist game from the Greek Freak. The Celtics also had big games from star forward Jaylen Brown (22 points, 5 rebounds) and point guard Marcus Smart (21 points, 5 boards, 7 assists) with reserve guard Derrick White adding 11 points and 5 rebounds off of the bench.

Let’s take a look at some of the best plays of the season-saving win captured in images.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

Robert Williams III dealing with a bone bruise from colliding with Giannis, according to Celtics coach Ime Udoka

He will remain questionable with some discomfort in that knee.

Boston Celtics center Robert Williams III is dealing with a bone bruise sustained in Game 3 of the team’s East semis series with the Milwaukee Bucks when Milwaukee star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo collided with him, according to the Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.

The Boston head coach shared that Timelord is still questionable for Game 6 after shootaround on Friday and that the swelling and irritation that had kept him out of Game 5 was unrelated to his meniscal surgery on the same knee. “He got his knee scanned, and everything structurally is good. It looks fine, the swelling went down, but he still has some soreness and pain.”

“(The scan) revealed that he has a small bone bruise from a collision he took in Game 3,” added Udoka, confirming it was indeed when he took a hard hit from Giannis in a follow-up question in which the coach was sure to note that Antetokounmpo ran into Williams and not the reverse.

Given he may still be limited in terms of mobility and pain tolerance, it may make more sense to sit Timelord for this game given there are no margins for error, but for now it seems that his availability will be a game-time decision.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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How can the Boston Celtics bounce back from their heartbreaking Game 5 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks?

To start with, they’ll need to win this game, and then the next. But how?

To date, neither team in the Boston Celtics‘ Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Milwaukee Bucks has won two games in a row, but now, with the series at 3-2 in favor of the Bucks, the Celtics will have to do exactly that in order to advance to the 2022 Eastern Conference finals.

It is a tall order given the much-cited stat of teams who take the lead in game 5 go on to win the series more than 80% of the time but was accomplished as recently as last season by Milwaukee when they overcame a similar deficit against the Brooklyn Nets. If any team in the league is built with a similar resolve capable of breaking through and stealing the series back from the Bucks, it’s Boston.

To break down how it would need to go, the hosts of the NBC Sports Boston “Early Edition” show dive into the looming Game 6 matchup on Friday night.

Watch the video above to hear what Trenni Kusnierek, Tom Giles, and Chris Forsberg have to say about this series, and what it will take for the Celtics to keep their season alive.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Can the Boston Celtics pull off a win in Milwaukee against the Bucks in Game 6?

The offseason awaits if the answer is no.

For the Boston Celtics to get a chance to right their Game 5 wrongs on their home court of TD Garden and advance to the 2022 NBA Eastern Conference finals, they will first have to beat the Milwaukee Bucks on their own home court of Fiserv Forum.

After a collapse by the team in the contest’s fourth quarter, the Celtics now find themselves having to win the most important tilt of their season on the road in front of a hostile crowd in order to avoid being sent fishing this coming Friday night. Do they have what it takes to beat a determined Bucks squad led by star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee?

The hosts of ESPN’s “First Take” recently debated whether Boston had the mettle to pull off such a big ask.

Stephen A. Smith, Jay Wright, Amar’e Stoudamire, and Molly Qerim get into how they see the Celtics’ fortunes unfolding in Game 6 in the video above.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Did the Boston Celtics late lapses in Game 5 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks cost them a deep playoff run?

Boston now faces two consecutive elimination games in a row they’ll need to win in order to advance.

Did the Boston Celtics’ late lapses in Game 5 of their East semis series with the Milwaukee Bucks rob them of a promising run deep into the 2022 NBA playoffs? Jawing at the referees, playing ISO ball, and falling back into the same habits that made the first half of the 2021-22 Celtics season painful to watch came back to haunt Boston at the worst possible moment.

Now, the team finds itself in a position where it will have to win two games in a row and the first of the pair on the road as the series heads back to Wisconsin. Just how big of a botched fourth quarter was it for the Celtics on Wednesday?

The hosts of the CLNS Media “Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman” podcast debated how much regret the team ought to feel if they don’t find a way to win the series in a recent episode.

In it, Gary Tanguay and the two eponymous hosts take a look around the rest of the league’s landscape as well.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Is Ime Udoka at fault for Boston’s Game 5 loss vs. the Bucks?

At least one analyst has a bone to pick with how long Jaylen Brown was on the bench in the fourth quarter.

There were plenty of mistakes made on the floor late in the Boston Celtics’ Game 5 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, but it could be that the biggest mistake of them all was made on the sidelines according to at least one well-known New England sports analyst.

That analyst would be NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Gasper, who had something of a spicy take on his network’s “Celtics Talk” podcast when discussing what went wrong in the game with host Chris Forsberg. “If I had to pick one person for this, I’d put in on Ime (Udoka, Boston head coach). I’ll tell you why,” said Gasper. “He’s been great this series, (but) I think he maybe got a little cute in the fourth quarter, a little comfortable with the lead.”

“I feel like he sat Jaylen Brown for too long,” he added, noting how the Georgia native had been on fire offensively in the third quarter.

Could Udoka be to blame for this critical loss? Hear the rest of Gasper and Forsberg’s thoughts on the loss and what comes next in the clip embedded above.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics reflect on squandered opportunity to win Game 5 vs. Milwaukee Bucks, how to approach Game 6

Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart all had plenty to say about letting the game slip through their fingers — and whether they can win the series.

“We gave it away,” said Boston Celtics star forward Jaylen Brown after the team’s disheartening 110-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. “That’s how we lost it.”

“Give credit to Milwaukee, they played hard for 48 minutes. We played hard, but we weren’t as purposeful as we needed to be down the stretch,” added the Georgia native, alluding to the Celtics’ fourth-quarter collapse, which saw several defensive lapses — several while jawing at referees — result in open looks for the Bucks, which let Boston’s opponent dig their way back from a 14-point deficit to win the game on a Jrue Holiday block on Marcus Smart.

“It cost us,” he added. “We’ve got to be the smarter team, and do what works. We went away from that at times.”