Prepare Yourself For Another Celtics-Bucks Rock Fight In Game 7
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's all coming down to a deciding Game 7 between the Celtics and Bucks, because of course it is.
When the undermanned Celtics drew Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in the first round, it was expected to be a rock fight. Nothing would be easy for either team, talented squads that struggled for various reasons, whether it be injuries or just a frustrating inability to put it all together. It's been one of those famous first-round battles where both teams held serve, winning on their home floors, and now it all comes down to 48 minutes in Boston on Saturday night.
That certainly bodes well for the Celtics, with 18,000+ fans on their side in the winner-takes-all tilt. And in basketball, home-court actually means something; in 128 Game 7s in NBA playoff history, only 26 road teams have won. Home court has made all the difference in the series, with the Celtics averaging 108 points in their three games at the Garden while shooting 46 percent from the floor and 39 percent from three-point range. They averaged 15 fewer points in their three games in Milwaukee.
The Bucks shot 53 percent in the comforts of the Bradley Center, hitting 42 percent of their three-point attempts. Those numbers dip to 48 percent and 34 percent, respectively, in Boston. Overall though, they've hit 50 percent of their shots during the series, which cannot happen on Saturday if the Celtics want to advance.
There is reason to believe the Celtics will bounce back from a disappointing showing in Game 6 and ultimately move on. They're a different team at home and it's safe to assume (as dangerous as assumptions are) they won't be the stagnant offensive team that took the floor in Game 6 on Thursday night. Boston couldn't get any flow going on offense with their ball movement nearly non-existent throughout the game, which drove Brad Stevens as wild as the mild-mannered coach can get. The Celtics took most of their shots (rather, forced most of their shots) with little time left on the shot clock, leading to misses and easy rushes for the Bucks. Milwaukee outscored Boston 25-4 on fast-break points in the frustrating affair. Again, that can't happen on Saturday night.
But the Celtics don't need to reinvent the wheel to move on to the next round. They just need to play up to the potential they've shown three times already this series.
They need their young stars to shine bright. Jaylen Brown has been spectacular for much of the series, but he had just 14 points and shot 6-for-15 on Thursday. Jayson Tatum has looked like a rookie and struggled for much of the first six games, on both ends of the floor, but led the way with 22 points in Game 6. The 20-year-old needs to build off that with everything on the line. Terry Rozier had 16 points on Thursday, but needed 17 shots for that output. A little more efficiency from their starting point guard will go a long way.
Elsewhere, Al Horford needs to be his usual self and Marcus Smart needs to play his game and not take as many terrible shots as Thursday (which, I guess, is part of his game). Perhaps most importantly, Marcus Morris must stop being a black hole on offense. He was the worst offender in killing Boston's flow in Game 6, taking far too many hero shots in isolation and going just 5-for-14 from the floor (he's shooting just 38 percent for the series). Boston needs him to get back to being a force off the bench. Rather than dribble out the clock for 15-20 seconds before attempting a contested fadeaway, he needs to knock down some more long distance strikes.
After Thursday night's disappointment, the Celtics aren't expecting another letdown on Saturday.
"I expect nothing short of a tremendous performance from everybody. Back against the wall, both teams, loser go home. That's all that needs to be said," Brown said on Thursday night. "You win or go home."
Of course, there's the little conundrum of containing that Greek guy who glides across the floor with ease. It's never easy to slow down the best player in a series, especially when that Batman has a great Robin in Khris Middelton. But the Celtics held Antetokounmpo to just 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting in Game 5 in Boston, so there is a blueprint (its name is Semi Ojeleye) for success. They need to make him work for those points, and not let him Eurostep his way to easy buckets.
A deciding Game 7 is not the position the Celtics wanted to be in, but it's the mountain they now have to climb. Their season now hangs on the result of one game, a game in which anything can happen. A loss means a disappointing end to a season that held so much promise before it tipped off, promise that slowly faded away when Kyrie Irving joined Gordon Hayward on the shelf last month. Even with an assembly of young players, the Celtics were still expected to win this first round battle. A series loss won't matter much in the grand scheme of things, with Boston expected to be a title contender in 2019, though losing to Joe Prunty would be a massive hit to the aura that surrounds wonderboy Brad Stevens.
As much as we can point to Boston's successes and downfalls throughout the first six games, they won't matter come Saturday night. All that matters is getting more 50-50 balls, showing a little more hustle, and of course, scoring more points than the opposition.
"Game 7 in TD Garden is what you play for. It should be what you're excited most about," said Stevens. "What you worked for all summer, what you worked for all year. It's a blast."
Beware if you're sitting in the first few rows for this one. The rocks will be flying one final time between these two teams on Saturday night.
