It’s a poster that smelled of sweat and the fight between Boston, the best team in the League in 2022 and the defending champion, Milwaukee, third in the East. And as expected, the fight was tough for this match 1 of the Conference semi-finals on Sunday.
However, the first minutes suggested that the doors were going to be wide open with four award-winning baskets (two on each side). But very quickly, the anti-aircraft defenses were arranged on the floor with on one side, a plan against Giannis Antetokounmpo, and on the other, an organization to limit the Tatum-Brown duo.
A plan perfectly carried out by the Bucks which left a Jayson Tatum far from his standards (21 points at 33% on shots). And Brown, affected in the hamstrings, did not have the best feelings (12 points). And while Milwaukee seemed to let Boston take off (22-14), after seven loose balls, the Bucks came back with a 13-2 to end the first quarter in the lead (27-24).
Antetokounmpo, a triple-double but clumsiness
Brooklyn fallers in the first round, the Celtics could not find their game. At halftime, Milwaukee led by ten points (56-46) and even the exit of Giannis Antetokounmpo to protect him from a fifth fatal foul at the end of the third quarter did not disturb the forward march of the Bucks.
Because, even in the absence of Khris Middleton, Milwaukee seemed more homogeneous, Bobby Portis and Al Horford pressing the head of the premises eight minutes from time with two winning shots (92-75). Clumsy (33% success) for an MVP (triple-double all the same with 21 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists), Antetokounmpo compensated with his physical power and his knowledge of the game, like this pass for him- even on the dunker’s front panel.
Serious until the buzzer, the Bucks therefore reversed the advantage of the field thanks to this success (89-101), before the second meeting at TD Garden in Boston, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.