Bucks challenge the Green Army
The list of the East and West semifinals has been revealed, all of which are the top four teams in the regular season, in other words, there is no group of duels in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe the regular season record doesn't say it all, but it is enough to reflect a lot of problems, and the team with a good record has not only home advantage, but also coach and lineup depth advantage. Thus, the tense and exciting division semifinals began, with the Boston Celtics playing at home to defending champion Milwaukee Bucks.
At the end of the regular season, the Bucks gave up decisively, and in order to avoid the Nets, they chose the Chicago Bulls in the East, who were sixth. It was a good choice, and the Bucks easily advanced 4-1, but they didn't expect the Celtics to sweep the Nets 4-0. And, what the Bucks did not expect was that Middleton, the second leader of the team, also suffered an injury.
Stage a three-point contest
In this game, the first game of the series, Middleton was absent due to injury, and in this case, it was still Portis who started the game. At the beginning of the first quarter, the Celtics frantically wrapped up the alphabet brother, facing such a defense, the alphabet brother only had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on 3-of-8 shooting, as well as 3 turnovers and 1 foul data. The Celtics briefly took an eight-point lead, but then the Bucks hit back-to-back three-pointers to score 27 points in a single quarter, while the Celtics scored just 24 points.
Tatum also faced huge defensive pressure, with only 1 point, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 steals on 0-of-4 shooting, and Smart had 7 points, 1 assist and 1 steal. After returning from the second quarter, Pritchard immediately hit three-point shots, Holliday had two free throws, Tys made a basket, Da Luo also made a basket, Pu Richard continued with three points, Portis jumped in response, Connaughton also scored three points, and the Bucks led by 4 points. Tatum scored fast, his first athletic goal of the game, and directly stopped the Bucks.
After the timeout came back, Allen and Matthews hit consecutive three-point shots, Brown stepped forward, three points to respond, but Allen chased three points back, Tatum three points also in color, Horford chased three points also, but Allen three points also scored, Alphabet brother hit a layup, Tatum three points to stabilize the situation. Alphabet Brother scored 4 points in a row, and Smart suspected of dislocating his arm and went straight back to the locker room. Alphabet brother hit two more free throws, and the half ended, and the Bucks led the Celtics by 10 points 56-46.
The Bucks overtake the Green Army
At the beginning of the game, the Green Army still had the upper hand, but as the Bucks adapted to the defensive intensity of the game, the alphabet brother turned on the offensive mode, the shooter group found the feel, and the Bucks successfully took back the initiative. Alphabet brother got 14 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, shooting only 5 of 13 from the field, which shows how fierce the Green Army's defense is. Portis had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist, Holliday had 8 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists, and Allen had 9 points, 1 rebound and 2 steals. The Bucks' first-half three-pointers were 10-of-20 from the field, which was incredible.
Although the Celtics also hit 10 three-pointers, they used 28 shots, and the shooting rate was far less than that of the Bucks. Tatum had nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, and shot just 3-of-10 from the field. Horford had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Smart had 7 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists, leaving the court with an injury, and the only hope was that the injury was not a big problem and could return to the game as soon as possible. Compared to the Bucks, the Celtics have a slightly underserved shooting rate in this game, and if they want to recover the game in the second half, they must better seize the scoring opportunity.