So after Al Horford was forced to miss Jrue Holiday, the moment seemed to be finally there, as John Antitokunbo kept trying to get through Grant Williams and continued to bounce off a brick wall. Williams fought him relentlessly all afternoon, but you can never completely shut down Antitokunbo. You can only hold it before it breaks. So, as Williams continued to receive blow after blow and stand tall, Antetokunbo had to go deep into his bag. He faked it like he was going to a fadeaway, removed Williams from his seat and then somehow slipped just below the Celtics. He was out of control and too far from the basket to pull out one of his Monstar slams. It looked like the game was over, so Jason Tatum just saw the ball bounce off the board and waited for it to fall into his hands. Like Greek Freak would ever let that happen. John exits the board for the emphatic slam! #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on ABC pic.twitter.com/vyn50aa2Au – NBA (@NBA) May 1, 2022 “He played a hell of a game,” Tatum said after Milwaukee won Game 1 101-89. “We have to be more consistent, stay underestimated in their fakes, stay between the press and the basket and not give them a wide-open strip and things like that.” What was so strange at this point was that he seemed to shock the Celtics by their surprise. Williams made several consecutive stops in Antetokunbo and Boston started to transition and wave the ball for open 3s. But as Milwaukee’s defense overwhelmed them and covered the back of every game, even when the Celtics started scoring, Boston had just lost that advantage. They took Antetokunbo out of it for quite some time to try to oust him, but were unable to seize any of the opportunity before he took advantage of the moment again by force. This time, Williams did not even protest as Antetokunbo broke him from behind. They knew what it was. Milwaukee had beaten them to the punch again and again. This was a TKO. Udoka had seen enough, clearing the bench as the fans emptied the arena with two minutes left. After watching last year’s MVP of the Finals tear up what his top defense threw at him in the league, Udoka could see the defending champions rule the day. We did not need to pull it anymore. This is what Antetokunbo does to you. It makes you feel like you can do nothing once it has its way. When Antikoumbo dragged a defender into the corners in a post-up, Boston usually sent a assist on a long pass. This worked against Brooklyn, as Kevin Durand had more trouble hitting the crossbar and chasing close shots. But Antitokunbo can hold his own long enough to make the pass as help runs from the shooter or when he has lured the double completely out of position. He then chased the biggest shooters to Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton and Bobby Portis. “When you pass the ball to them, they do not hesitate,” said Antetokunbo. “I know that if I hit a pass to Grayson right in my pocket, the ball goes up.” In the first half, Antetokunbo mostly played from the high bar with Horford and sometimes Rob Williams. This gave the Bucks star more options to drive or pass and gain speed as he hit the first defender. So Boston had to play a bit in zone 2-3 in a way that would immerse a defensive assistant from the shooter one pass. The opposite of what worked well was to get Porty to cross the line to try to force this loose double team and make the Celtics switch. Jaylen Brown loses Jayson Tatum to Portis, Portis opens under the rim and Rob Williams has to leave Connaughton around the corner to stop Portis. When Horford stayed on an island in the first half, Antetokunbo took a step over him, turned behind the lane and reached the edge with ease. Nothing really worked against the player pushing your buttons more than anyone in the game. “In the first half, our alternations were not as intense as they should have been. “We were a little late there,” Udoka said. “Sometimes we will chase him. Sometimes, based on who is defending him and what position, we want to let these guys protect themselves directly, especially when he is looking at you directly trying to lure you, to go through this double group. We went very fast at times. He is looking at us and our rotations were not intense “. It was clear that Antitokunbo was never bothered by what Boston threw at him, far away from Kevin Durand in the final round. A big difference between Milwaukee and Brooklyn is that Antitokunbo shoots at much higher shooters. Allen is probably his shortest pick for the knockout, and Allen was not gradually carried away by any closure that came his way. Milwaukee was 6-on-11 in the 3s catch-and-shoot in the first half. Antetokunbo scored or assisted on 55 of the Bucks’ 87 points while on the court. Even when Horford or Grant Williams stopped him in solitary confinement, he made a leap or knocked out Dirk Nowitzki. He always had the right answer. “These great players who run the double team, you want to collect your poison sometimes,” Udoka said. “I think we helped unnecessarily in moments when we had good fights with him. If he is going to make a fadeaway jump shot, we will live with this shot. “I think we made spins there and our spins were not sharp.” The question is how Boston can strengthen the game plan for Tuesday. The wall off the ball and the crack that threw Durant in the first round did nothing for Milwaukee. It’s very tedious to do it against Antikoumbo all night. The loose doubles did not prevent him from driving, as he could take steps to beat the defenders on the spot and avoid a trap. Then he could go up and go over the top of the defense. Boston would try hard to double him to the baseline, but had to send help either from a close-range shooter or from a weak angle. He found these shooters reliably at a point where Udoka had to abandon them. It is rare to see the Celtics coach fail to solve the puzzle overnight, but from facing a team last week that admitted they were trying to find themselves, they have turned into a team whose identity is etched in Larry O’Brien Trophy. . “It’s the playoffs. “It’s not really a surprise time,” Brown said. “They are the defending champions and we have to go out and play basketball. We must be ready to leave, regardless of the injuries or whatever we have to do. You just have to be more discriminating with the help you render toward other people. That’s the end of it. Who will leave it all out there? “We will be a tougher team, we just have to stay focused.” This focus should last all night. The Bucks’s second attempt continued in times of crisis as Boston was still trying to find a way to stop Antikoumbo. Perhaps their last shot to get back into the game came when Marcus Smart put Antekoumbo in a Horford-Grand Williams trap and then Williams closed in on Portis to stop him from taking the 3. But after Grad Wrei Portis out of line, no one came to continue, Portis missed anyway and Brown could not hold the box to Allen. Tatum’s disappointing foul summed it all up. They got so far in this game performing well, but the Bucks ran to the finish line. Now they have to leave it behind. They have been controlling the games with their physical ability and effort for months and they have become one of the best teams in the league because of that. They learned how to overcome repetitive failures and have a short memory. Can they prevent these habits from returning when they finally face a worthy opponent? “It’s just a game. “You can move on,” Brown said. “I definitely have to watch the movie, understand what we did wrong and go out and get better at it. But a game does not win you a series. And we know that being in the game, and we know that we are not playing now. We can not lose our faith, we can not lose our resilience or our self-confidence. “Now go out and play Celtic basketball.” (Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
