Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 factors and 13 rebounds, George Hill completed with 21 factors and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the host Boston Celtics, 123-116. on Friday evening to take a 2-1 lead within the Japanese Convention semifinal collection.
Khris Middleton added 20 factors.
Antetokounmpo had solely 13 field-goal makes an attempt however had 16 factors from the free-throw line in a sport that featured 53 complete fouls known as — 39 within the second half. Together with Milwaukee’s two regular-season video games in Boston, Antetokounmpo has scored 30 or extra factors in every of his journeys to TD Backyard in 2018-19.
“I’m simply going to maintain being aggressive; that’s what my teammates need me to do,” Antetokounmpo stated. “If I’ve to take all of it the way in which, I’ll take all of it the way in which.”
Kyrie Irving scored 29 factors and Jayson Tatum had 20 for the Celtics, who host Recreation four on Monday.
Boston led by some extent on the half however was outscored by 40-31 within the third quarter and trailed by as many as 17 factors within the last interval.
The Celtics have been outscored, 52-24, within the paint and had 18 turnovers, resulting in 28 Milwaukee factors.
Irving acknowledged the fouls did decelerate the sport and stunt Boston’s efforts late.
“It’s getting ridiculous at this level,” Irving stated, utilizing an expletive to explain the lulls the fouls created.
The Bucks threw the Celtics a tactical curveball in Recreation 2, inserting Nikola Mirotic into the beginning lineup rather than Sterling Brown.
In Recreation 3, it was Celtics Coach Brad Stevens who introduced new wrinkles, notably going with a small lineup that featured the 6-foot-7 Semi Ojeleye guarding the 6-11 Antetokounmpo when he returned to the sport at the beginning of the second quarter and once more within the third quarter.
Boston additionally saved attacking Antetokounmpo all through the sport when it had the ball. It included a one-handed dunk by Jaylen Brown over the Bucks star early within the third quarter that introduced the followers to their ft. It was harking back to a two-handed dunk he had over Antetokounmpo in Boston’s Recreation 1 win.
Friday’s model complemented a number of good defensive performs by Brown, together with blocking a Tony Snell layup try off the backboard. Nonetheless, Milwaukee managed to maintain racking up factors inside and took a 95-87 lead into the fourth quarter.
That was the rating when Brown was known as for his fifth foul with 10 minutes 53 seconds left on what gave the impression to be a light-weight contact of Eric Bledsoe close to the baseline. It introduced animated protests from Brown and Stevens. Just a few journeys later, Tatum acquired a technical for protesting his foul of Antetokounmpo.
Stevens stated he didn’t suppose his crew was overly pissed off by the foul calls.
“I simply suppose finally they made a number of performs in that quarter and we didn’t,” he stated.
NEW SUNS COACH Phoenix got here to phrases with Monty Williams to change into the brand new coach
Williams, a former head coach and a present assistant in Philadelphia, would be the Suns’ fifth coach in 5 seasons when the 76ers’ playoff run ends. Philadelphia leads Toronto, two video games to at least one, within the Japanese Convention semifinals.
Williams replaces Igor Kokoskov, who was fired final week after one disappointing season.
The 47-year-old Williams coached New Orleans from 2010 to 2015, a stint throughout which he led the franchise to 2 postseason appearances. He’s in his first season as an assistant with the 76ers. He additionally performed 9 N.B.A. seasons with the Knicks, San Antonio, Denver, Orlando and Philadelphia.
Williams takes over a Suns crew that has missed the playoffs for 9 straight seasons. Phoenix completed 19-63 this season, the second worst report in franchise historical past