Celtics run into a familiar obstacle in loss to the Bucks

A familiar sight: Giannis Antetokounmpo feasting at the rim while a chorus line of everyone from Marcus Smart and Semi Ojeleye to Jaylen Brown attempted to guide the Bucks star somewhere else.

But the Celtics wanted an eye-opener on their first night and got it in Friday night’s 119-112 loss to the Bucks.

The Celtics climbed out of an early 17-2 hole, and drew a lot of inspiration from Smart (team-high 23 points) and Brown (22), the latter playing the last quarter of the game with five fouls. But as the Bucks star worked on his paint-splitting 36-point, 15-rebound, seven-assist opening night performance, the Celtics succumbed.

There was Smart’s apparent ability with 1:28 left and the score tied at 107-107 to draw a charge on Antetokounmpo — it would have been his sixth foul — only for the call to be reversed on review. The result? A Giannis three-point play, followed the next time down by a 3-pointer.

Smart naturally wasn’t buying it.

“Wish we got a better (explanation from officials), but the excuse was I was late on the charge,” said Smart, who appeared to have his feet planted firmly outside the restricted zone. “They said the replay center said that I was late and it was a block. Quite frankly I think we all know what that was about; Giannis’ sixth foul and they didn’t want to get him out. Let’s just call that spade a spade and that’s what it is.”

But at least the Celtics, despite shooting a stone-cold 29.7% (11-for-37) from 3-point range, took the lead multiple times down the stretch.

They’ve only just begun, figures Kemba Walker.

“Pretty good. We started slow but gradually got better,” said the Celtics point guard. “I think we missed a lot of shots that we normally make. It’s about catching that rhythm. We will. We competed to the best of our ability. We’ll get better and knock those shots down in the future.”

And now for some opening (reopening?) night takeaways.

Walker clearly isn’t going to get a green light until playoff time: The Celtics point guard had played 19 minutes (one shy of his team-mandated ceiling) by the end of the third quarter, and Brad Stevens didn’t even think twice. No way was he sending his scorer back into an increasingly winnable game.

“I’m not playing that game,” said the Celtics coach. “Kemba’s knee is the most important thing. We’re trying to strengthen it. His 18 to 20 minutes, whatever he ended up with, that was part of the plan. We weren’t going to stretch that. It’s hard after you come out at the end of the third to then be inserted for a couple of minutes. But, no.”

Of course, no one bothered to consult with Walker about that at the time.

“From me, yeah,” Walker said with a laugh when asked if there was any talk about going back in. “But nobody listened for me, so it didn’t really matter. I knew I wasn’t going back in. It was set.”

Smart’s tenacity holds this team together: With Jayson Tatum struggling through a horrid (2-for-18) opening night performance, Smart cobbled together a team-high 23 points, along with the usual assortment of intangibles, that make up the difference. Along with Gordon Hayward’s elevated play down the stretch and Brown’s ability to overcome foul trouble, Smart nearly turned this one around on the Bucks.

“The worst thing to do in that position is to put him down and discourage him, especially since he’s putting himself down already and he’s already really critical of himself and criticizing himself more than probably anybody,” Smart said of Tatum. “My job as a leader is to encourage him. On the court, especially on the offensive end, when I see a matchup that I know we need to get him the ball, we gotta give him the ball. If that’s posting him up or running plays for him. Just really keep him going and keep his mindset up. And on the defensive end, he did have some good defensive clips and that’s all we can ask for. I’m constantly talking to Jayson and Jaylen, not every night your shot’s going to fall but you can control your effort. That’s the one thing you can control and that’s on the defensive end. Use your defense to help get you into a rhythm offensively.”

With Smart remaining the ultimate example of that principle.

Tatum will find his groove against the blitz: Stevens didn’t exactly sound worried that his young star often seemed lost in the midst of Milwaukee’s gang-coverage, eventually missing easy layups with the same frequency as 3-pointers, where he was 0-for-4.

“He got some decent looks off pick and rolls. They did a good job loading up to him. They did a good job at the rim on him,” said Stevens. “He’ll go back and look at it. he had a couple nights like that early in the season, too, and the least of our concerns is him finding the net. That’s what he does. So he’ll be fine.”

The Milwaukee matchup isn’t exactly a mystery, especially when the Celtics lose:

These losses to the Bucks certainly have some familiar elements.

“I just think your margin for error is small,” said Stevens. “When we thought we had looks at the rim they closed down the path, and often times when you miss layups or when you get shots blocked, it leads to run-outs.

“That happened to us against Milwaukee two years ago in the playoffs, let alone last year. The other part is we fouled jump shooters. It’s hard because we’re really trying to pressure and get up into people. At the same time, your margin doesn’t allow for that, like against Milwaukee. We’ve just got to be a little bit better, but the competitiveness is the most important thing. And the, you know, all that other stuff, we’ll be in good shape. We’ll make sure we get better at all that stuff from film and, again, I’ve got a lot of encouragement from watching us tonight.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2CYqOhR