Celtics 92, Bucks 87: Loss follows a familiar script

BOSTON - The Milwaukee Bucks and the BMO Harris Bradley Center will be facing elimination Thursday night.

That's because the Bucks followed the all-too-familiar pattern of getting down by double digits in the first half, battling back to make things close during the second and failing to get over the hump as they fell to the Boston Celtics, 92-87, Tuesday night in Game 5 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Game 6 will be played at 7 p.m. Thursday in Milwaukee. The Celtics lead the series, 3-2, as each team has won on its home court.

“Another hard-fought game," Bucks coach Joe Prunty said. "Loved the way we battled, continued to fight all the way through. A few plays, make a few more shots get a few more stops could be a different outcome.”

Milwaukee struggled offensively throughout the night, shooting just 36.8% (32 of 87) from the field, including 27.3% (9 of 33) on three-pointers. Facing a re-energized Celtics team buoyed by the return of defensive menace Marcus Smart, the Bucks struggled to get anything going offensively for large chunks of the game.

That included all-star Giannis Antetokounmpo putting up a series-low 16 points on just 10 shots in a game where the Celtics adjusted their starting lineup by adding Semi Ojeleye in an effort to stifle Antetokounmpo.

“I feel like the shots I had, the moments in the game that they were quality shots, so I took them," Antetokounmpo said. "Of course, in Game 6 I got to come out being more aggressive. I’m still trying to make plays, trying to put my teammates in the right spot. I was just trying to be aggressive overall.”

BOX SCORE: Celtics 92, Bucks 87

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Antetokounmpo responded by taking on more of a play-making role, finishing with nine assists and 10 rebounds. He believed he had more open shots than the ones he took, but they weren't his shots, so he didn't feel comfortable taking them and instead looked for his teammates.

"I felt like he had a great game tonight," Khris Middleton said. "He played more as a playmaker, which they wanted him to do, I guess. He’s got to trust us and we’ve got to trust him. He’s going to find ways to get his shot, get to the paint, or his midrange or threes or whatnot. When he sees everybody crowding in on him, he’s got to trust us and trust the pass and that’s what he did tonight. We all have to do that.”

Complicating things was the fact that Antetokounmpo sat for 6 1/2 minutes straight spanning the first and second quarters, then didn't go to the bench again over the final 31 minutes and 40 seconds of the game. He seemed to fade a bit as the game went on, but didn't admit as much in the locker room following the game.

“It did not affect me," Antetokounmpo said when asked about playing the whole second half. "I talked a little bit with coach; coach told me that he was going to keep me in. I’ve done that in the past and I was pretty cool with it.”

Outside of Antetokounmpo, Middleton had a team-high 23 points but was much less efficient than he has been this series, shooting 9 for 21. Jabari Parker added 17 points off the bench in an overall solid performance and Shabazz Muhammad provided 11 much-needed points in the third quarter.

Eric Bledsoe finished with 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting. After the game, he sported a wrap on his left wrist and thumb.

“I injured my hand the last game, the game before this," Bledsoe said, saying the injury didn't really affect him. "It’s a little shaky out there, but when you step on the court there’s no excuses. Still got to play.”

Outside of Parker and Muhammad, the Bucks didn't get much from their role players. Thon Maker, Matthew Dellavedova and Tony Snell combined for two points on 1-of-12 shooting, including Snell missing all five of his three-point attempts to drop to 0 for 9 in road games this postseason. Malcolm Brogdon also had a choppy game, going 1 of 5 from the field with a pair of turnovers before sitting out nearly all of the third quarter and all of the fourth.

For as much as the Bucks struggled offensively — their defense outside of some poor rotations and overhelping was generally good — they still had plenty of chances late in the game.

They trailed by 11 at halftime and by as many as 16 in the third quarter. Shortly after Boston's lead peaked at 16, Muhammad made his first entrance to the game and put the Bucks on his back. The seldom-used forward put up 11 points in four minutes, including a pair of three-pointers, to get the Bucks within four.

“I was feeling good," Muhammad said. “Definitely it’s hard, it’s a hard job to do that. Like I said, that’s why you always (have to) be ready and have your mind ready and be into the game.”

Boston followed that spurt with a 7-0 run, beginning the back and forth that continued for the rest of the game.

The Bucks would make a run, get within four, then get pushed back. It happened again early in the fourth quarter, when Parker grabbed three offensive rebounds in a minute to spur a 7-0 Milwaukee run. It happened again with about three minutes to go when the Bucks whittled a nine-point Celtics lead down to four thanks in part to another Parker offensive rebound that led to a three-pointer by Bledsoe.

Down five with just over a minute left, the Bucks looked like they had gotten a stop, as Al Horford still had two feet planted on the ground and was only starting his shot when the shot clock went off. The ball was clearly in his hands, but no call was made. The shot, a long two-pointer, missed the mark and was rebounded by the Celtics.

According to the referees, who never reviewed the play, the Bucks would have been better off if Horford had made the shot.

"The rule states that under two minutes we are not allowed to review a potential 24-second violation unless the ball goes in the basket," referee Ken Mauer told pool reporter Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press.

While the referees may have acted according to the letter of the law, the missed call and inability to review it highlighted a broken aspect of the rules. Some Bucks players, including Antetokounmpo and Parker, voiced that the missed call and the inability to review it was unfortunate, but they still had to play through it.

“Well, they gave us a few calls, too," Parker said. "That didn’t really dictate the whole game. Got to forget about that one. We didn’t get a stop, so that was kind of the turning point.”

Bledsoe had another response.

“I think it was b-------, point blank," Bledsoe said, adding another line to his colorful postgame responses in Boston.

The Celtics didn't score on the ensuing possession, the Bucks didn't get the ball back until there were 48.8 seconds remaining.

From there it turned into a free-throw contest, with the Bucks getting as close as three points with 19 seconds remaining, but they couldn't get any closer as the Celtics salted away the game at the line.

The tight finish came after the Bucks had dug themselves into a hole late in the first quarter, something that's been consistent in games they've played at TD Garden this postseason. Milwaukee went 1 of 12 from the field to close the first, taking an eight-point deficit into the second.

Then in the second, after the Bucks quickly got within their magic number of four, the Celtics got rolling to build a 16-point lead thanks to contributions from up and down the roster. By halftime, the Bucks were shooting just 34.9% from the field and were 3 of 14 (21.4%) on three-pointers. Antetokounmpo had just eight shooting possessions in 17 1/2 minutes.

"I think one of the things as a team, early in the game I thought we over-dribbled the ball," Prunty said. "Then as the game wore on, we did better of moving it and trying to find the open guys but it was still sporadic.”

Horford finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, Terry Rozier added 16 points and Jaylen Brown had 14. Smart contributed nine points, three blocks and a steal in his return, adding the energy and defensive spark everyone in the building expected of him as he dove on the floor for loose balls and revved up the crowd every chance he got.

Now the Bucks face the test of Game 6 at home while facing elimination. The past two times Milwaukee's made the postseason — against the Toronto Raptors last season and against the Chicago Bulls in 2015 — that's the game in which the Bucks have bowed out.

They're hoping the third time's the charm to keep this series, their season and their residence at the soon-to-be-replaced Bradley Center alive.

“It’s win or go home, so, I mean, you can’t leave nothing on the line," Middleton said. "That’s pretty much how you play the whole playoffs — leave it all out there. Tonight we had too many lapses where we just didn’t want it as bad as they did.”