Boston Celtics flipped the script and matched the Milwaukee Bucks blow for blow in physical Game 4 victory
"We felt right at home. Just because, that’s who we are. The physicality. The adversity. The hostile environment. We’ve been doing this all year." Boston guard Marcus Smart, on the Celtics’ dominant fourth quarter of Game 4.
There is respect between these two teams. There’s extreme competitiveness on both sides. Subplots have developed within individual matchups. And there are some mind games being played. It’s all snowballed into a thrilling Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics that’s appropriately tied at 2-2 after Boston won Game 4, 116-108, on Monday night at Fiserv Forum.
But while the general audience here in Wisconsin is smitten with this Bucks team and charmed by superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and the new mural of him that towers over downtown, the Boston Celtics are not quite so amused.
And they certainly are not fazed.
Boston won Game 4 because it had more left in the tank at the end, but more importantly because the Celtics can beat the Bucks at their own game with a physical, gutsy, unencumbered and especially undaunted style of play.
And when it led to clashes between titans, momentum tipped to Boston’s side.
For example: When Antetokounmpo got tangled up with Celtics guard Marcus Smart on a rebound, and both crashed to the floor, Smart offered a hand to Antetokounmpo to assist in helping him up. And, as he’s done for years now, Antetokounmpo refused to acknowledge the fallen. But it irritated Smart.
“I was boxing him out,” Smart said. “He jumps over my back — with a no call. We go to the ground. We tangled up; I'm trying to help him up. He's doing a good job of making sure I don't get back into the play by holding me down.
“You can see he kicked me in my face with his foot. And then when I try to help him up…he would throw his hand down. And then he put his hand up to help; and then when I tried to help he takes it back. …
“So I was just like, you know what, I'm done. Like, I tried; I'm not going to keep playing this game with you, dude."
Another example: Antetokounmpo successfully dunked over Celtics forward Al Horford in the third quarter and, as the officials interpreted it, taunted Horford. It appeared to just be a look from Giannis — it was hard to tell what, if anything, was said — but official Tony Brothers saw and/or heard something and T'd up Antetokounmpo.
Whatever was exchanged, Antetokounmpo’s mean mugging — once admired in general by fans — fired up Horford. He nodded emphatically back at Antetokounmpo and appeared to say, "OK."
Reporters are allowed to ask officials a question through a designated pool reporter immediately after a game, but in the aftermath Monday night no questions were submitted to the officiating crew.
“Yeah, I don’t really know what he said to me,” Horford said after the game, “but the way he was looking at me and the way he was going about it really didn’t sit well with me.
“And, at that point, I think something switched.
“With me. In the game.”
Horford took offense and then took over the game. He hit a three-pointer soon after that and then was 6 for 6 in the fourth quarter: two three-pointers, two jump shots and two buckets in the paint.
A final example: Horford dunked on Antetokounmpo and erupted with his own emotions, which were directed more in the general atmosphere of the arena than at anyone specific.
But a large roar went up in Fiserv — there was a considerable Celtics crowd there, or they were at least very boisterous — and Boston, already on an 8-0 run, tied the game at 80, rallying behind the play and rare emotion from their 35-year-old veteran that earned him a dead ball technical foul. It was worth it.
"Big time play. Big time moment,” Smart said. "Al still has it at this age, he's able to get up like he does. The energy changed once that happened from Al."
"I guess you kind of pick your spots, your moments," Horford said. "And this was an emotional game."
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said it's a best-of-three series now, and the Bucks should be concerned. They'll have to steal another win at Boston.
Boston looks and acts and sounds a lot like a trophy-hunting team.
Smart said that even with Boston trailing by 10 points late, shooting poorly and turning the ball over — Milwaukee had 15 points off Boston’s 10 turnovers heading in to the final 12 minutes — the Celtics were still positive.
“We cut it to seven through all the mistakes we made, our buckets, the free throws we gave up, turnovers," Smart said. "The game was only a seven-point game. So it was very encouraging on our end, because we knew we could play better.”
The exaggerated physical play — high even by playoff standards — took its toll, again. When Antetokounmpo’s driving layup in the fourth quarter drew the fourth foul from Horford, Giannis remained down on the court for quite a while, completely spent.
Smart was asked by the Boston media: Did he notice that the Bucks looked gassed, especially Antetokounmpo? Did they see that he looked tired or that he took a long time with his free throws?
"We did. Both teams were. It was a physical game,” Smart said. “The whole game. Everybody's fighting. Got the best players out there going at it. Both teams were exhausted.
“We just tried to make sure we weren't the more tired team."
After the game, Antetokounmpo arrived at the table for his postgame news conference and immediately flipped over the final box score/stat sheet that was set out for him. He didn’t want to look at it.
Already incentivized to rebound after a disappointing Game 3 that they nearly won, the Celtics found more motivation to win Game 4. They closed out the final quarter making 16 of 19 shots, a rate of 84.2%.
Milwaukee withered. Is this finally a sign that playing nearly non-stop for two years — a pandemic-affected schedule, a championship run into mid-summer 2021, the Olympics, hardly any time off in the offseason — is catching up with the Bucks?
The Celtics expect the best from the Bucks going forward either way.
"Obviously with them being the defending champs ... they know what it takes, so they're not going to lay down, or anything like that," Tatum said. "So I'm excited to get back home, excited to play in front of our fans."
Message Lori Nickel on Twitter at @LoriNickel, Instagram at @bylorinickel or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChinUpLoriNickel
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Boston Celtics outlast Milwaukee Bucks in physical NBA playoffs Game 4
