The Boston Celtics lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal at the TD Garden on Wednesday night all by themselves, but the Milwaukee Bucks didn’t win it- they were gifted this victory from Boston.
The Celtics will now face elimination in Milwaukee being down 3-2 after handing the Bucks their third win of the series. Not ideal by any means as the momentum shifts once again in favor of the Bucks.
It’s worth mentioning that the Celtics lost this game because of their defense, which was just shocking to see from the best defense in the entire NBA over the last five months.
The Celtics played elite defense through three and a half quarters of Game 5. They gave up an absurd 63 points, 21 rebounds, and 13 assists all in the second half.
It only took a couple of mental lapses for Boston to give this game away.
Marcus Smart had his shot blocked by Jrue Holiday with 8 seconds left on the clock, forcing a turnover and giving Milwaukee the ball with 6.3 seconds left on the clock.
On their next possession, there was unfortunate miscommunication on the inbound after the timeout intended for Jayson Tatum which became the final play of the game.
Smart took the inbound just to half court before Holiday picked him off, stealing the ball and the game away.
However, when I was doing my rewatch, I noticed that Tatum was running down the sideline with his arm up like a wide receiver calling for a pass from his quarterback. A WIDE open Tatum with 4 seconds left down by 3 points with a chance of overtime?
I’ll take Tatum every time in that situation. It was a missed opportunity for the Celtics who now face elimination in Milwaukee for Game 6 on Friday in the Fiserv Forum.
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