Celtics vs Bucks

Williams hit seven 3s and led the team with 27 points.

Lopez camped out in the paint to prevent the Celtics from getting anything easy at the rim, and dared Williams to win Game 7. As the Bucks tried in vain to make one last comeback, Portis got loose in transition and went hard to the basket. "And in the playoffs you need that. That may have just been a defensive miscommunication, but the Bucks made a purposeful decision to leave Williams alone the rest of the time. They leaned into that approach in Game 7, and essentially spun a big roulette wheel that they hoped would land on "missed 3s." The message during Sunday's Game 7 was a bit different: "I told him let it fly," Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said.

BOSTON -- — In the fog of the Celtics' Game 5 loss to Milwaukee that dropped his team into a 3-2 series hole, Boston coach Ime Udoka made a prediction.

We didn’t overcome all the stuff we did during the regular season for that to be it. … Milwaukee missed their final 11 3-point attempts of the first half. I expected to play the way I did and for us to respond the way we did.” It was 63-53 when Tatum went to the bench after being whistled for his fourth foul. “If you believe in the basketball gods, those things matter.” .. At the end of the day, we wanted to come out, leave it all out there. Boston used a whopping 54-point advantage from behind the arc to improve to 25-9 in decisive seventh games. He said being able to have Game 7 at home mattered. That’s the second-worst 3-point percentage in a playoff game ever (minimum 30 attempts). “For me it was like, they're encouraging it, I might as well take advantage,” Williams said. The Celtics will face top-seeded Miami beginning Tuesday in a rematch of the 2020 East finals. Williams was timid early, missing 5 of his first 7 3-point attempts.

The Celtics made 18 more 3-pointers than the Bucks in Game 7 to pick up the win and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bucks made it clear early on in the game that they were willing to let Williams beat them from the perimeter. Marcus Smart and Derrick White each had one 3-pointer, while even Malik Fitts and Aaron Nesmith buried 3-balls in the final minutes of the game. 3-point shooting made all the difference as the Celtics' outscored the Bucks by 54 points from beyond the arc in Game 7. Williams' 18 attempts from 3-point range were the most in Game 7 history and he also doubled his previous career-high of attempts in a game (9). Williams knocked down seven 3-pointers in Game 7, tying him with Stephen Curry and Marcus Morris Sr. for the most made 3s in Game 7 history. Williams' seven 3-pointers matched the greatest shooter in NBA history and also played a huge role in the Celtics' producing one of the most prolific 3-point shooting games in NBA playoff history.

Get ready for the Celtics vs. Bucks finale with this 2022 NBA Playoffs preview. It includes the bracket and standings plus a the schedule, start time, ...

Boston has been steadily wearing down the two-time MVP and stretching him thin on both ends of the court. That defense has been much more vulnerable against the Celtics, who are making 37.1 percent of their three-pointers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Celtics have relied heavily on their trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart to carry the offensive load in this series. Milwaukee defended the three-point line at an average level during the 2021-22 NBA season, allowing opponents to make 35.4 percent of their treys. Boston won Game 6 as a 1.5-point underdog but struggled as a five-point favorite in both Game 1 and Game 5. The defending champion Bucks will be looking to bounce back from that 108-95 defeat by securing their third road "W" of the series.

Giannis Antetokounmpo reaches his limit, Grant Williams breaks out and Jayson Tatum's maturity is evident as Boston eliminates Milwaukee.

This is the fourth conference final in six years for the Celtics. Tatum was here two years ago in the bubble, against Butler and the Heat, and came up short in six. Keep in mind that last season, he was on the bench for a tanking OKC team, and two seasons ago was part of a dreadful experiment in Philadelphia next to Joel Embiid. Horford was not in demand on the trade market last summer, not only because he seemed finished, but carried a bloated salary and was about to turn 35. To Brown’s credit, he keeps the mentality of a leading scorer, and that came in handy for a Game 7, with 19 points on a cool 50% shooting, stepping forward when Tatum needed a boost. He missed 12 of his 13 shots in Games 6 and 7, both losses, and was leaky on defense as well. In that regard, he’s one of the most underrated players in the league. He had a few moments, but never mustered a string of them and never made Boston nervous, unlike the rest of this series. Williams was a refreshing asset in Game 7, much like he was in Game 2. The last time Giannis faced an elimination game, he dropped a 50-piece on the Suns and sipped champagne. The best news for Boston in this decisive game is Jayson Tatum didn’t need to out-duel Giannis. That says plenty about Tatum’s help vs. When your franchise guy struggles (he was 10-for-26 in Game 7), it tends to sap all of the energy from the rest. And you could tell by the handful of bunny shots he missed in Game 7 that Antetokounmpo was whipped.

Smart finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers in a season-saving win.

That's been the Achilles heel for the Celtics this season, and keeping his team out of the iso-ball trap was a point of emphasis for Smart. He took control, kept the ball moving and put his teammates in position to succeed. So instead of dumping the ball down to Tatum for an iso, he waited, let Brown come off a double screen and found him for a wide-open 3 that pushed the lead to 11 and essentially sealed the game. "We got all the confidence in the world in Smart. We knew that he was gonna come back and be the player that we need him to be on the road in Game 6. MILWAUKEE -- For those who have never believed in Marcus Smart as the right point guard for this iteration of the Boston Celtics, Game 5 was proof positive. This was his first playoff game without a turnover since Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference finals. [Celtics assistant coach] Damon Stoudamire pulled me to the side and just told me -- cause I dropped my head a couple times in those possessions -- he was like 'I've never seen you do that, and I just want you not to lose confidence in yourself because we need you.' Coming into tonight I just wanted to go out there and make it up for my teammates and help 'em out and try to get this win."