Bucks rally as C’s bemoan ‘golden opportunity’

BOSTON — The Milwaukee Bucks leaned on their championship pedigree in Sport 5 on Wednesday evening, rallying from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to flee Boston with a 110-107 victory towards the Celtics and take a 3-2 sequence lead within the Japanese Convention semifinals.

The winner of Sport 5 in a best-of-seven sequence tied at two has gone on to win the sequence 82% of the time in NBA postseason historical past, and Milwaukee rallied to take management of the sequence by outscoring Boston 33-21 within the fourth quarter, together with 13-6 in clutch time.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo completed with 40 factors and 11 rebounds, whereas guard Jrue Vacation added 24 factors and sealed the sport with a block and steal on back-to-back possessions towards Marcus Sensible.

“They’re defending champs,” Sensible mentioned after the sport. “They made some championship performs. And now we obtained to reply.”

Although the Bucks had been trailing by double digits with about 10 minutes remaining within the fourth, Vacation recalled speak within the huddle throughout a timeout about how there was nonetheless loads of time for a comeback. The Bucks have relied on their expertise all season to information them by tumultuous conditions — an injured participant, a tricky loss and now the ebbs and flows of a playoff sequence.

“We have seen 14 factors [disappear] similar to that,” Vacation mentioned after Sport 5. “We all know it is the playoffs, and we all know it is an awesome offensive group and defensive group, however we have additionally finished it ourselves.

“We simply all the time play with that confidence. That there is going to be time left, and if we deal with enterprise, we’ll all the time give ourselves an opportunity.”

The Celtics managed the sport and appeared on their method to closing out the win when Al Horford threw down an emphatic putback dunk with 2:12 remaining to place them up six factors. It wound up being their final area purpose of the sport.

The Bucks outscored the Celtics 11-2 from that time on.

After Horford’s dunk, Antetokounmpo knocked down a 3-pointer on the subsequent possession — his second of the evening and solely his fourth this sequence — to chop the deficit to 3, and Vacation, who completed 9-for-24 from the sphere on the evening, hit a wide-open trey to tie the sport.

“After all, we’re gonna be down,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka mentioned. “Guys are going to be pissed in regards to the end result after we outplayed them for 3½ quarters. And so we talked exhibiting our resolve, we made it harder on ourselves now. It will make it sweeter after we bounce again. However we all know we gave up a golden alternative tonight.”

After Celtics star Jayson Tatum hit a pair of free throws, Antetokounmpo cut up a pair of photographs on the foul line. However Sensible and Tatum each tried to seize the rebound off Antetokounmpo’s miss on the similar time, and the ball ricocheted into the arms of Bucks ahead Bobby Portis, who put again a layup with 11.4 seconds remaining to provide Milwaukee its first lead because the second quarter.

“Playoffs are all about moments,” mentioned Portis, who completed with 14 factors and 15 rebounds. “It isn’t about what number of photographs you make. It isn’t about what number of factors you rating. It is about moments. We obtained lots of guys on this group that may have moments.”

The Celtics’ remaining half-court possession was set as much as get Tatum the ball downhill towards a matchup Boston wished, however with the play creating slowly, Sensible ended up with the ball and tried to drive towards the basket towards Pat Connaughton. Nonetheless, Vacation made a play to dam Sensible from behind, and Sensible by no means noticed him.

The Bucks hit a pair of free throws to increase the result in three factors, and Boston by no means obtained off one other shot. Vacation stole the ball from Sensible at midcourt on the Celtics’ remaining possession to seal the victory.

“Only a nice instinctive play by Jrue,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer mentioned. “He is a winner. Jrue Vacation’s a winner. You ask any participant on this league, any coach on this league, he is a winner.”

To gas their comeback, the Bucks shot an ideal 6-for-6 from past the 3-point line within the remaining quarter, tied for essentially the most such makes with no miss within the fourth quarter of a playoff sport up to now 25 years, based on analysis by ESPN Stats & Data. The San Antonio Spurs hit all six 3s they took towards the Miami Warmth within the fourth quarter of the 2014 NBA Finals.

The win put Milwaukee on the verge of the Japanese Convention finals for the third time in 4 years. The Bucks will host Sport 6 on Friday evening.

“It feels good [to win], however on the finish of the day, cannot get too excessive, cannot get too low,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “We had been up seven or 10 the earlier sport; we misplaced it. They had been up; they misplaced this one. It is simply — preserve it going forwards and backwards. On the finish of the day, you possibly can’t get too excessive for this.

“Clearly, it is nice to win the sport, it is nice to return dwelling and be ok with ourselves, however the job just isn’t finished.”

ESPN’s Andrew Lopez contributed to this report.