Banner Town Breakdown: Celtics vs. Bucks (July 31, 2020)
The Boston Celtics are finally back. The scrimmages were fun and all, but to watch basketball that actually means something feels like a blessing at this point. Just like last night games, and most games before this, the Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks began the game by kneeling during the National Anthem. A great show of solidarity.
If you missed real Celtics basketball, then you will have loved how this game started. Just like in (what feels like) every other game of the season, the Celtics could not make a shot to save themselves to start the game. Whether it was not knowing how much time is on the shot clock or simply missing the chances they got, it was rough to say the least. Not to mention some absolute dominance from Giannis Antetokounmpo (36 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists).
Kemba Walker (16 points) eventually got things going for Boston, with Gordon Hayward (17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) and Marcus Smart (23 points) helping him pick up the slack. Even Brad Wanamaker (14 points) put in a solid performance. The one thing that evidently killed Boston in this one was an extremely lackluster performance from Jaylen Brown (22 points) in the first half, and Jayson Tatum (5 points) throughout the whole game.
Before we get into that, though, Let me just talk about the Bucks. I don’t want to discredit how well they played. On top of the amazing performance for Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton contributed 18 points, Brook Lopez (14 points) played elite defense with six blocks, and Donte Divincenzo (10 points) looked solid, too. It’s clear to see why they are the favorites to win the East, and the only times that Boston was able to make any sort of run throughout the first half was when Antetokounmpo checked out of the game. Milwaukee has quite literally built the perfect team around their star.
Now that all the praise is out of the way, boy was it a tough look for the Celtics at some points. Jayson Tatum was absolutely dreadful to watch throughout the entire game. If you don’t count the shot which the Bucks tipped in during the first quarter (that was credited to Tatum), he only made a single field goal the entire game. That’s next level bad. I’m sure the rust will wear off eventually, but it’s just hard to watch a team’s so-called “superstar player” struggle to get anything to fall.
Outside of that, though, this really wasn’t that bad of a game from the Celtics. First of all Hayward was awesome. He was back to draining mid range fadeaways and playmaking with amazing vision. On top of Hayward, Walker put in a solid shift, too. If it weren’t for his minutes restriction then I think the Celtics could have actually had a chance at the end of the game. He ended up scoring his 16 points in only around 19 minutes - and did so super efficiently.
Despite that, I would say that the MVPs of the game were easily Daniel Theis (13 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Smart. Theis did all the little things to perfection. Whether it was hustling on the glass, nailing his shots, or setting flawless screens, he looked spectacular. Then there’s Smart. What else can I say about this guy that hasn’t been said before? He may get a bad reputation of taking dumb shots, but main did he look good against Milwaukee. Just under 64% from the field, 50% from three, and 75% from the line. Not to mention the fact that he had to guard Antetokounmpo for the majority of the game, and did a nearly perfect job doing so. There’s no way to stop the reigning MVP, but boy did Smart do a good job of slowing him down. He even drew an offensive foul on Antetokounmpo, something most men would be much too afraid to try and pull off.
Speaking of offensive fouls, let me just complain for a couple seconds. I know the foul number may not show it, but those referees seemed questionable to say the least. Let me bring up a few plays as evidence. Starting off with when Hayward’s layup was hanging on the rim and a goaltending call was clearly missed. How are they going to blow their whistles so much during the game, but decide not to in that moment? Then the Bucks went down to the other end of the floor and hit a three in transition. That’s a five point swing, as Brian Scalabrine pointed out live.
Then there was when Antetokounmpo literally punched Theis in the groin going around a screen. They reviewed it for a hostile act in the first place and yet somehow came away without calling it even a normal foul. What? Antetokounmpo should have fouled right there.
Lastly, there was the second time he should have fouled out. They even made the call! Antetokounmpo drove to the hoop and ran into Smart, who got his feet outside of the restricted arc, and it was called a charge. Then somehow, they went to a replay (again) and concluded that the bucket should count and the foul was now on Smart. It was just very hard to watch. Don’t even get me started on how much the referees hate Theis, either.
All whining aside, this was a super fun game to watch, even though the C’s couldn’t bring home the win. The Bucks picked up the 119-112 win, but it definitely taught Brad Stevens what the Celtics should be working on. I would say that those main things Boston are getting the rust off from three (they shot 29.7% as a team), getting Walker fully healthy for the playoffs, and somehow helping Tatum find a rhythm in Orlando. Hopefully the next few games can help with that.
This has been your Banner Town Breakdown! Tune in on Sunday, August 2nd at 3:30PM to see the Boston Celtics take on the Portland Trailblazers in the bubble! Bleed Green!
