There’s something so wonderfully opposite about the Celtics-Bucks series. The only thing we need is that they wear different colors. Too bad they’re both green based. But it’s a small complaint.
While the Celtics have their own stars and an MVP candidate, they are viewed more as a cohesive entity, with their constant rotation on defense and precise movement and ball distribution on offense. While capable of playing team ball, the Bucks are viewed as Giannis and how far Giannis can carry themespecially with Khris Middleton on the shelf.
In the Bucks’ two wins in the series, Giannis was a kaiju of sorts. A triple-double in Game 1, 42 in Game 3. It’s not like he was bad in the other two games, but he ended up looking utterly exhausted in all four. Giannis needed 32 shots to add to his 34 points last night while playing 41 minutes. Jrue Holiday made 22 shots for his 16 points and made just five of them, the team going -23 while he was down.
Going up against different defenders all night, whether it’s driving around through Al Horford or around Jayson Tatum or whoever, and constantly having to help and recover on the other end…it has twice proved to be too much for the Bucks, and especially for Giannis. He had just six points in the fourth quarter the loss of last night, and was -17 in that frame. Holiday didn’t fire a shot. Brook Lopez was the Bucks’ biggest weapon in the 4th, and that’s a pretty blunt instrument. And the C’s broke out for 43 points in the quarter. Tatum and Horford went out 11-on-12 in the final frame.
The series is tied 2-2 and it seems like it will mostly be a contest as to whether or not Giannis can fight exhaustion with brilliance, or at least which one will outweigh the other and how often. The Bucks and Giannis were able to overtake the Panting Lungs in Games 1 and 3, but even with that Game 3 win, they definitely crawled to the finish line. In games 2 and 4, they never got there before falling to their knees and tapping out. From here it’s not really an option.
