The Milwaukee Bucks opened their second round Eastern Conference playoff series with the Boston Celtics with an emphatic, 101-89, victory at TD Garden, with the defending NBA champions putting on an extraordinary defensive effort in the home of the league’s top-ranked defensive unit.
Led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s second career playoff triple-double (24 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists), the Bucks won their fourth straight game without injured all-star Khris Middleton by once again going “big” with Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis in the starting lineup.
But rather than rotate in a four-wing substitution pattern as he did against Chicago in the first round, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer kept at least one big man in the game throughout to offset Boston’s strong interior presence of Al Horford and Robert Williams III.
