The Bucks won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals with defense. Trying to navigate the impenetrable Brook Lopez—whose back surgery might as well have never happened—the Celtics shot 45.5% at the rim and a whopping 44% of all their shots were non-corner threes (a number only topped twice this season: Jan. 6 against the paint-packing Knicks, and last month against … the Bucks).
Milwaukee picked ballhandlers up 90 feet from the rim, invaded personal space and poked balls loose when they it wasn’t ripping them away. (Boston’s 18.6% turnover rate was its ninth-worst mark all season.) Their victory came as proud, battle-tested champions knowing their assignments, understanding who they are and how they have to win.
At the same time, Milwaukee really struggled to score against a Celtics defense that held it to just 101.0 points per 100 possessions. (Boston finished 26–3 this season when it held opponents to that low of an offensive rating.) Isolation basketball is not efficient basketball, particularly when utilized against a team (like Boston) that was built to tempt and then stamp it out. In this series, though, the Bucks have to see hero ball as a necessary evil. The bad news is they won’t have Khris Middleton, a one-on-one specialist whose $177.5 million contract looks like a bargain in matchups exactly like this one. The good news: In addition to having Giannis Antetokounmpo warp matchups all over the floor, Jrue Holiday (who finished with a game-high 25 points) just so happens to be an isolation assassin.
