Basket Ball / Sports

Milwaukee stuns Boston late to steal Game 5 on road

It took all of 10 minutes for the Celtics’ playoff fortunes to change Wednesday night.

Boston led the Milwaukee Bucks by 14 points with 10 minutes remaining in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden and appeared on its way to a 3-2 series lead.

The Bucks came storming back, however, outscoring Boston 33-14 down the stretch en route to a stunning 110-107 victory.

Giannis Antetokounmpo (40 points, 11 rebounds) and Jrue Holiday (24 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) played key roles in Milwaukee’s comeback, while Bobby Portis’ put back layup with 11.4 seconds remaining proved to be the difference.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to score 60 points (34 and 26, respectively) for Boston, while Marcus Smart added 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Here are our takeaways from a defeat that puts the Celtics one loss from playoff elimination entering Game 6 in Milwaukee on Friday night.

Defense wins championships

The Celtics played well offensively for most of the night, but the Bucks put the clamps on Boston late to engineer their comeback.

Holiday in particular was a defensive menace, his signature play a block on Smart with 8.7 seconds remaining and his team up by one point.

Holiday then picked Smart’s pocket on Boston’s final possession to seal Milwaukee’s victory.

After committing five turnovers total over the first three quarters, the Celtics had five turnovers in the fourth quarter alone. Their offense looked stagnant, as Tatum settled for midrange jumpers and the team didn’t attempt a single 3-pointer.

Boston still misses Time Lord

If there’s one area where Milwaukee had the clear advantage in Game 5, it was on the offensive glass. The Bucks racked up 17 offensive rebounds to Boston’s five, none more important than the late put back by Portis, who had seven offensive boards.

Milwaukee also won the overall rebounding battle 49-36, taking advantage of Robert Williams’ absence to dominate in the paint.

The Celtics managed to win Game 4 without Williams and should have won without him Wednesday night. But …

Basket Ball / Sports

Al Horford, Celtics outlast Bucks in exhausting Game 4 to even series

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo lay exhausted in the backcourt, their bodies entangled and their hands clasped together.

The fourth-quarter playoff action Monday night continued without two of the NBA’s hardest-working players, but they just couldn’t seem to summon the energy to help each other get back on their feet. When Boston’s Al Horford scored on the other end, a still-horizontal Antetokounmpo slumped his shoulders and rested his head on the hardwood. The way to beat the two-time MVP, who has taken his game to new heights this postseason, has been to outlast him when his teammates falter.

On a night when both teams struggled to shoot — continuing a series-long trend — the Celtics shook off a slow start and rallied from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to claim a 116-108 victory in Game 4 at Fiserv Forum. Horford helped pull Boston back from the brink with a playoff career-high 30 points, eight rebounds and three assists to even this slugfest of a second-round series at two games apiece.

“We all understood the importance of this game,” Horford said. “At the end of Game 3, we were in a position to win, and we didn’t. I was just locked in. I understood the moment and what we needed to do as a group. I did whatever it took. It was one of those types of nights.”

The 35-year-old Horford has long cultivated a reputation as a heady, steadying presence, but Monday he showed a rare electric streak. Shortly after halftime, Antetokounmpo dunked on Horford and received a technical for taunting. Horford answered early in the fourth quarter, throwing down a poster dunk of his own on Antetokounmpo that helped swing momentum in Boston’s favor.

“The way that [Antetokounmpo] was looking at me and going about it, it didn’t sit well with me,” Horford said. “Something switched with me.”

The veteran center followed up his dunk with a series of clutch jumpers, scoring 16 fourth-quarter points as Milwaukee stalled on the other end. Horford made …

Basket Ball / Sports

Jaylen Brown takes charge in huge Game 2 win

The Celtics were on the ropes without one of their top fighters Tuesday. But they still threw a mean counterpunch. Despite missing starting point guard Marcus Smart due to a right quad contusion, the Celtics jumped out to an early double-digit lead against the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and never looked back, rolling to a 109-86 win at TD Garden to tie the best-of-seven series 1-1. Jaylen Brown delivered the biggest blow with a game-high 30 points, 17 of which came in the first quarter. Jayson Tatum added 29 points while the Celtics hit a franchise-record 20 3-pointers (20 of 43) to bounce back from an ugly 101-89 loss in Game 1. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists but shot just 40.7 percent (11 of 27) with five turnovers. He was the only Milwaukee player to reach 20 points, as the Celtics’ defense limited the Bucks to just three 3-pointers on 18 attempts. The teams will have an extended layoff before Game 3, which is Saturday in Milwaukee. Here are our takeaways from an impressive Boston win at the Garden:

Jaylen Brown came to ball

Brown was the first one in the building Tuesday, arriving about three hours before tip to get some extra shots up after scoring just 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting in Game 1.

That extra work clearly helped: Brown exploded a playoff career-high 17 points in the first quarter, hitting six of his first seven shots and dropping Grayson Allen with a filthy crossover.

Brown had 25 points by halftime and missed just five shots (10 of 15) while committing just two turnovers, looking like a completely different player after his rough Game 1.

The Celtics need Brown to be at least the third-best player on the floor to have success in this series. On Tuesday, he was the best, giving Boston a huge boost in Smart’s absence.

Boston has a three party

After making just 18 of their playoff career-high 50 …