NBA Playoffs 2022 on Saturday, 14.05.2022
In my Bucks Celtics tip, I’ll go into why Giannis Antetokounmpo is a true hotshot! He is the reason why the Milwaukee Bucks now have the chance to knock the Boston Celtics out of the NBA Playoffs with another win.
Actually, the C’s should be leading 3:2. However, the fact that things have gone the other way has to do, among other things, with the winning mentality of the defending champions, who are always able to step it up a gear when it counts!
After the Horford dunk to make it 99-105, everyone in the arena thought it was over. Except the Bucks didn’t. In the end, the Celtics fans were amazed when the defending champions pulled past Boston 110-107 in a heart-stopping final.
It is important to remember the insight from my last Celtics Bucks tips – which I mention again and again: Who wins depends on the form of the day, but a top performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo always seems inevitable.
The Greek has scored 42, 34 and most recently 40 points during each of his last three games in this series.
In the last game, the Celtics played excellent defence and even kept Jrue Holiday largely in check with only 24 points. Only Giannis Antetokounmpo evaded the tight man-to-man defence time and again and scored points just when his team absolutely needed him.
The best proof of this was the Bucks’ throwing performance in the 2nd quarter! Because in this period almost all Bucks players missed their throws, so that it was the Greek Freak who had to contribute 15 of the total 19 points of the guests in this section.
The centre thus kept the defending champions in the game long enough to even make up a 14-point deficit in the final quarter, which will surely have blown many a spectator’s mind! Milwaukee’s will to win is simply impressive.
The Celtics have nothing to be ashamed of defensively, they did a wonderful job and left no stone unturned to make life difficult for their opponents. However, in these decisive playoff games, “the right mindset” is crucial.
Not only did Boston look foolish yesterday and suffer a morale-destroying setback, but they also gave away a golden opportunity to play the deciding game in front of their home crowd.
But now Milwaukee get to serve their match point in front of their home crowd, exactly where they are known to be strongest in the playoffs! In fact, when they won the Conference Finals last year, all four of their wins over the Nets came in front of a home crowd.
There is one small thing the Celtics can blame themselves for in the end, even if they can’t do much about it – and that is the deficits on the board, which are due to physical size advantages of the Bucks.
Indeed, the thirteen extra rebounds Milwaukee grabbed compared to Boston were crucial in making up for their poor shooting success rate with second-chance points – a trend that has been a common thread throughout the Series!
Statistically speaking, the home side should win about 80% of the upcoming game – at least if the record from direct duels in the Fiserv Forum is used as a basis.
The C’s have only won two of their last ten games when visiting Milwaukee – despite the fact that Boston are by far one of the best away teams in the NBA.
Conclusion: Actually, the Bucks should win the upcoming game with their irrepressible will to win and their own crowd behind them and thus prevent the all-decisive Game 7.
However, duels between these two green and white franchises remain close from the first to the last minute! But there is one constant in this series – and that concerns the throwing performance of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
I have every confidence in the strong centre of the defending champions to score at least 34 points for the fourth time in a row against the opposing defence!
