Milwaukee's bench is brought to its feet by a massive dunk by Antetokounmpo. (0:29)
Antetokounmpo had to get creative when he tried to drive past Grant Williams on a possession midway through the fourth quarter.
He faked a shot to his left and then threw the ball off the backboard to himself and dunked. His alley-oops silenced the Boston crowd and gave Milwaukee a huge boost in a 101-89 victory in the opener of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Antetokounmpo said after the game that he threw the ball to the backboard because he was going to get stuck.
The way Game 1 was played out was similar to the way Antetokounmpo dunked.
The Celtics made it difficult for Antetokounmpo to shoot the ball, but he was too much for Boston to contain. Antetokounmpo had a triple-double, finishing with 24 points, 13 rebound and 12 assists.
Antetokounmpo became the first player in franchise history with multiple career playoff triple-doubles despite his worst shooting performance in the playoffs.
Antetokounmpo said that the Celtics defense was being physical. Being active. They were really good.
Antetokounmpo carried the offense despite his poor shooting. He accounted for 55 of Milwaukee's points by getting his teammates open shots. According to the research, the Bucks shot 12-of-18 (7-of-12 from 3) off of his passes.
With Khris Middleton out and Jrue Holiday in foul trouble, Antetokounmpo played almost the entire first half, but had to leave the game for the first time in the third quarter after getting himself into foul trouble. The Celtics were minus-11 with Antetokounmpo on the floor and the Bucks were minus-23.
The spacing around him has to be great and we have got to keep reading the defense. He is reading the game. Sometimes it is scoring and sometimes it is sharing it. He knows he has to do both.
Antetokounmpo's alley-oops in the fourth quarter left his teammates in awe.
Holiday shook his head and said that he couldn't do that. I wouldn't even think about trying it.
Bobby Portis said that he didn't have many words to say.
During the regular season, the Celtics boasted the top defense in the league, and they got through the first round by smothering the Nets. The NBA's 14th ranked team in defensive efficiency has raised their defensive intensity. They have the best defensive rating so far.
Milwaukee held the Celtics to 33.3% shooting and kept them out of the paint, forcing Boston to try and win the game with contested jumpers. The Celtics were just 3-for-20 when Antetokounmpo or Lopez guarded their shots, and Holiday held Boston to just 4-for-13 when he was the primary defender.
We are playing hard defensively. I think we realized in order for us to be in the game, in order for us to win games, we have got to guard, Antetokounmpo said.
If we don't guard, we don't have a chance of being in the game. After the Bulls in the first round, we had to start guarding. We have to take pride defensively.
The second game is in Boston.
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