All season long, the Boston Celtics were dedicated, focused, and hard-working.
In the closing moments of Game 5 on Wednesday night, they gave that all up.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Celtics had lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-107.
It was a painful, heartbreaking home loss for Boston, who thought they could possibly take a commanding 3-2 lead in the series.
But now it’s the Bucks who are just one win away from winning the series and the Celtics need to steal a win back in Milwaukee in Game 6.
What caused the razor-thin loss?
Re-watching the fourth quarter. The Celtics gave up at least four three-pointers because someone (usually Tatum, Brown or Grant) was barking at the refs and didn't get back on defense.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 12, 2022
NBA analyst Keith Smith said the Celtics only have themselves to blame.
“Re-watching the fourth quarter. The Celtics gave up at least four three-pointers because someone (usually Tatum, Brown or Grant) was barking at the refs and didn’t get back on defense,” Smith said on Twitter following the huge loss for Boston.
Sure enough, it looked like Boston wasn’t nearly as focused as usual as the game came to an end.
That cost them dearly.
Bummer In Boston
It looked like the Celtics were going to pull out the win on Wednesday night.
But when the Bucks started to get hot in the last quarter, the Celtics didn’t have an answer for them.
The Bucks capitalized on the Celtics’ sloppy play.
They committed some huge blocks and steals and weaved in and out of Boston’s porous defense.
And Smith is right: as the score got neck-and-neck, multiple Boston players were wasting their time arguing with refs instead of staying on their opponents and preventing big shots.
This only gave the Bucks more belief in themselves and allowed them to make some pivotal points.
Few people are happy with how Boston played in the fourth quarter of Game 5.
Now the team has to win in Game 6.
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