BOSTON — Two days before Terry Rozier made his first playoff start on Sunday afternoon in place of Kyrie Irving, he visited the injured Celtics star at his home.


 


"I took all his shoes," Rozier said.


 


Rozier didn’t wear any of Irving’s shoes in Game 1, but he filled them just fine. The third-year point guard scored a career-playoff-high 23 points and had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and no turnovers in 40½ minutes to help [...]

By Bill Doyle The Worcester Telegram & Gazette

BOSTON — Two days before Terry Rozier made his first playoff start on Sunday afternoon in place of Kyrie Irving, he visited the injured Celtics star at his home.

 

“I took all his shoes,” Rozier said.

 

Rozier didn’t wear any of Irving’s shoes in Game 1, but he filled them just fine. The third-year point guard scored a career-playoff-high 23 points and had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and no turnovers in 40½ minutes to help the Celtics beat the Bucks, 113-107, in overtime at TD Garden in the opener of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

 

Rozier thought he had hit the game-winning 3-pointer with a half-second left in regulation after Eric Bledsoe believed he was going to pass to Jayson Tatum and left Rozier wide open.

 

“I kind of figured Bledsoe would bite,” Rozier said, “and it allowed me to make a move and get to my step-back 3.”

 

“Even though I didn’t play well,” said Bledsoe, who had 9 points and 5 turnovers before fouling out in OT, “I thought I did a great job on the defensive end, except for that last play.”

 

The game was not over, however. Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton tied the score, 99-99, and forced OT by sinking a 36-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer.

 

“I was mad as hell that he made that shot, No. 1,” Rozier said, “but we knew it’s a battle. It’s the playoffs, it happens. He hit a crazy shot. ... So that’s tough, but going into overtime we said, ‘Let’s do it, let’s stay together and let’s win this game.’ We all came to the huddle and you could tell that people we’re upset a little bit, wanted to go home and wrap up Game 1, but we still live in the moment. We had to fight and that’s what we did.”

 

Rozier scored eight points in the extra session, sinking his team-high fourth 3-pointer and making five of his six free-throw attempts.

 

“Terry’s a stud,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.

 

“We never stopped believing that we weren’t going to win,” Rozier said.

 

Rozier made one of those free throws to boost Boston’s lead to 111-107 with 13 seconds remaining in OT after Giannis Antetokounmpo missed a foul shot and appeared to tie Rozier up for a jump ball, but was called for a foul instead. The foul was Antetokounmpo’s sixth and he headed to the bench after collecting game-highs of 35 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists.

 

Rozier is a great leaper, but winning a jump ball against the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo would have been difficult because he’s 10 inches taller.

 

“There were a lot of tough calls tonight,” Rozier said, “and I think they owed us that one.”

 

“I don’t think that was a foul,” Antetokounmpo said. “I grabbed the ball, but the refs said that I grabbed his hands. I just got to live with that call and just move forward.”

 

Earlier, the "Greek Freak" appeared to foul Tatum, but a jump ball was called and Antetokounmpo won the jump.

 

Rozier said Irving, who watched the beginning of the game from the bench in street clothes, gave him only one bit of advice.

 

“His message,” Rozier said, “is just go out there and take what’s yours, go out there and dominate, go kill. Don’t worry about what nobody’s saying.”

 

Actually, basketball experts have been saying nice things lately about Rozier, who recorded a triple-double in his first career regular-season start on Jan. 31 and has made the most of filling in for not only Irving, but Marcus Smart (thumb surgery) as well at the point.

 

Rozier got off to a slow shooting start on Sunday, but certainly made up for it.

 

“We’re not worried about that,” Al Horford said. “Terry needs to keep being aggressive, keep playing the way that he plays. He’ll hit big shots, which he did. He’ll figure it out.”

 

“I said it, I think in preseason,” Jaylen Brown said, “I said Terry, with opportunity, could be one of the best point guards in the league and a lot of you all looked at me like I was crazy. He’s been showing it. He’s showed spurts throughout the year and I think in the playoffs he’s really excited to step up.”

 

The Celtics shot only 41.5 percent while the Bucks shot 48.2 percent, but the Celtics scored 27 points off 20 Milwaukee turnovers and made 11 3-pointers, three more than the Bucks.

 

“We know they’re long and athletic,” Rozier said of the Bucks, “but we feel they don’t move as quick as us laterally so we just try to keep moving the ball side to side and just to catch them sleeping.”