BOSTON – The Celtics protected homecourt for the third time in their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night.


 


 


 


Now they have a chance to end the series in Milwaukee’s house on Thursday.


 


 


 


With the return of Marcus Smart from right thumb surgery providing a boost of electricity to the already-charged TD Garden, a monster double-double from Al [...]

SCOTT SOUZA The MetroWest Daily News

BOSTON – The Celtics protected homecourt for the third time in their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night.

 

 

 

Now they have a chance to end the series in Milwaukee’s house on Thursday.

 

 

 

With the return of Marcus Smart from right thumb surgery providing a boost of electricity to the already-charged TD Garden, a monster double-double from Al Horford, and four big free throws and a rebound from a feisty Terry Rozier late, the Celtics made it a 3-2 series lead with a 92-87 victory against the Bucks.

 

 

 

“I felt like we just willed our way there,” said Horford, who scored 22 points to go with a playoff career-high 14 rebounds. “We had some really good looks that didn’t fall. But I felt like we got stops when we needed to.”

 

 

 

A 16-point lead was down to four with 2:40 to play when Jaylen Brown was fouled on a drive and went to the line for one make and an 82-77 lead with 2:23 to play. Surprise starter Semi Ojeleye then came down with a big defensive board and Brown finished inside for an 84-77 gap with 1:49 to play.

 

 

 

Khris Middleton delivered a basket out of a timeout with 1:43 on the clock, but Smart came flying on for the rebound on the missed chance at a three-point play. Ojeleye then kept an offensive possession alive – after an apparent shot-clock violation against the Celtics went uncalled - and Rozier took a shot from Thon Maker with 1:14 to go.

 

 

 

After the teams traded misses, the Celtics took a timeout with the ball and 34.5 seconds to go and – of course - it was Smart who fought for the ball, and found Horford out of the scrum for a drive and an 86-79 lead with 28.1 seconds to play.

 

 

 

“It’s why you can look at stat sheets all you want with Marcus and it doesn’t tell the story,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “It’s his energy. It’s his emotion. It’s the little plays that turn out to be game-changing plays.”

 

 

 

Middleton drilled a 3-pointer for a four-point game before the Bucks sent Horford to the line and he made one of two for an 87-82 gap with 24.4 ticks to play. Eric Bledsoe got to the basket for a three-point game and this time it was Rozier to the line with 16.4 seconds left.

 

 

 

He made both for a five-point game, then pulled down the rebound and was fouled with 6.4 seconds to go to put the game away to the chants of “Terry! Terry!” from the standing crowd, and set up the chance to end the series on Thursday.

 

 

 

“You have to play 100 times better on the road,” Rozier said. “That’s important. They’ll have the crowd behind them. They’ll be feeling it. That’s part of the playoffs. That’s part of basketball. So we’ve got to play 100 times better (than Games 3 and 4). We’ve got to take away their tendencies and get a win."

 

 

 

Rozier scored 16 points, Brown delivered 14 points, and Smart had nine points, five rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 25 minutes off the bench for the Celtics.

 

 

 

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 16 points and 10 rebounds – with Ojeleye’s defense in the unexpected 31-minute stint helping to hold him to just 10 shots – for the Bucks.

 

 

 

“The Bucks had us against the wall,” Horford said. “They beat us twice over there. We needed to make an adjustment. We needed to do something. Coach saw that, and he went with his gut (with Ojeleye). That, in combination with Marcus Smart (returning), paid off for us tonight.”

 

 

 

An 11-point lead to start the fourth was down to four when Smart drove for two out of the pause, the Bucks got two back from the line, and the Celtics responded with a Horford corner 3-pointer and Morris drive for a 79-70 led into a timeout with 5:46 on the clock.

 

 

 

Jabari Parker hit a tough jumper out of the timeout with 5:25 to play, but Brown had a block and Rozier a rebound on the next Bucks possession, before Antetokounmpo made it a 79-74 game with 4:07 to play. Rozier made it a seven-point gap with a nifty runner off the glass with 3:43 to play, but Bledsoe drilled a second-chance 3-pointer with 3:21 to go.

 

 

 

The teams then traded turnovers and it was four-point game with 2:40 on the clock before the Celtics made the plays to close it out.

 

 

 

“This was an important game for our group,” Horford said. “Defensively, I wanted to set the tone. And just doing it takes to win the game.”