When the Boston Celtics took the floor vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum this past Thursday (Dec. 11) night, it was clear that the Celtics had not done their homework on their Giannis Antetokounmpo-less opponent. Instead of being aware of how the players who were available liked to play, it seemed as if Boston was looking past Milwaukee to their rematch with the Detroit Pistons until Kyle Kuzma managed to get into Jaylen Brown’s head. The mano-a-mano response from Brown did not help, and even helped to feed the home team’s flames as the crowd got into the kerfuffles breaking out between the two teams as the Bucks’ confidence surged.
Boston having three key 3-point shooters not connecting on volume did not help (nor did leaving all of them in while cold), but a lack of awareness of who was on the court was no small factor, either. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla took note of that tendency, and explained how it fed the Bucks’ ability to secure the win postgame. “I think with Kuzma, a lot of it was in transition,” said the Celtics coach. “A lot of it was driving.”
“It wasn’t as much — he only shot two 3s, so a lot of it was doing a better job on tendencies, understanding what his tendency is and doing that,” he explained. “And I think Portis was a little bit of both.”
“What was it? Five for six from 3,” said Mazzulla. “And then he got some post-ups as well. But he played well — those guys played well.”
“They’re going to do a great job defensively on taking away their tendencies, being more disciplined in that, and make them uncomfortable so that they’re not as in rhythm on their shots.”
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