Were Giannis and Bucks clutch, or did Tatum and Celtics collapse?
Things got wild Wednesday night in the final minutes of Game 5 between the Bucks and Celtics.
Milwaukee rallied from a double-digit deficit on Boston’s home court to eke out a 110-107 victory and take a 3-2 series lead. So, was the dramatic reversal more about Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks exploding, or Jayson Tatum and Celtics imploding?
The answer might be both.
Giannis scores 40 points in Bucks' Game 5 comeback win vs. Celtics
Antetokounmpo scored eight points during the comeback, highlighted by a late 3-pointer, three rebounds, a block, steal and assist. That gave the reigning Finals MVP 40 points (on 16-of-27 shooting) and 11 rebounds on the night, while giving Milwaukee the chance to punch its ticket Friday to the Eastern Conference finals.
"Giannis is leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’s the best player in the NBA," Shannon Sharpe said on "Undisputed." "He’s doing it on both ends of the court. He’s attacking. He says ‘I don’t care if you build a wall, I’ll either go through it or I’ll go over it.’ He’s not going to be deterred."
Antetokounmpo and the defending champs were as persistent down the stretch as Boston was passive. After a Tatum dunk extended the Celtics’ lead to 13 with less than 10 minutes remaining, they resorted to attempting a series of long jumpers. Boston missed eight of its last 12 shots, while allowing the Bucks to grab seven offensive rebounds on the other end of the court.
Milwaukee also connected on all five of its 3-point attempts to close out on a 28-12 run. Jrue Holiday provided the final blows with a game-tying 3, and then a block, rebound and steal in the last 10 seconds.
"I would love to make this about the best player in the world and a man who’s going to go down as one of the 12 greatest players ever, Giannis Antetokounmpo," Nick Wright said on "First Things First." "I would love to make this about Jrue Holiday, who kind of made a statement yesterday of, you know who the actual Defensive Player of the Year is, right? Unfortunately, it was a collapse. "
Giannis, Bucks rally to steal Game 5 from Celtics
The Celtics’ unraveling involved their best player. Tatum scored a team-high 34 points but went 2-of-6 late. It was another inefficient night from the All-NBA forward, as he shot 12-of-29 from the floor and is now hitting on 39.1% of his shots for the series and just 30.4% from downtown.
Boston still led by six with two minutes remaining but would attempt just two more shots as Marcus Smart committed a pair of turnovers and the Bucks dominated possession by grabbing five of the final six rebounds, including three on the offensive end.
"The Celtics spit it up and gave it right back to [the Bucks]. It was a disaster," Skip Bayless said. "This game was all about what the Boston Celtics didn’t do, not what the ‘best player on the planet’ did do. In the end, somebody just has to say no, and it wasn’t Jayson Tatum. Every time I want to anoint him, every time I want to say … that he’s arrived as a superstar, he will not let me."
Tatum and the Celtics aren’t done yet, having already won at Milwaukee on Monday. But the nature of their latest defeat has some thinking the series is a wrap.
"It was the Celtics tripping all over themselves because for the last 35 years, they’ve been mostly allergic to being a championship-caliber franchise and they couldn’t get out of their own way," Wright said. "And instead of being the favorites to win the title, their season’s over in 36 hours."
