George Hill returned to action in Game 3 of the Bucks’ series against the Celtics and had no setbacks. The veteran guard is not listed on the injury report for Monday’s game, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Hill, who hadn’t seen action since April 8 due to an abdominal strain, played 11 scoreless minutes with one assist in Game 3.
We have more on the defending champions:
- Wesley Matthews‘ excellent defense and the Bucks’ scheme frustrated Jayson Tatum in Game 3. Tatum now has to figure out how to get to his sweet spots more frequently, Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes. Weiss takes an in-depth on the Bucks’ plan against Tatum and how he might counter in Game 4.
- Boston fumed about a no-call in the closing seconds of Game 3. Surprisingly, Bucks GM Jon Horst also felt the officiating wasn’t up to par, as he told Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “I couldn’t do their job. You couldn’t do their job,” Horst said. “Officiating is hard, just like playing is hard and coaching is hard, and I think we all have a standard of trying to get better and improve. And at the end of the day, that’s what stood out to me. We have to improve. That wasn’t a quality playoff basketball game, and I think officiating played a role in that.”
- Giannis Antetokounmpo takes all kinds of punishment and doles it out, too. His teammates marvel at his mental toughness with defenses constantly collapsing on him, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. “He’s so good at being mentally strong,” center Brook Lopez said. “He obviously has lots of guys throwing themselves at him when he’s trying to get into his moves and make plays for himself and everyone else. He does a great job of sticking with it, staying in the game, and just keeping his mojo … It can be frustrating at times. He does a great job of just kind of letting it go like water off a duck’s back.”
- Serge Ibaka was a late scratch from Monday’s game due to a non-COVID illness, Lily Zhao of FOX6 tweets. Ibaka has made two cameo appearances in the series.
Why is it surprising that Horst felt that way? Boston took 34 FTAs and Milwaukee just 17. In the last 16:30 of the game, Boston took 17 FTA and Milwaukee took ZERO.
Seems like everyone is only looking at the Celtics point of view because Udoka complained more and louder.
Matthews D is about flopping, Tatum is such a ghost he doesn’t need to do much to bother him, unlike Holiday is really good on both sides, i wouldn’t mind trading Middleton to give him the ball more…
Well Tatum woke up …….
But it sure is nice seeing Al going for it. Who was it, who always talked about his importance to this team. Hmmm
That guy sure knows his ball.
Still rooting for Bucks.
Without Middleton, Holiday will have to avg 22 and 10. Giannis needs help on O. Others have to step up. Especially Holiday, Lopez, Portis. And why is Ibaka still out. I thought he was due back already.
Celtics ain’t going away. You will have to close them out.
Mama’s boy over here trying to pat himself on the back