The biggest storyline to come from the Celtics-Bucks first-round NBA playoff series thus far isn’t that the C’s are up 2-0, it’s that Drew Eric Bledsoe doesn’t know who Terry Rozier is.
Bledsoe continued the act Thursday when he once again refused to acknowledge Rozier ahead of Friday’s Game 3 after Rozier admitted referring to the Bucks guard as “Drew Bledsoe” earlier in the week was a mistake.
Former Celtics guard Paul Pierce spoke about the comments on ESPN’s “The Jump” on Wednesday — and he wasn’t impressed — saying it was the most unprofessional thing he’s seen.
“I don’t understand what Eric Bledsoe has done in this league to talk like this,” Pierce said. “You’re still trying to establish yourself … If you don’t know who that is, you’re gonna know when y’all 4-0 out the playoffs.”
When the two guards are defending one another this series, Rozier is, without a doubt, outplaying Bledsoe. Rozier has 20 points to Bledoe’s eight and is shooting 58 percent from the paint (7-for-12) compared to Bledsoe’s 31 percent (4-for-13). Perhaps Rozier’s most impressive stat when defending Bledsoe is his shots from downtown. The Celtics guard is 4-for-7, including the go-ahead 3-pointer he made in Game 1 when Bledsoe, who’s 0-for-2 in three-point attempts, was defending him.
NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady also chimed in on the matter during “The Jump”, saying players typically talk trash about other players when they’re playing well.
“(Bledsoe is) not playing well and he’s still trying to trash talk,” McGrady said.
Although McGrady gave Bledsoe credit on trash talking other players, he believes the guard needs to step his game up because the biggest problem the Bucks have right now is their backcourt getting outscored by an “embarrassing” 96-25.
“They (Celtics) don’t have Kyrie Irving, they have a young player in (Jaylen) Brown and Terry Rozier and they are kicking their butts,” McGrady said.
Milwaukee and Boston resume their series Friday night at BMO Harris Bradley Center for Game 3 with a 9:30 p.m. tip-off.
