The Celtics entered the Eastern Conference semifinals with all of the momentum in the world, but they quickly were brought back down to earth by the reigning NBA champions.
Boston suffered its first loss of the 2022 playoffs Sunday afternoon when it fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of the teams' second-round series. Giannis Antetokounmpo and company led for the majority of the matinee matchup at TD Garden and they successfully combated a second-half comeback attempt from the typically hardnosed Celtics.
To put it simply, the C's didn't look like themselves in the best-of-seven series opener. Head coach Ime Udoka acknowledged as much when he highlighted his team's most glaring issues from Game 1.
"To have 89 points and a lack of penetration and paint points is obviously alarming, so we have to figure that out," Udoka told reporters, per The Boston Globe. "But we know who they are defensively, and I think their physicality more than anything caught us off guard."
The second-seeded Celtics only lost back-to-back games on one occasion dating back to February, and they were without four starters in one of those games. As such, Green Teamers should feel confident that Boston will make the proper adjustments and put forth a much better effort Tuesday night at TD Garden.
