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Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics goes to the basket against Bobby Portis and Jew Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at TD Garden on May 11, 2022 in Boston. (Photo by Maddy Malhotra/Getty Images)
Boston – Bobby Portis overtook Giannis Antetokounmpo’s missed free throw with 15 seconds behind, Jew Holiday snatched Marcus Smart on the final two Boston properties and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Celtics 110-107 on Wednesday night 3- Took the lead of the 2nd series.
Antetokounmpo had 40 points and 11 rebounds, Holiday finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Portis added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the defending NBA champion Bucks.
Milwaukee has a chance to wrap up the Eastern Conference semifinals in Game 6 at home on Friday night. The Celtics need a win to force a decisive seventh game in Boston on Sunday.
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The Bucks closed the gap as the Celtics led 14 in the fourth quarter, tying it to 105 with 43 seconds on Holiday’s 3-pointer. Jason Tatum, who scored 34 points in all, hit a pair of free throws to give Boston the lead.
Antetokounmpo made it to the tie and made the first, then Portis caught the rebound of the second and drove it off the backboard to give Milwaukee the first lead from the start of the second quarter.
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Smart went to the basket, but Halliday blocked it and came away with the ball, throwing it to Smart, while falling out of bounds. Pat Connaughton scored a pair of free throws with six seconds left, then Holiday smartly stole the ball on his desperate dash for a potentially game-tying 3-pointer.
The Bucks have won two of three games to take home-court advantage in Boston.
Antetokounmpo had his best shooting game of the series, scoring 16 for 27, but he also made seven turnovers.
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Jaylen Brown scored 26 points for Boston, 16 of them in the third – and 12 in the final four minutes of the quarter, when Boston converted a 71-68 lead into a 12-point lead.
The Bucks scored nine of the first 11 points of the game, but Boston closed the gap in the middle of the quarter. The Celtics ran 11 straight points at the start of the second, capped by a Marcus Smart steal, thrown ahead of Brown to Tatum for an alley-oop that brought the crowd to their feet.
But the Bucks scored 17 of the next 24 and made it 58-55 in the third with nine minutes to go.