NBA Matchups: May 11

Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics

Team Totals: Bucks 104.3, Celtics 109.8

Injury Report: Robert Williams (Q, knee), George Hill (P, abdomen)

Celtics projected starters: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Grant Williams, Al Horford

Bucks projected starters: Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen, Wesley Matthews, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez

Udoka quotes: Said Lopez is a favorable matchup for Horford because of how far Lopez drops off him, said Al Horford stepped up when Jaylen Brown had foul trouble, said he liked the aggressiveness of Derrick White, said they’re really trying to up the pace, said attacking the paint more in the fourth really got them going, said Tatum had more room to operate late and they found some good actions for him, said they want Giannis out there guarding and not roaming against them, said they can run pick-and-pop any time Lopez is dropping, said Derrick White will have favorable matchups with Matthews and Jrue guarding other guys, said they were going to attack George Hill.

Budenholzer quotes: Said Bobby Portis lost minutes because the Celtics went smaller without Time Lord, said Bobby can give them a lot in limited minutes, said Wesley Matthews has been bringing the defense against Tatum and that’s not why they lost, said Giannis doesn’t really want to come out but he asks for a quick break some of the time, said they have to make it tough on Horford going forward.

Stats and Notes: 

*Boston was finally able to break through on the offensive end with a 109 O rating in the halfcourt after they were at just 87.2 in the first three games. The Bucks were a little better on the offensive side of things after their 80.5 O rating in the halfcourt in Games 1-3, and they got to a 94.3 halfcourt O rating in Game 4. The Bucks also really upped their transition game in Game 4, which is an area they’ll certainly lean on again with the way they can’t score on Boston. Boston has really been able to get things going their way on offense while the Bucks still have some adjustments to make. Plus, the Celtics have been able to get more wide-open treys in the last three games with the Celtics getting 22% of their shots as wide-open treys and the Bucks are at just 15.4%.

*Robert Williams is questionable here, and you’d think he’s probably not starting either way. It makes sense to limit his minutes a bit with swelling in his knee after having surgery on it last month. If he can’t go, that’ll just make the Celtics very small again.