Celtics at Bucks
The home team has won each of the first five games of the first-round series between the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, a trend the Bucks hope to maintain when they host a do-or-die Game 6 on Thursday. The second-seeded Celtics took a 3-2 series lead with a 92-87 win at home Tuesday night, moving to within a victory of a second-round matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Al Horford switched from power forward to center and led Boston with 22 points and 14 rebounds as the Celtics survived a sluggish affair to push seventh-seeded Milwaukee to the brink of elimination. "We needed to make an adjustment and do something," Horford told reporters of the lineup changes, which included the return from injury of guard Marcus Smart and a rare start for rookie forward Semi Ojeleye. "Coach (Brad Stevens) saw that and he went with his gut and that, and a combination of Marcus Smart, I think paid off for us tonight." The Bucks shot well over 50 percent from the floor in the previous three games before being held to 36.8 percent in Game 5, and superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited to just 10 shot attempts. "It's on me. I had open shots, but they wasn't my shots," Antetokounmpo told the media. "I think my teammates did a great job finding me, but coming the next game, Game 6, I've got to be more aggressive and make more plays."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, NBCS Boston, FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
ABOUT THE CELTICS: Smart, who was out since March 11 with a thumb injury, added an instant dose of defense and toughness that Boston lacked while allowing an average of 110 points in losing games 3 and 4. "You can look at stat sheets all you want; with Marcus it just doesn’t tell the story," Stevens told reporters. "It's his energy, it's his emotion, it's little plays that turn out to be game-changing plays. ... Those are huge plays. And we have other guys that are making them when he hasn't been here, but he makes them every night. He makes them every night that he plays." Horford is averaging 18.2 points on 54.5 percent shooting and 8.6 rebounds in the series.
ABOUT THE BUCKS: While Antetokounmpo vows to be more aggressive in Game 6, some of his teammates hailed him for doing other things to keep his team in it Tuesday night. "I felt like he had a great game tonight," Khris Middleton told reporters of Antetokounmpo, who had 10 rebounds and handed out nine assists, his best total in over two months. "He played more as a playmaker, which they wanted him to do, I guess. He's got to trust us and we've got to trust him. He's going to find ways to get his shot, get to the paint, or his midrange or threes or whatnot. When he sees everybody crowding in on him, he's got to trust us and trust the pass and that's what he did tonight." Middleton led the Bucks with 23 points but was 9-of-21 from the floor after shooting 40-for-65 through the first four games of the series.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bucks C John Henson (back) missed the last three games and remains day-to-day.
2. Celtics C Greg Monroe had a double-double in Game 3 but played five scoreless minutes in Game 4 and did not appear in Tuesday's win.
3. Boston is 99-for-130 from the foul line in the series, compared to 68-for-100 for Milwaukee.