The Milwaukee Bucks return to the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Thursday night facing a must win in game six of their opening round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
Boston jumped out to an early lead and stayed their, pulling out a 92-87 win over the Bucks at TD Garden. The Celtics took a 3-2 lead in the series as each team has held serve on its home court. The Bucks are hoping to do the same on Thursday.
The Bucks problem was their cold shooting. They hit just 36.8% of their shots (32 of 87) from the field for the game and made just 27.3% of their three-pointers (9 of 33).
Khris Middleton scored 23 points to lead the Bucks, but Giannis Antetokounmpo took just 10 shots and was held to 16 points.
Jabari Parker added 17 points off the bench and Eric Bledsoe finished with 16 points (5 of 15 FG).
The Bucks made several runs in the second half to draw close, only to see the Celtics have an answer.
Al Horford led Boston with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Terry Rozier added 16 points and Jaylen Brown had 14. Boston also saw the return of Marcus Smart to their lineup. He had nine points, three blocks and a steal in his return.
Seldom used Shabazz Muhammad had 11 points in a four-minute spurt for the Bucks, but they got little from their remaining reserves. Thon Maker, Tony Snell and Matthew Dellavedova combined to score just two points on 1 of 12 shooting.
