Horford, Smart lift Celtics; 76ers finish off heat

Al Horford had 22 points and 14 rebounds and a key bucket in the final minute.

It took exactly 43 seconds for Marcus Smart to be, well, Marcus Smart.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens could have leaned on any one of those promising developments.

Khris Middleton delivered a basket out of a timeout with 1:43 on the clock, but Smart came flying on for the rebound on the missed chance at a three-point play. The home team has won all five games in the first-round series.

According to Stevens, the team wanted to keep Smart between “20-30 minutes” because they “didn’t want to overload him”. The Celtics took a timeout with the ball and 34.5 seconds to go and – of course – it was Smart who fought for the ball and found Horford out of the scrum for a drive and an 86-79 lead with 28.1 seconds to play.

Following a controversial ending to Game 5, the Last Two Minute (L2M) report that the National Basketball Association released on Wednesday will draw the ire of the Milwaukee Bucks and their fans. Given the physicality of the last series, the Sixers are likely rooting for the Celtics-Bucks series to go seven games. Milwaukee’s 87 total points were the fewest by either team in the series thus far.

In his epic return, he put up nine points, five boards and four assists in 25 minutes. The Bucks learned that the hard way at the end of Game 5 on Tuesday. “Semi is a guy who has been a versatile defender for us all year, and that’s a tall task – to ask a guy to guard Giannis the whole night”. “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”.

We also talked about the shape of Joe Prunty’s rotation, Shabazz Muhammad‘s surprise impact and the diminishing return that came with it, and Eric Bledsoe‘s continued to desire to focus on all things Terry Rozier-related. “You’re not going to be ideal against him”.

The move was a bold one considering that the Celtics had some success in Milwaukee pounding the ball inside and controlling the glass with the bigger Aron Baynes and Greg Monroe. And he also remembers the sting of last season, when the Bucks went home for Game 6 trailing Toronto 3-2 and wound up letting a pair of late leads slip in what became a season-ending loss.

The Celtics got their next boost from a Horford 3-pointer with 7:14 left for a 77-70 lead.

And then Rozier and Bledsoe re-opened their beef, with the latter leaning into the former with a shoulder away from the ball. Dragic was tracking back after a turnover and fouled Simmons before delivering the whack, which earnt him a technical foul.

It was a hard-fought game, with both teams knowing what was on the line.