It never should have come down to the final minute of Game 5 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks for the Boston Celtics.
Nevertheless, the C's were in position to hold off the Bucks in the fourth quarter on Wednesday at TD Garden as their 14-point lead turned into a 1-point deficit with 11 seconds left following a Bobby Portis basket off a missed free throw from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With a chance to retake the lead off an inbounds play along the base line, Marcus Smart was swatted away by Jrue Holiday as he went for a layup, leading to the Bucks retaking possession, sinking a pair of free throws and holding on for a 110-107 win.
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SIGN UP HERE What exactly happened on the play, and why wasn't Smart able to find an open target?
Celtics-Bucks takeaways: Milwaukee stuns C's late to steal Game 5
According to Smart, the play was designed for Jayson Tatum but from Smart's perspective, everyone ahead seemed to be standing around.
"JT [Tatum] was supposed to come and get it but everyone was just standing around," Smart said. "We had no timeouts, there was a 5-second count, I just got open and tried to make a play. Jrue did a good job of helping. That's it, he made a good play."
Many things went wrong for the Celtics down the stretch, and as a result, their season is on the brink in Game 6 on Friday back in Milwaukee.
