The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks allegedly played a basketball game on Saturday afternoon, but you’d be forgiven if you mistook it for American football instead. Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals was one of the most physical basketball games of the entire NBA season, a miserably ugly slugfest featuring no shortage of bricked shots and hard contact.
Ultimately, that’s an environment that favored the Bucks, who thrive on physicality and transition scoring. Though the Celtics mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, a potential game-tying tip-in from Al Horford came just after the buzzer sounded, and the Celtics lost their first road game of the series.