Milwaukee Bucks cruised in the first round of the playoffs. They won every game by double-digits and did not really face stiff competition versus Detroit. Milwaukee knew that their series against Boston would be different, but it seems the Bucks brought a knife to a gun fight. They were outplayed from the first quarter on as the Celtics won 112-90. This is the worst loss of the year for the Bucks, and their worst playoff loss since losing Game 5 to Toronto two years ago by 25 points. Bucks have work to do for Game 2.

Player of the Game: Al Horford – Giannis Antetokounmpo does not have many players that give him a hard time, but Al Horford is one of them. He plays a physical style of defense where some refs might call him for fouls, but when the officials let him play, he is rock solid. Horford also finds a way to get open all the time versus the Bucks. He hits devastating mid-range jumper after mid-ranger jumper. I’m not sure I saw him miss on in the last two years that he played against the Bucks.

Silver Star: Khris Middleton – Lots of people have issues with Middleton, but he always seems to give the Celtics’ buckets. He did it last playoff series, and he is doing it again through one game this year. Middleton had a solid game with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. He needed to shoot the ball more, though. Midds only had 12 shot attempts in a game where I feel he should have been the focal point of the team. Milwaukee rneeds to keep trying to find away to get him the basketball versus this team.

Positive: Bucks made it competitive after a tough start – Sure, this game eventually became a blowout due to a third quarter nightmare. But the team did respond well when they trailed by 15 early on in this game. Milwaukee found their stroke and started to make a push towards tying the game. Too bad for the Bucks and their fans that was the only real highlight of the game.

Negative: Budenholzer cannot coach like this is the regular season – There is no reason why Giannis and Middleton should play only 34 minutes. This is the playoffs. These guys need to be playing 40+ minutes or damn close to it. They’re too vital to have sitting on the bench for extended periods of time. For reference, Steph Curry played the least amount of minutes of the Warriors’ starters at 37 yesterday versus Houston. Kevin Durant played 43. Budeholzer needs to shorten his bench and not be stubborn.

Next up: Bucks and Celtics will get going again on Tuesday night at the Fiserv Forum. Interesting note that the last six lower seeded teams that blew out a home team in Game 1 went on to lose the series. We will see what kind of adjustments that Budenholzer makes for Game 2. Bucks need to get Giannis freed up more often, and Milwaukee needs their stars on the court as much as possible.

Charlie.