The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks squared off in Game 4 of the two teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series on Monday night, with the Celtics trying to stay afloat in the series.

Home teams with a 3-1 lead in Game 5 are almost always guaranteed to take the series, according to a recent statistic from Kevin Pelton of ESPN regarding the Nuggets-Blazers series:

In the Celtics-Bucks series, that is exactly what the C’s were trying to avoid.

It seemed the Bostonian faithful at TD Garden might get a chance to cheer on a home-team victory after the triumphant return of Marcus Smart from an oblique injury had kept him out of the playoffs before Monday night.

Beyond that, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the presumptive MVP of the league and the Bucks’ best player, had picked up his fourth foul with 8:18 left in the third quarter, forcing him to leave the game. At that point, it was still anybody’s game with the score knotted at 59 points apiece.

Usually in the NBA Playoffs, a team’s starters play the bulk of the minutes and are relied on to provide the majority of the team’s scoring punch. With Giannis out, who would the Bucks turn to?

After Giannis left the game, the Bucks outscored the Celtics 21-13 to end the third quarter with lineups consisting of Pat Connaughton, George Hill, Ersan Ilyasova, Sterling Brown and Nikola Mirotic. All good players, sure, but they utterly dominated the Celtics to close the third, which represented a huge pivot point in the game.

Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton were both extremely fresh for the fourth quarter, and they had an 80-72 working margin on their side. Rested and renewed, Giannis played a strong quarter to bring home a 113-101 win for the Bucks, who now control this series, leading 3-1 heading back to Wisconsin for Game 5.