The Boston Celtics went into Milwaukee and throttled the top-seeded Bucks 112-90 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Celtics punched the Bucks in the mouth from the opening tip and went up by 15 points in the second quarter. While Milwaukee fought back and even led by two points in the third quarter, Boston then exploded and dominated the game the rest of the way.

Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Irving was also a game-high plus-20 as he sliced and diced the Bucks' defense.

While Irving was terrific, Boston's most important player for the game was arguably Al Horford. The veteran big man stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and he also played outstanding defense against Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Greek Freak was out of sorts all game against Horford and a physical Celtics defense. Antetokounmpo had 22 points on 7-of-21 shooting and had only two assists. He finished a game-worst minus-24.

The Celtics shot a scorching-hot 54.0% against an elite Bucks defense, while Milwaukee only managed to make 34.8% of its shots in this ugly loss.

The Bucks will try to bounce back in Game 2 on Tuesday at the Fiserv Forum. This was Milwaukee's first loss of the postseason. Boston is still undefeated.