After orchestrating a convincing Eastern Conference first-round series sweep over the Brooklyn Nets, the Boston Celtics came out flat in their semifinal opener against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Celtics opened up the contest on a promising note, building an eight-point lead in the early stages of the game. But from there, the Celtics wound up having no answer for the Bucks defense in the paint. From the mere 10 2-point field goals made to the 20 points totaled in the paint, not much went their way en route to a 12-point home defeat.

Speaking in his post-game press conference, Celtics center Al Horford simply gave his props to the Bucks for winning the duel in the physicality department

“Give them credit,” Horford said. “They came out and set the tone. It was one of those games where the refs let us play, which was great.

“But we took a step back from the things they were doing. It had an impact on the game for sure.”

The Celtics were quite unselfish during the series win against the Nets, averaging 25.6 assists per game over the four contests. In the Game 1 loss to Milwaukee, they tallied for 21 total assists, as the Bucks' stern defensive unit controlled the pace of play in the painted area.

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From Jayson Tatum’s standpoint, he recognizes that the Celtics did what they could to continually find the “best shot” possible on the court, although they must not let the Bucks have their way on both sides of the ball over the remainder of the series.

“We gotta do a better job of doing what we wanna do and not letting them dictate that throughout the course of the game,” Tatum said after the loss.

“We're trying to get the best shot. You can say we should attack the basket more, and we probably should. But we got a lot of drive-and-kick threes. You can get caught up in the numbers, but we got a lot of good shots.”

Tatum also added that the Celtics need to play with more “poise” and not be “too careless” with the ball. They logged 18 turnovers on the day, which the Bucks took advantage of for 27 points.

Game 2 of this Eastern Conference semifinal clash is set for Tuesday, where the Celtics will look to avoid opening up an early 2-0 series deficit against the reigning NBA champions.