The Milwaukee Bucks were not able to capitalize on a depleted and hurting lineup of the Boston Celtics, blowing away their chance to steal Game 1 in Beantown in a 113-107 loss on Sunday. The Bucks had a chance to tie the game late in overtime with a 3-pointer, but Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was called with a foul with 13 seconds while trying to wrestle the ball away from Boston point guard Terry Rozier. That foul call disqualified Antetokounmpo for the rest of the game as it was his sixth foul of the contest.
During the postgame presser, Antetokounmpo tried to explain why he thinks he should not have been assessed with a foul in the said play, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.
Article Continues Below“I don't think that was a foul,” Antetokounmpo said. “I grabbed the ball. But the ref said that I grabbed his hand. I just got to live with that call and just move forward because that's what players do. Hopefully next time I can knock down the free throw and not get into that situation.”
Antetokounmpo, along with Khris Middleton, did most of the heavy lifting for the Bucks in Game 1. Antetokounmpo paced his team with 35 points on 11-for-21 shooting from the floor with 13 rebounds and seven assists. Middleton, on the other hand, had 31 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Instead of griping about the foul call, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks perhaps should be more focused on trying to limit their turnovers, as they had 20 in Game 1 which Boston converted into 27 points. For comparison, the Celtics only had 15 turnovers.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled this Tuesday at TD Garden.