The Bucks have to find a way to rack up more points by either freeing up space for Antetokounmpo or relying on others to drive to the rim. That seems fairly obvious. How they go about that is less so. But, if Brad Stevens and his staff find a way to limit Milwaukee’s offense again, that could take away whatever confidence the Bucks still have and push their chemistry to its limits — something the Celtics know plenty about.
The Bucks could try to make adjustments on the defensive end, as well.
George Hill didn’t exactly lock down Kyrie Irving in Game 1, so that’s one adjustment the Bucks could make. In fact, Milwaukee’s best approach might be to stick Khris Middleton or someone else on Irving, leave that matchup alone and make it a point to slow down the rest of the C’s. It’s a risky move, but the Bucks would probably have a tougher time shutting down Irving and forcing the rest of the Celtics to produce. Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford have each had standout performances in playoffs. Any pairing of those four could throw off the Bucks game plan, sending them into a tailspin.
Now, this is still the Milwaukee team that had the best defensive rating (104.9) in the regular season. They’re no slouches. But this clearly isn’t the same Celtics team we saw for 82 regular season games. If the Bucks can’t see that, they truly have no chance of winning this series.