The fourth quarter was winding down and the Celtics were in firm control of the Bucks. But not in Stan Van Gundy's mind.
The longtime head coach and TNT analyst kept casting doubt on the Celtics' dominance during the waning moments of their wire-to-wire 109-86 victory over the Bucks Tuesday at TD Garden. The Celtics led by 11 points at the end of the first quarter and never came close to trailing. Yet, Van Gundy was predicting doom.
"They've got to get their offense going. It has really slowed down, it's stagnated, it's been one pass and a shot," Van Gundy said about the Celtics with roughly 4:30 left in the fourth. "The pressure is bothering them."
Right on cue, Jayson Tatum knocked down a corner three, expanding the Celtics' lead back to 15, and proving they can handle the pressure just fine. But that didn't curtail Van Gundy's negativity. He continued on the next Milwaukee possession.
"Boston is having to rely on knocking down threes, and they've been pretty cold in this half — 5-for-19," he said. "I don't know how sustainable that is."
Once again, the Celtics delivered their on-court rebuttal to Van Gundy when Jaylen Brown grabbed an offensive board and put back an easy two. The basket once again brought Boston's lead to 15, effectively sealing the game with 3:24 remaining. It was a similar scene to Boston's Game 4 win over the Nets, when Van Gundy weirdly kept chastising the Celtics for running out the clock.
That's not to say Van Gundy didn't articulate some good points. The Celtics did become a little more stagnant in the second half, probably due to the fact they were up by double digits for most of the contest. Van Gundy also accurately called out the favoritism shown towards Giannis Antetokounmpo, and rightfully praised Grant Williams for his terrific performance off the bench.
At one point, Van Gundy said Williams was the game's MVP, which might have been a little much, but it was still nice to hear.
But for most of the fourth, Van Gundy kept pressing the idea that Milwaukee was on the cusp of a comeback — or at least setting the groundwork for a win in Game 3.
"Milwaukee just getting easier shots is the one thing that would concern me going forward," he said with about 7:30 left. "Boston relying almost solely on threes — 46-20 in the paint right now in favor of Milwaukee. I think over the course of the series, Boston is going to have to find some way to score in the paint and attack the basket to win this series."
Right after that, Williams went to the line. They kept proving Van Gundy wrong in real time.
May that continue for the rest of the series.
