CELTICS FINISH OFF SEASON SWEEP OF BUCKS AS RIVALRY RENEWED

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BOSTON -- For a third straight time this season, the Milwaukee Bucks found themselves in a competitive game with the Boston Celtics.

And, for a third straight time, it was the defending champions who made enough plays down the stretch, this time for a 111-105 victory in front of a raucous sellout crowd at TD Garden that completed a 3-0 sweep of the season series.

"We take that right now we're in the game with them, but we haven't beaten them and we do believe we have a big stretch that we're going to get better," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "We're going to get a lot better, and they will too a little bit, but we will a lot.

"So, yeah, we hope to play them again in the playoffs in the late rounds, and we'll see how it goes. But right now they're the champs, and until someone beats them, they're the champs."

It would have been easy to mistake this game for one in April or May. There was great intensity on the court and in the stands, and the officials allowed physicality throughout. Despite that, the teams combined for 15 turnovers, and the stars on both sides -- Jayson Tatum (34 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jaylen Brown (25 points) for Boston, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (30 points and 11 rebounds) and Damian Lillard (31 points) for Milwaukee -- all made massive contributions.

The Celtics didn't have Kristaps Porzingis (injury management ahead of a game Saturday here against the Memphis Grizzlies), and Derrick White (1-for-10, 0-for-8 from 3) and Payton Pritchard (scoreless in 24 minutes) had arguably their worst games of the season. Boston also didn't get a single second-chance point (11-0 in favor of Milwaukee).

But it still wasn't enough to tip the scale in the Bucks' favor.

"It wasn't a playoff game, but it was a special night," Tatum said. "This is my eighth year, and these nights where you're playing a team that's really good with some special players, and the crowd is really involved, and guys are making plays and feeding off the energy of your teammates and of the crowd and the fans, the amount of times that we've won games in moments like that.

"It's just another special night at TD Garden that I've been a part of."

If there was any doubt about the night's intensity, it was on display in the third quarter, when Al Horford's wife, Amelia, got up from her front-row seat and exhorted the crowd to cheer louder when Antetokounmpo was at the foul line.

"Yes, no question," Horford immediately said, when asked if it feels different to play the Bucks. "There are certain teams that it just does, and we've been since JT's rookie year, we went to seven against those guys.

"Year after year, both teams have had a lot of success in the East, and it is different, every time we play them, and that's just the reality."

During large portions of Friday's game, it looked as if the Bucks finally might have the upper hand. Boston struggled to get going offensively from deep, missing 15 consecutive 3-pointers from late in the first quarter to early in the third. And Antetokounmpo repeatedly battered his way to the rim, shedding defenders left and right, while Lillard -- despite not getting a few continuation calls he would've wanted -- still had success attacking Boston's defense.

And yet, with 90 seconds to go, Antetokounmpo found himself on the left wing and, when Horford backed off him, decided to step into his first 3-point try of the night. But he missed, and a quick Horford response at the other end gave Boston a four-point lead it never relinquished.

"Coming down, I saw Al Horford backing up," Antetokounmpo said. "I felt like I could make it. Shot it. Went well, in my opinion. S---, if I had the chance to shoot it again, I'd shoot it again. I've made it multiple times, so I'd shoot it again."

Perhaps that chance will come in the playoffs, the next time these teams could meet. The Bucks were 2-8 when they lost to the Celtics in Milwaukee a few weeks ago but have since clawed their way back to .500 by winning nine of the 11 intervening games.

Now, the question is how much more they can continue to improve between now and a potential rematch.

"I'm not going to talk about moral victories and everything, but they're a great team," said Bucks forward Khris Middleton, who came off the bench and had 11 points on 2-for-10 shooting in 23 minutes in his season debut. "We want to get back to where they were last year, and they're trying to get back to where they were last year, also. So it's just about putting our best foot before and trying to be the best team. I'm not worried about anything else, really."

- Tim Bontemps, ESPN

CELTICS HANDLE PACERS, TAKE 2-0 EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS LEAD

 BOSTON -- In each of the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Celtics comfortably won Game 1 before dropping Game 2 at home, first against the Miami Heat and then against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They flipped the script against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals.

After needing a minor miracle to escape with a Game 1 win at home, when a last-second 3-pointer by Jaylen Brown forced overtime, Brown again ensured this series would be different in Game 2 on Thursday night, finishing with 40 points to power Boston to a 126-110 victory and a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven affair.

Afterward, Brown, who learned Wednesday that he was edged out by Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton for an All-NBA selection, kept his focus on the main prize when asked about missing out on the honor.

"We're two games from the Finals," he said. "So, honestly, I don't have the time to give a f---."

The Celtics' 2-0 advantage feels more significant in the wake of not only their great escape in Game 1, but with Haliburton exiting Game 2 with a sore left hamstring -- the same hamstring he injured in a home game against the Celtics in January.

Two more victories by the Celtics in this series and they advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. They will have a chance to close the series in Indianapolis after holding home court through two games for the first time since the beginning of last year's first round against the Atlanta Hawks.

And they've done it largely thanks to the play of Brown, who led the charge for a Celtics offense that shot over 50%, went 15-for-37 from 3-point range and finished with a 54-34 edge in points in the paint.

Add in Indiana's 16 turnovers and it became a comfortable victory for Boston. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle played his bench players for most of the fourth quarter as the partisan fans at TD Garden were relieved.

"Just continue to lock in," said Jrue Holiday, who had 15 points and 10 assists with just one turnover in 37 minutes. "We know that these guys coming off the bench, second and third string, this is their chance to make anything happen. ... We know on the big stage anything can happen and guys can make plays, so we really wanted to set the tone and control the game toward the end of the game."

Before Haliburton's injury in the third quarter, it appeared a Celtics injury would be the most significant. Luke Kornet, who has served as Boston's primary backup center with Kristaps Porzingis sidelined, left in the first quarter with a left wrist sprain. That forced Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to go with small lineups whenever Al Horford was off the court.

For a brief stretch at the end of the first half and another in the fourth, those groups featured Jayson Tatum at center. Most of the time, however, it was reserve forward Oshae Brissett -- who had five appearances with five or fewer minutes through the first 11 games of the playoffs -- operating at center.

That lineup, in particular, helped open the game up in the third quarter, when the Celtics outscored the Pacers by six over the final five minutes after Brissett put together what became a plus-18 performance in 12 minutes.

"I'm happy to see that," Holiday said of Brissett, who spent the past three years with Indiana before signing with Boston in the offseason. "He stays ready. He hasn't seen many minutes this postseason, probably didn't play as much as he wanted to in the regular season, but that's part of sacrificing and staying ready."

Tatum added: "It was great. Just the energy he came in with at both ends, just find a way to impact the game. We see the 'stay ready' group guys work and show up for us every single day, so I love when they're able to get their number called and help us win the game."

As the series shifts to Indiana, the Celtics are hoping their success on the road -- the one trend that has carried through the first two rounds of the playoffs, with Boston 4-0 away from TD Garden -- will continue at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. If it does, the Celtics will get a full 10 days off before the start of the NBA Finals on June 6 in Boston and will likely spend several days watching the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks duke it out in the Western Conference finals.

If there's any team that knows not to take anything for granted in the playoffs, however, it is Boston, which has repeatedly played in one long series after another.

"The only thing we should be thinking about is, they were down 2-0 a series ago and brought it to Game 7," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said, referring to the Pacers' series against the Knicks. "They do a great job protecting their home court. They're undefeated at home. It's gonna take a lot more than confidence to get the job done.

"We have to focus on the details and the execution and the mindset, the things that go into playing against a team like this at home. I know they're gonna respond so it's up to us to do the same."

- Tim Bontemps, ESPN