Bucks and Celtics swap awful fouls in last second in rare finish
The ability to stay calm and collected in big moments is considered one of the greatest virtues an NBA athlete can possess. Members of the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics will wonder exactly what caused them to lose their composure in the final second of Tuesday night’s game at the GMO Harris Bradley Center.
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Trailing 93-74 after a dominant third quarter for the Bucks, the Celtics steadily erased that deficit to tie it at 109-109 with 23 seconds left in regulation. Milwaukee countered with a Greg Monroe bucket with exactly one second on the clock, leaving Boston with an unlikely attempt at winning or forcing overtime on the final possession.
They attempted to get the ball to Kelly Olynyk at the rim, but the pass appeared a bit high at first glance. Fortunately for the Celtics, Jerryd Bayless decided to push Olynyk to send him to the line for two shots:
The 71.6-percent shooter made both to tie it. The foul meant that no time went off the clock, so the Bucks were left with a similar scenario to avoid overtime out of their own timeout. The inbound pass went to Khris Middleton with his back turned to the basket, but Avery Bradley committed an equally foolish foul to put him on the line with 0.6 seconds remaining:
Middleton made the first for his 20th point and intentionally missed the second. Jae Crowder grabbed the rebound and got a 75-foot heave off in time, but it did not come close to cinch the 112-111 win for the Bucks. Monroe led the way with 29 points in his first game as a reserve this season.
Bradley tried to explain himself after the game. From Rich Rovito for the Associated Press:
”I’m just trying to make a good defensive play, trying to be aggressive,” Bradley said. ”The ref made a great call.”
Bradley is one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, so it’s fair to call his foul an outlying mistake rather than a sign of weakness. Regardless, this is an absolutely terrible way for any team to lose.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
