Giannis Antetokounmpo had 39 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Bucks to a 113-101 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series on Monday night (Tuesday, PHL time) and move Milwaukee within one win from its first trip to the Eastern Conference finals since 2001.
The Bucks have won three straight since losing the opener of the best-of-seven series at home. They can eliminate the Celtics in Game 5 at home on Wednesday night (Thursday, PHL time) and reach the East finals for the first time since the '01 team of Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson fell to Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Dikembe Motumbo in seven games.
One game after Antetokounmpo was two assists shy of a triple-double, he scored 17 points with seven rebounds in the fourth quarter to help the Bucks pull away. Reserves George Hill, who scored 15 points, and Pat Connaughton, who had nine points and 10 rebounds, again led the Bucks bench, which outscored Boston's 32-7.
In what might be his last home game for the Celtics, Kyrie Irving scored 23 points with 10 assists. But he was 7-for-22 from the floor, including 1-for-7 from three-point range; after leading all scorers with 26 points in Boston's Game 1 blowout, he has made 19-of-62 shots and just 4-of-20 from three-point range.
Irving, who can become a free agent this summer, left the court to a lone fan shouting at him, "Don't leave!"
Boston led by as many as 11 points before Connaughton made a long three at the first-quarter buzzer to make it 30-22. With about five minutes left in the second, the Bucks scored eight straight points to tie it.
Boston led 67-65 before Milwaukee scored 13 of the next 14 points — seven of them by Hill — to open a double-digit lead. The Bucks made it 12 points early in the fourth.
