The Celtics are angry over what they believe was a miscalled foul involving Marcus Smart in the final seconds of Game 3, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. With Boston trailing by three points, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday hit Smart on the arm. Smart contended he was already in his shooting motion, but the officials ruled he was “sweeping his arms” and gave him two free throws instead of three.
“He caught the ball, he’s turning into a shot,” said Celtics coach Ime Udoka, who added that he looked at the replay before talking to the media. “Both feet set. You can’t say that’s a sweep. You’re going into a shot. That’s a poor call. Poor no-call.”
Smart also lobbied for three shots on the play, saying it made no sense for him to try a rip-through move considering the score and the time remaining.
“You need three [points] with 4.6 seconds, they know we need three,” Smart said. “We know they are gonna foul. It’s not like he got me when it was down low. I was already in my shooting motion. I thought it was gonna be three free throws; they said it wasn’t.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- Jayson Tatum wasn’t involved on the final play and didn’t make much of an impact in Game 3, observes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. To have a chance in the series, Boston will need more production from its leading scorer, who was 4-of-19 Saturday and missed all 10 shots he took with Wesley Matthews as his primary defender. “Today was just a one-off where I was thinking a little too much,” Tatum said. “Knowing they were going to give me a lot of attention, I passed up some open looks that I should’ve shot.”
- Tatum is still dealing with soreness in his left wrist that started when he fell on it two months ago, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. He appeared to aggravate it Saturday on a dunk in the second quarter. “That’s something I’ve been dealing with for probably like two months now,” Tatum said. “It wasn’t anything abnormal. When I fell on it, it bothered me. but nothing I haven’t been dealing with the last two months.”
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Grant Williams is increasing his chances for a rookie-scale extension with his performance in the playoffs, per Brian Robb of MassLive. The third-year power forward will become eligible this summer, and Robb believes he might get offered at least the $54M over four years that the Celtics gave Robert Williams.
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