Paul Pierce’s Boston Celtics homerism seemed to shine through on Sunday.
The former Celtics legend said on ABC/ESPN after the Celtics beat up the Milwaukee Bucks on the road in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals series 112-90 that the series was over.
“Giannis (Antetokounmpo) definitely has to play better. As a team, I don’t know where Milwaukee goes from here,” Pierce said.
Host Michelle Beadle asked whether that meant he thought the series was over.
“I think it’s over. I think styles make fights in boxing, and matchups … when I watched this today … if Giannis doesn’t have a monster game and somebody else besides him does not step up, Boston’s going to out-talent them,” Pierce said.
While that may be oversimplifying things, the Bucks can look at the shooting percentages for comfort.
Milwaukee shot just 34.8 percent from the field, while Boston shot 54 percent. Boston may have the upper hand in the series at the moment, but don’t expect the shooting percentages to continue to have that kind of a disparity.
