NBA playoffs live updates: Bucks edge feisty Celtics to even series; Spurs start strong against Warriors

The Bucks tied their series with the Celtics. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

The first round of the NBA playoffs continues today with four pivotal Game 4s. Follow along here for the latest analysis and commentary from The Post’s NBA reporter Tim Bontemps, and ask him questions in the comments section. Catch up on yesterday’s games here.

Schedule and results | Pregame reading | Comments section Q&A

It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t easy. But, after blowing a 20-point lead, the Milwaukee Bucks managed to survive and tie up their best-of-seven series at two games apiece with a 104-102 victory over the Boston Celtics Sunday afternoon.

A tip-in by Giannis Antetokounmpo of a Malcolm Brogdon miss with 5.1 seconds left proved to be the difference in a game where the Bucks dominated for long stretches, only to nearly give it away in the final minutes with an indifferent second half.

“This win is amazing,” Antetkounmpo said in the TV interview afterward. “Even when they came back, we still moved the ball, we still executed, we stayed disciplined, and that was the difference in this game.”

It probably isn’t right to say it’s quite that simple, as the Bucks didn’t look all that disciplined as Boston roared back into the game thanks to 34 points from Jaylen Brown on 5-for-8 three-point shooting, and 21 points from Jayson Tatum — including a jumper with 52.4 seconds left that made it 100-99 in favor of Boston.

But after Antetokounmpo missed a layup, the Celtics had a chance to break out for a layup to take a three-point lead. But Brown was stripped by Khris Middleton, who had 23 points in his latest outstanding game for the Bucks, leading to a Brogdon three-pointer from the corner to retake the lead for Milwaukee.

A pair of free throws from Al Horford tied the game at 102, before Antetokounmpo’s tip-in gave Milwaukee the win. Marcus Morris had a chance to tie the game, but his jumper clanged off the rim, and the Bucks found themselves back in the series.

They are in large part because of Thon Maker’s impact off the bench. He had five blocks for the second straight game, and changed the tenor of the series with his introduction in Game 3.

“Unbelievable,” Antetokounmpo said. “He’s the reason this series changed. He’s playing hard, he’s making the right plays, he’s knocking down shots. He’s playing at a high level right now.”

This is why Giannis Antetokounmpo is arguably the game’s most unique player: 7-feet tall, has the ball on the perimeter, and just drives to the rim and hammers one on one of the league’s best interior defenders in Al Horford.

Plus, the mean mug at the end to boot!

I’ve written a few times during this Bucks series that the outcome will be decided by who plays better among the supporting players in the series behind Milwaukee’s Giannis Anteteokounmpo and Boston’s Al Horford.

Khris Middleton and Jaylen Brown have both been excellent in Game 4, but everyone else? Not so much. Eric Bledsoe, who was wretched in Games 1 and 2 before playing well in Game 3, has been awful again. Terry Rozier has forgotten how to play the past two games. Marcus Morris is 4-for-12.

This game could come down to a very unlikely matchup: Thon Maker vs. Jayson Tatum. Maker has made an impact off the bench for a second straight game, while Tatum has 16 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

The Boston Celtics needed someone to breathe some life into them after a lackluster first half.

Jaylen Brown has done just that.

A three-pointer from Brown — his fourth of the game — has him up to 27 points now early in the fourth quarter, and has the Celtics all the way back to within three after trailing by as many as 20 in the third quarter.

The Milwaukee Bucks have once again gotten nothing from Eric Bledsoe, who has two points and is 1-for-6, but the second half has been much more about Brown — and, to a lesser extent, rookie Jayson Tatum, who has 16 points.

The Milwaukee Bucks dominated the final 17 minutes of the first half with Tyler Zeller on the bench.

So what do the Bucks do? Start Zeller in the second half!

Perhaps it will work out anyway for Milwaukee — the Bucks have been far superior to the Boston Celtics in this game — but this is no the optimal way to play. Milwaukee should be starting Thon Maker at center, and then playing either he or Giannis Antetokounmpo at center for 48 minutes.

That allows for the Bucks to have as much spacing as possible on the court, which they desperately need, and deploys their best lineups for the duration of the game. It’s something they need to consider going forward.

It is rare that the “WIRED” segments during NBA games offer any real insights into what the coaches are thinking. Late in the second quarter, though, the clip of Boston Celtics Coach Brad Stevens talking to his team was instructive as to why the Milwaukee Bucks have built a big lead in the first half of Game 4.

“When we’re on offense the ball is sticking too much. We are ISO-ing too much,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said. “We outplayed them til the end of the first quarter, when we lost our minds.”

Starting in Game 3, the Milwaukee Bucks changed their defensive scheme to switch just about everything, and to pressure up on Boston’s perimeter players more. The result has been that the Celtics have short-circuited on offense (other than Jaylen Brown, who scored 15 first-half points), allowing Milwaukee to get out and run in transition and put multiple possessions together as the Bucks have built a 51-35 halftime lead.

After Boston struggled in Game 3, the Celtics are shooting 30 percent overall and 20 percent from three at halftime of Game 4. Some of this is that role players are struggling away from home — like Terry Rozier (1-for-7), Jayson Tatum (1-for-5) and Marcus Morris (2-for-8). But some of it, too, is Milwaukee forcing Boston’s players to do more than they’re comfortable.

That, as Stevens said, is causing them to lose their minds. As a result, Boston looks like it’s going to lose this game, and have this series go back to Boston tied up at two games apiece.

The Boston Celtics would’ve expected to win every stretch Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo spent on the bench in this series.

That’s why Boston getting outscored 14-5 in his time on the bench in the first half is such a problem for the Celtics. With so much firepower sidelined, Boston needs to out-execute the Bucks, and take advantage of their foibles — which will usually be intensified when Antetokounmpo is on the bench.

The opposite happened in Game 4, though — which is why the Celtics find themselves trailing by double-digits in the second quarter.

The Boston Celtics are considered to be the deeper team in their series with the Milwaukee Bucks — even without players like Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis.

But it is the Bucks’ bench that dominated the latter half of the first quarter, and led Milwaukee to a seven-point lead after one.

Jabari Parker followed up his impressive Game 3 with five quick points in Game 4, and has played better defensively than I’ve ever seen him. Thon Maker has done the same. Matthew Dellavedova stole an attempt by Boston to roll the ball up the court with a second to go in the first and flipped the ball in for a backbreaking bucket to end the first.

With two three-pointers to open the second quarter, it’s now a 25-5 run for the Bucks and a 13-point lead, and the Celtics quickly find themselves in trouble in Game 4.

The Milwaukee Bucks looked like a completely different team in Game 3 of their series with the Boston Celtics on Friday night. Part of that was because the series shifted back to Milwaukee, and role players generally play better at home (and worse on the road, as Boston experienced).

But part of it also was specific things that changed for the Bucks. Some were obvious, like Eric Bledsoe remembering he was a quality NBA player, and playing like it. But there also were more subtle adjustments. Milwaukee switched defensively for a majority of the game, negating much of Boston’s ball movement and forcing some of the team’s limited creators to muster offense on their own. They failed.

An injury to John Henson meant extended minutes for Thon Maker, who was lights out — much like he was last year in the playoffs as a rookie. With the ability to both space the floor (three three-pointers) and protect the rim (five blocked shots), he should continue to get big minutes in Game 4 to see whether he can repeat that performance.

And, finally, Milwaukee hoisted 33 three-pointers — a trend they’d be wise to continue again in Game 4, as well.

The formula for how to beat this Boston team is sitting there for the Bucks to take advantage of. They did in Game 3.

Sunday’s schedule and results: