NBA Playoffs 2019: Recap from Milwaukee Bucks dominant win over Boston Celtics to advance to Eastern Conference Finals

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The Milwaukee Bucks are the first team to punch their ticket to the Conference Finals.

They destroyed the Boston Celtics 116-91 in Game 5 behind another great team performance on both ends of the floor to close out the series 4-1.

Giannis Antetokounmpo did a little bit of everything with 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and two steals.

The Bucks supporting cast was great again, getting 49 points from their bench. Kyrie Irving was off the mark again, shooting 6-for-21 from the field for 15 points.

For takeaways from the Bucks' Game 5 win, we have you covered below.

Bucks supporting cast shines again

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe were all fantastic, but the Bucks' supporting cast was what put Milwaukee over the edge in this series.

That did not change in Game 5.

To start, Brook Lopez was off the mark all game. He was 0-for-7 from beyond the arc and didn't score, but the rest of the team was still so good that it didn't matter.

George Hill played out of his mind again. He scored 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field, knocking down three 3-pointers off the bench. Ersan Ilyasova was all over the floor, knocking down 3-pointers, grabbing offensive rebounds and taking charges, finishing with 10 points, six boards (two offensive), a steal and a block.

In his first game since the middle of March, Malcolm Brogdon chipped in 10 points, four assists and three rebounds in just 17 minutes of play and Pat Connaughton, who was great all series, scored seven points and grabbed a team-high-tying 11 rebounds.

Hill, Ilyasova and Connaughton made a difference in this series, keeping the same energy whenever the starters needed a rest. With Brogdon back, this team's depth is finally at full strength and now they'll get to sit back and await the winner of Raptors-76ers to see who their opponent will be in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Kyrie stays cold

Irving was terrific in Game 1 scoring 26 points on 57.1% shooting from the field. In Game 2, he had arguably the worst game of his career in scoring nine points shooting 4-for-18 from the field.

While you would think returning home would shake his cold shooting, that wasn't the case. He scored 29 points but shot 8-for-22 (36.4 percent) and after the game, he said we wouldn't see another 8-for-22-type performance from him again in this series.

Game 4 – 7-for-22.

Game 5 – 6-for-21.

He finished 33-for-104 (31.7%) from the field and 7-for-32 (21.9%) from 3-point land for the series and shot just 23 free throws, with 12 of those attempts coming in one game (Game 3).

The Celtics' supporting cast didn't exactly give him the most help he could get, but he wasn't helping his own cause either.

This frustrating Game 5 performance was on par for what was a frustrating season for Irving and the Celtics.

18 years in the making

Mike Budenholzer was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. Eric Bledsoe was 11-years-old. Khris Middleton was nine. Giannis Antetokounmpo was six.

10 days after winning their first postseason series in 18 years, the Bucks advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. 

Whereas a 25-year-old Ray Allen, 28-year-old Glenn Robinson and 31-year-old Sam Cassell led the second-seeded 2001 Bucks to take on MVP Allen Iverson and the No. 1-seeded Sixers, the 2019 Bucks hold the East's top seed and are led by 29-year-old Bledsoe, 27-year-old Middleton and a 24-year-old Antetokounmpo, a favourite to hoist this season's MVP trophy.

Milwaukee awaits the winner of Philadelphia and Toronto – two teams that it posted a combined record of 5-2 against in the 2018-19 regular season. 

Are the Bucks a team of destiny? While it's far too early to tell, their regular-season dominance coupled with their response to being blown out in Game 1 of this series certainly would suggest that more special things could be on the horizon for this group.

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