Boston Celtics Just Choked Away Best Chance to Beat Milwaukee Bucks

A 14-point lead and near-total control of the entire game devolved into a hapless fourth quarter and 110-107 loss to the Bucks.The odds overwhelmingly favored the Celtics to win even inside two minutes of play. The Bucks converted those into a total of nine second-chance points after mustering just 11 through the first three frames.Aspects of Milwaukee's fourth-quarter revival were beyond Boston's control. But getting outscored 18-0 from behind the arc in a single quarter is a pretty damn good way to blow a double-digit lead.Then, of course, we have the rampant self-sabotage in the waning seconds of Game 5—the moments that will compel many to make Marcus Smart the face of this monumental collapse.He broke script from the after timeout play drawn up by head coach Ime Udoka (as confirmed by Jayson Tatum):Looks like Smart was supposed to pop to the top & then hit Tatum off the pin-down from Horford, but Connaughton was top-blocking. He did not let Portis grab a critical offensive rebound off a Giannis missed free throw, though he did tip it.Smart also cannot be blamed for Holiday's defensive transcendence or for Connaughton party-crashing the ATO that ended in a Holiday block. Boston has yet to do it in this series.And if the Celtics' comeback-that-never-should've-been-needed falls short, or if it never gets off the ground, they will look to this game, this fourth quarter, as the moment that cost them their season—and what once looked like a genuine crack at an NBA title.