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BOSTON — Celtics coach Brad Stevens has a simple way of defending The Freak as Boston opens its first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at TD Garden.

“We’ll have to guard him with everybody on our team Jonathan Marchessault Jersey ,” Stevens said when talking about the challenge of handling Giannis Antetokounmpo. “I trust Al (Horford) to guard any position. He can really move his feet, he’s got great size and length, (and) his attention to detail is excellent.

“That said, it’s not on one person to guard Giannis. We have to throw a lot of different bodies at him.”

Simple enough, right?

The injury-riddled Celtics, the second seed facing a seven in the first round, split four games with the Bucks during the regular season. Antetokounmpo, who averaged 26.9 points, 10 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game overall, was even more potent against Boston.

Against the Celtics, a team known for its perimeter defense but not so much inside, which is where Antetokounmpo does most of his damage, he went for 33.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists.

On April 3, he had 29 points, 11 boards, six assists and two blocked shots as the Bucks defeated the Celtics in Milwaukee.

“Their floor is open in transition when (Giannis) is at the four, the five, when he used to play the three, when he’s played the one,” Stevens said. “He’s a monster in transition.

“When I look at their team, they don’t have a guy at each position that’s not a good transition player. (Tony) Snell makes shots in transition J.T. Miller Jersey , (Khris) Middleton makes shots in transition, (Jabari) Parker and Giannis coming downhill, (Eric) Bledsoe coming downhill.”

Bledsoe, rescued from the obscurity that is the Phoenix Suns, returns to the playoffs for the first time since 2013 (with the Los Angeles Clippers) and hopes his point guard play can lead the Bucks to their first playoff success since 2001.

“I’ve grown a lot,” Bledsoe told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “From coming off the bench to playing in Phoenix to now, I think I got a lot (more) mature in a lot of ways.

“Knowing how to run plays in the half court, knowing when to get my teammates involved and when to attack. Just a lot of things. Knowing when to be calm when teams go on a run.”

Bledsoe pleaded his way out of Phoenix in a deal that sent now-Celtic Greg Monroe and two protected draft picks to Phoenix. Milwaukee had to finish in the top six in the conference to protect this year’s pick but was blown out by Philadelphia on the final night of the season to fall to seventh. While it looked like the Suns would get the pick, the Bucks learned the pick is theirs because of a tiebreaker.

And Bledsoe is thriving.

“Bled’s huge for this team and we’ve been very consistent with that,” said Bucks interim coach Joe Prunty, who replaced the fired Jason Kidd during the season.

The Celtics, who lost Gordon Hayward in the first quarter of the first game of the season, have also lost Kyrie Irving and battling rookie Daniel Theis for the season. Defensive sparkplug Marcus Smart is out for this series after thumb surgery, but Stevens had the rest of his group ready to go (“all 11, yes”). He talked of an eight- or nine-man rotation but said fouls and injuries could change everything.

“It’s a battle. Nobody wants to go home. It’s straight-out war,” said Boston’s Terry Rozier, who has grown into a far more important role with Irving and Smart missing.

Game 2 of the series is in Boston on Tuesday night before shifting to Milwaukee. Both teams have won on the other’s court this season.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Cullen scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-3 preseason win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Zach Trotman, Garrett Wilson, Adam Johnson, Juuso Riikola and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh. Fourteen Penguins players recorded at least one point, led by Cullen and Zach Aston-Reese (three assists) who had three points each.

Matt Murray stopped 30 shots while playing the entire game in goal for the Penguins.

Oliver Bjorkstrand had all three goals for the Blue Jackets. Joonas Korpisalo started in goal and allowed four scores on 30 shots in two periods. Jean-Francois Berube played the third and yielded three goals on eight shots.

WILD 7, AVALANCHE 0

In St. Paul Youth Colin Miller Jersey , Minnesota, Charlie Coyle had three goals and Alex Stalock made 16 saves to lead the Wild’s rout of the Avalanche.

Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise each had a goal and an assist, and Matt Read, and Jason Zucker also scored for the Wild.

Thirteen members of the Wild finished with at least one point. Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Dumba, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon each had two assists.

Philipp Grubauer allowed all seven Minnesota goals on 33 shots.

ISLANDERS 5, RANGERS 2

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, Josh Bailey had a goal and two assists, and Anthony Beauvillier scored twice to lead the Islanders.

Anders Lee and Ryan Pulock also scored for the Islanders, who received a 21-save performance from Thomas Greiss.

Ryan Spooner and Cody McLeod scored for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev started in goal and made 10 saves on 13 shots, before being replaced by Dustin Tokarski, who allowed two goals on 11 shots.

The game was the first of the preseason for Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, and his first since Jan. 18. Shattenkirk was limited to 46 games in his first season in New York due to a torn left meniscus.

LIGHTNING 5, PREDATORS 2

In Tampa, Florida, Connor Ingram made 22 saves to lead the Lightning past Nashville.

J.T. Miller, Cedric Paquette, Dennis Yan, Carter Verhaeghe and Alexander Volkov each scored for Tampa Bay.

Ryan Ellis and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Nashville, and Juuse Saros stopped 18 shots.

RED WINGS 4, BRUINS 3 Authentic Jameis Winston Jersey , OT

In Detroit, Evgeny Svechnikov’s goal 1:42 into overtime pushed the Red Wings past Boston.

Filip Zadina, Dennis Cholowski, and Vili Saarijarvi scored for Detroit. Jimmy had 23 saves.

Zane McIntyre started in goal for Boston, and made 21 saves on 25 shots. Daniel Winnik, Cameron Hughes and Axel Anderson scored for the Bruins.

MAPLE LEAFS 3, SABRES 2

In Buffalo, New York, Calle Rosen’s tiebreaking goal at 10:32 of the third period allowed Toronto to slip past the Sabres.

Auston Matthews and Jeremy Bracco also scored for the Maple Leafs.

Frederik Andersen started for Toronto, and made 19 saves in the first two periods before being replaced by Calvin Pickard, who stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third.

Carter Hutton played the entire game in goal for Buffalo, and made 28 saves on 31 shots.

Kyle Okposo and Jeff Skinner scored for the Sabres.

PANTHERS 4, STARS 3, OT

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jacob MacDonald’s goal 2:30 into overtime allowed the Panthers to slip past the Stars.

Henrik Borgstrom, Alex Petrovic and Derek MacKenzie also scored for Florida. MacKenzie’s goal at 9:23 of the third period forced overtime.

James Reimer played the entire game in goal for the Panthers.

Denis Gurianov, Devin Shore and Gemel Smith scored second period goals for Dallas. Shore and Smith’s goals came on power plays.

Landon Bow and Colton Point split time in goal for Dallas.

COYOTES 6, DUCKS 1

In Glendale, Arizona, Lawson Crouse scored twice to key the Coyotes’ rout of Anaheim.

Crouse, Clayton Keller (two assists) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (two assists) led Arizona with two points each. Twelve Coyotes recorded at least one point in the win.

Derek Stepan Tyler Toffoli Jersey , Kevin Klima, Jordan Oesterle and Conor Garland also scored for Arizona.

Antti Raanta started in goal for the Coyotes and stopped all 27 shots he faced in the first two periods. Adin Hill made 13 saves on 14 shots in the third.

Ryan Miller played the entire game in goal for Anaheim, and allowed all six goals on 37 shots. Jakob Silfverberg scored the Ducks‘ lone goal.

CANADIENS 3, SENATOS 2

In Montreal, Tomas Tatar scored early in the third period to complete the Canadiens‘ comeback from two goals down.

Nikita Scherbak and Paul Byron also scored for Montreal. Carey Price made 15 saves on 17 shots.

Brady Tkachuk and Cody Ceci had goals for the Senators, who are winless in four preseason games. Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots.

Montreal scored two goals in 23 seconds to start the third period. Byron tied it at 2-2 with a seemingly harmless wrist shot at 1:18 and Tatar deflected a shot from the point at 1:41.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, SHARKS 4, SO

In San Jose, California, Erik Brannstrom’s goal in the sixth round of the shootout lifted defending Western Conference champion Vegas.

Trailing 4-2 at the start of the third period, Vegas forced overtime behind Oscar Lindberg’s second goal of the game, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s short-handed score.

Max Pacioretty also scored for the Golden Knights, and Maxime Lagace stopped 20 shots.

Brent Burns, Timo Meier, Barclay Goodrow and Logan Couture had goals for San Jose. Goodrow scored on a penalty shot at 6:33 of the second period after he was hooked by Brannstrom, and Couture’s short-handed goal with 58 seconds left in the period pushed the lead to 4-2.

Martin had 27 saves for the Sharks.

FLAMES 5, CANUCKS 2

In Calgary, Alberta, Austin Czarnik had three goals to lead the Flames.

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