MILWAUKEE – This is where Al Horford’s load management program starts to pay off. After missing the occasional regular season game, and having his minutes restricted to ease the tendinitis in his knees, Horford is at his most energetic of the year.

The Celtics center’s two-way play – from his 20-point, 11-rebound double-double and primary coverage on Giannis Antetokounmpo to playing 32 minutes – was pivotal in Sunday’s 112-90 Game 1 win over Milwaukee. He’s averaged 34 minutes over five playoff games, including a taxing stretch of 37 minutes in Game 2 and 36 in Game 3 of the Indiana series.

“We’ve said all year you can’t overstate Al Horford’s importance to our team,” said Brad Stevens. “The numbers back that up. It’s his ability to stretch the floor against size and post smalls. And also on the other end be very versatile defensively. We tried to guard Giannis as hard as we could. We’re going to have to see what we can do better, but Al is obviously a huge part of our team. I’m thankful for the long, long, long, long periods of time in between timeouts in the fourth quarter.” Related Articles Celtics hammer Bucks in Game 1

Celtics crowd out Giannis, Bucks in Game 1

Horford naturally was as well.

“I think it was very helpful for me just because I wanted to be at my best when it got to this point of the season, and our medical staff and our coaches (were) conscious of that,” he said. “Understood that we needed to make some sacrifices during the season and I felt like they managed it perfectly and now we’re in a good position. We’re in the place that we want to be and just trying to make the most of it.”

Crowded house

Antetokounmpo’s struggles weren’t all that plagued the Bucks. Starters Brook Lopez, Eric Bledsoe and Sterling Brown each hit one shot on the way to shooting a collective 3-for-17. Khris Middleton, 5-for-12, believes it’s on the Bucks shooters to do a better job supporting their main option.

“Giannis has been seeing crowds all year long,” said Middleton. “He’s got to make the best reads and still want to be aggressive, but if Boston is going to do what they did tonight we have to make shots from the perimeter and just make the game easier on him and on ourselves.”

New look

Mike Budenholzer has coached against Kyrie Irving in the playoffs twice before, as head coach in Atlanta. Now with the Bucks, he admits the task has changed, with Irving out from under LeBron James’ ball dominance for the first time in the playoffs.

“Him being the focal point, the ball in his hands, the guy who is going to initiate a lot of their actions,” said Budenholzer. “Just a ton of emphasis on the details of where you’re guarding him, where you’re picking him up, how you’re guarding him, the places he likes to get to, the shots he likes to get to, but still a lot of time on their bigs.

“Their bigs are great in pick-and-pops, their wings are great playing one-on-one and facilitating,” he said. “But certainly he’s the focal point, and the time and energy we put into him is significant. It was in the past too, but certainly when he’s clearly that No. 1 guy who initiates so many things for them and not just for himself – his passing is pretty special for their pop bigs. It’s different.”

Irving responded Sunday with a near-triple double of 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. His pick-and-pop collaboration with Horford continues to thrive.

“It’s very vital for our offense. It brings continuity,” he said. “It brings spacing. Especially when we’re in the right spots and staying disciplined in our half-court offense and we have either matchups we want to go at, or Al knows when I’m going to be getting downhill and we communicate throughout the game about how we want our pick-and-roll offense to be, how we can be more efficient so I don’t miss him on easy shots or easy opportunities that he can make for others. So it’s vital for our offense and I think we do a great job of communicating throughout the whole entire game because we understand that they’re going to adjust as well. So it’s just playing the game the right way. Me and him, in the pick and roll, we’re very efficient, so, I’m just trying to make the right read.”

Baynes okay

Though Aron Baynes rolled his left ankle and left the game in the third quarter, he was available to return to the game after a visit to the trainer’s room.

“He’s rolled it a few times in the last month so we’ll see how it feels,” said Stevens.

Smart stuff

Marcus Smart went through his usual pregame routine of shooting yesterday, after some strengthening rehab work on what Stevens described as his “core” – a tender area, the Celtics guard’s oblique tear considered.

Sunday was also the three-week anniversary of the injury, with the original timeline of a four-to-six-week return unchanged. Game 4 on May 6 falls a day after the four-week checkpoint, and is still considered an ambitious date for a Smart return, according to Stevens.

“He’s in there doing some core work. That’s my update for the day,” said the Celtics coach. “I really don’t have any update, because I haven’t asked what his timeline was, they just keep telling me he’s improving and I haven’t gotten anybody to come up and say hey, he might play in Game 3. I don’t see any way that he’s available until whenever his timeline hits that we thought initially – four-to-six. And I said at the start, the four seems awfully aggressive.”