Boston wins season series over Milwaukee, Celtics win 111-105 vs Bucks

After a win over Detroit Pistons Wednesday, the Celtics continue their 4 game homestand tonight in a primetime matchup vs Milwaukee Bucks. This is the third and final game of the season series with the Bucks, as the Celtics go to the contest for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The Bucks have been playing good basketball since the Celtics last saw them on November 10th, going 9-2 since their last game.

The Bucks have former All-Star Khris Middleton making his season debut tonight after missing the first part of the season recovering from ankle surgery. For the Celtics, Kristaps Porzingis was ruled out tonight, but Jayson Tatum is back in the lineup after sitting out Wednesday’s game.

With today being Deuce Tatum’s birthday, it felt fitting that the Celtics started their scoring with an open three from Jayson Tatum. The Celtics offense cooked early, especially from Jaylen Brown, as the Bucks defense looked uncomplicated. Nothing described the situation better than Brown playing full defense on Damian Lillard, leading to a Milwaukee turnover.

Khris Middleton came off the bench for Milwaukee and hit his first shot, an and-1-three over Sam Hauser. Milwaukee found their groove on offense and tied the game with an 8-0 run, but never took the lead as the Celtics led 29-27 after the first quarter. Jaylen Brown was the leading scorer for Boston after playing the entire first quarter, scoring 12 points on 5-8 shooting, while Giannis and Lillard led the Bucks with 8 points.

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Neemis Queta was the first big man off the bench tonight and made his presence known early when he knocked in a Lillard layup attempt in the 4th. However, Lillard did not deny it, as he prepared the Celtics on defense from three and in the paint for 12 points in the second quarter. Sam Hauser became the Celtics’ source of offense after a Boston timeout when he hit a mid-range jumper and a driving layup.

The Celtics three ball went cold in the second quarter as they shot 0-12 from three in the quarter. This is the first time in 130 quarters of the regular season that the Celtics did not hit a three in a quarter.

The Bucks took advantage of Boston’s shooting problems and were able to take the lead. Boston realized the three-ball wasn’t working and began attacking the paint to generate points, but Milwaukee took a 57-53 lead into halftime.

Brown (18 points) and Tatum (16 points) combined for 34 points in the first half, but the rest of the team seemed to struggle. Lillard’s big quarter saw him lead the Bucks in scoring with 20 points as Giannis chipped in with 14 of his own. Bobby Portis had a strange stat line in the first half as he grabbed 13 rebounds but shot 2-12 from the field. Payton Pritchard would also have a surprising stat line as he scored 0 points on 0-3 shooting, which makes you wonder if Doc Rivers really made it a priority to stop him. The Bucks and Celtics both finished with 7 threes in the first half, however Boston shot 7-28 (25%) while Milwaukee shot 7-13 (53.8%).

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The second half started with fireworks between Jaylen Brown and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Brown made a hard shot over Giannis, gave him too little, and Giannis threw his elbow at Brown in response. Brown didn’t like it when he started talking, resulting in a technical foul.

The intensity of the game began to rise as a result, as the TD Garden crowd began booing Giannis every time he touched the ball. Although Al Horford snapped the Celtics’ three-game losing streak, Boston continued to struggle from behind the arc, but was able to go on a 9-2 run.

Both teams continued to trade the lead throughout the third quarter as neither team was able to gain an advantage. A disagreement over a bad call sent Joe Mazzulla into a rage as both teams crowed around the refs as emotions ran high.

Giannis killed the Celtics in the paint as he scored 11 points in the quarters and the Bucks took an 82-78 lead into the fourth quarter. The stars were out tonight as Brown, Tatum, Giannis and Lillard all had over 20 points through three quarters.

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Jayson Tatum checked in in the fourth quarter and immediately scored 7 straight points in the first minute, hitting two threes including a challenged and-1 over Brook Lopez.

Sam Hauser continued his impressive performance against his hometown team as he drained his 4th three of the night and finished with 16 points off the bench for Boston.

Giannis checked in with about 7 minutes left and made his presence known when he attacked Hauser under the basket on back to back possessions to give the Bucks a 4 point lead with 5:41 left.

With under 5 minutes left, Tatum continued to put on a show when, on back-to-back plays, he found Jrue Holiday coming off a double team and then took a Lillard missed three coast to coast for a layup.

After Giannis missed a three, Al Horford would catch the ball at the three point line in transition, get up and drain a three to give the Celtics a 4 point lead with 1:28 left in the game.

Giannis made 1-2 free throws on the next possession, and after trading threes, Jrue Holiday hit the dagger with a floater as the shot clock expired with 25 seconds left. After some free throws and a Derrick White steal that led to a Horford basket, the Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 111-105 to complete the season.

Jayson Tatum took over the game in the 4th quarter and finished with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists on 12-20 shooting from the field and 4-10 from three. Jaylen Brown dropped 25 points and Jrue Holiday got his revenge on Milwaukee with 20 points including the dagger.

The Celtics’ next game is Saturday, December 7 against the Memphis Grizzlies at 8 p.m., as Boston welcomes old friend Marcus Smart back to TD Garden.