Celts strike 3’s in win
Shots on pitch with Sox in house
By MARK MURPHY If there had to be one timeout this season when no one went to the huddle, this was it. The Celtics turned and applauded as Alex Cora, carrying the Commissioner’s Trophy, led a sizable line of Red Sox onto the Garden floor. As David Price, Chris Sale and Andrew Benintendi all hoisted the hardware over their heads, the Celtics continued to watch and clap. Coach Brad Stevens, who has been using the Red Sox as an example of excellence all season, simply let his players absorb the moment. With the Sox settled into a luxury suite for the rest of the night, the Celtics treated the World Series champs to a worthy performance with a 117-113 win over Milwaukee. The Bucks, who had been the NBA’s last undefeated team, lost for the first time this season after a 7-0 start. The Celtics, in a franchise record night from beyond the arc, buried 24 3-pointers on 43.6 percent shooting. Kyrie Irving hit six treys and finished with 28 points. A missed free throw by one of the Garden’s new villains — guard Eric Bledsoe under howling pressure from the crowd — left the Bucks trailing 113-112 with 12.8 seconds left. Irving hit twice from the line, and with four seconds left the Bucks curiously inbounded to Giannis Antetokounmpo at the rim, where he was fouled and only managed to hit the first of two free throws. With 3:25 left, Khris Mid- dleton sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a Jayson Tatum floater, cutting the Celtics lead to 113-107. The Bucks got an extra shot out of a possession started by Middleton’s desperation miss, and the forward finished off the possession with a drive that cut the C’s lead to 113-109. Gordon Hayward missed from downtown, and Malcolm Brogdon scored. The Celtics next came up empty on a three-shot possession kept alive by a pair of Irving rebounds, with Middleton throwing the ball away down the other end. But Tatum forked a turnover back over with a bad pass, and when he fouled Bledsoe, the guard could only hit the second of two free throws, leaving the Bucks within 113-112. The Celtics closed out the third quarter with a 93-78 lead and a franchise record 20 3-pointers. Irving, who hit five in a three-minute span between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second, was followed in total treys by four each from Al Horford and Marcus Morris. Overall the C’s were shooting 47.6 percent (20for-42) from downtown. The Bucks now had to fight back from a 15-point deficit. Milwaukee started off a little too well, with a quarteropening 12-0 run that cut the Celtics edge to 93-90. Tatum ended that with the team’s 21st 3-pointer of the night, and the Celtics attempted to shoot their way back out of the hole. Irving hit a 20-footer with 8:49 left, and after Antetokounmpo slashed for a threepoint play that cut the margin to 98-95, Irving buried a deep right side trey. Bledsoe missed, and the Celtics swung the ball, with Horford kicking out to Morris for the 23rd 3-pointer and a 104-95 lead with 7:36 left. Antetokounmpo scored twice in the paint, Tatum nullified part of the Bucks forward’s work with a baseline slash, and the next time down Hayward buried a 3-pointer for a 109-99 lead. The Bucks continued to threaten, with Middleton sandwiching a pair of 3’s around a Tatum floater, cutting the Celtics lead with 3:25 left to 113-107. The Celtics scored at a good clip for their 55-53 halftime lead, with Hayward, Irving and Horford all in low double figures. Irving closed out his 10point first half with back-toback 3’s in the last 1:25 of the second. Then he buried three more treys over the first 1:30 of the third quarter for a 64-56 lead. Tatum followed with a 3 — his first basket of the night — to complete the 12-3 run. Milwaukee cut the C’s lead back to 67-63, only to be hit hard again, this time with Horford kicking off a 7-0 run with a jumper from the key, and finishing it with his fourth 3-pointer of the night for a 74-61 lead. The Celtics were just getting warm from downtown, .