Streak remains intact after late escape act
Miss at buzzer secures eighth straight victory
Almost three months to the day from their first meeting, the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics finally played one another again on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum, a 121-119 Bucks victory.
The Bucks’ season-opening trip to TD Garden on Dec. 23 felt like an age ago in most ways as the teams came into the game on divergent paths, yet the Celtics nearly duplicated the result.
Back in December, the city of Boston was stark against the harbor. The Garden, empty. The Bucks were new, a reconstructed roster playing for the first time. They trailed by 17 late. And in the closing moments Giannis Antetokounmpo switched onto Jayson Tatum and Tatum banked in a three with one second left to put the Celtics up 122-120. Antetokounmpo then missed the second of two free throws with no time left, and the Bucks lost by a point.
Ninety-one days later cheers echoed in the arena; people meandered outside it in the sun. On the court, the Bucks switched more often on defense and looked more connected on both ends. And, the Bucks have been the hottest team in basketball while
the Celtics are trying to keep their heads above water in the standings and out of controversy.
What a difference 91 days can make. Yet Boston (21-23) managed to turn the clock back, nearly coming back from 25 points down before Daniel Theis missed an open three-point attempt that would have won the game. The Bucks (29-14) held on thanks to blocks by Donte DiVincenzo and Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton poking a ball out of bounds in the final 34 seconds.
It marked the Bucks’ eighth straight victory and 13th win in their last 14 tries. The Celtics have lost five of six.
The teams will face each other again Friday night.
The Celtics trailed, 90-65, about halfway through the third quarter but used a 16-3 run to start the fourth quarter down 100-86. They slowly reeled in the Bucks from there, first with a little 6-2 run to make it 105-94 and then with a 13-6 move to make it 115-107.
DiVincenzo hit a three to put the Bucks up, 118-107, with 4:05 to go, but in the following 21⁄2 minutes Jrue Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Middleton turned the ball over and it led to six Celtics points and spurred a 12-3 run to set up the final, harried 34 seconds.
Theis did get an open look and Lopez closed hard, late, and the ball rattled off the rim.
Antetokounmpo returned after missing one game with a left knee sprain, though he didn’t quiet look himself with a 4 for 11 shooting night. He finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Holiday looked to have knocked knees late in the game and he went 6 for 16 to score 13 points.
Middleton led the Bucks with 27 points and 13 rebounds.
Forward P.J. Tucker (ankle) was also able to play for the Bucks, although Bryn Forbes (toe) did not. That left the team down a three-point shooter and a guard, a position they were already thin at with the trade of D.J. Augustin. So, rookie Sam Merrill played a bit and Pat Connaughton filled in also in the backcourt.
Merill played nine minutes and scored three points while Connaughton scored five. Bobby Portis scored 21 off the bench.
The Bucks kept the Celtics’ all-star duo of Jaylen Brown and Tatum from finding a rhythm offensively through most of the game. Brown scored 24 while Tatum added 18. Kemba Walker, who did not play in the opener, scored 23 points.
Milwaukee took a 79-59 lead quickly after halftime with a 9-0 run and then pushed it to 90-65 after consecutive threes by DiVincenzo with 6 minutes 28 seconds left in the third. But, Boston didn’t roll over and went on a 16-3 run to cut it to 93-81 with 2:12 left. But, the Bucks rallied with seven late points to go into the fourth up 100-86.
The Bucks carried their hot shooting over from Monday night’s route of Indiana with a 70-point first half, taking an 11-point lead into the break.
The Bucks didn’t move the ball as much as they did against the Pacers with just eight of their 26 baskets being assisted but they shot 50% from the field and 52.6% from the three-point line. They also scored nine points off seven Celtics turnovers.
Milwaukee went on a 20-9 run in the second quarter which pushed a 48-44 lead to 68-53. Middleton got hot in that stretch, scoring 10 straight points.
Middleton and Portis led the Bucks with 15 points apiece in the first half while Brown had 14 for the Celtics. Antetokounmpo had four points on 1-of-5 shooting.
Milwaukee trailed just once in the first quarter, after a Theis three-pointer put Boston up 12-11.
A quick 6-0 run by the Bucks flipped the scoreboard and finished strong thanks to a Thanasis Antetokounmpo offensive rebound of a Giannis Antetokounmpo missed free throw, which led to the MVP feeding his older brother for a dunk to give the Bucks a 35-30 lead at the conclusion of the period.
With the trade deadline less than 24 hours away, the Bucks took the court with a full roster unlike the week prior when three players were pulled off the court during warmups because of the trade that brought Tucker to the team. The Celtics also played under the specter of the deadline, as they have been connected to several players.
The deadline is 2 p.m. Thursday. “As a team you just focus on games and practices,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game.
“I think our players are in a good place, our team is in a good place. (General manager) Jon (Horst) is great in just sharing things with me when appropriate. Those guys, they’re always trying to find way to make the team better no matter where it is. We feel great about what we were able to do, I guess it was about a week ago now, but there’s always, hopefully ways to continue to get better and improve. But we feel really good about our team and about what Jon and his group has done.”