Brown, Tatum lead way as Celtics tie series with Bucks
Jaylen Brown scored 25 of his 30 points in the first half and the Celtics beat Milwaukee 109-86 in Boston on Tuesday night to even their second-round playoff series at one game apiece.
Brown shook off a dismal shooting afternoon in Game 1, going 9-for-10 in the first half, including 5-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc. Jayson Tatum added 29 points and eight assists. Al Horford had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The series resumes with Game 3 on Saturday in Milwaukee.
Boston finished 20-for-43 from beyond the arc. The Celtics played without point guard Marcus Smart after he was ruled out before the game with a bruised right thigh he sustained in Game 1. Derrick White took his place in the starting lineup, making his first start in a playoff game since 2019 when he was with San Antonio.
The Celtics clamped down on Giannis Antetokounmpo after his triple-double in the series opener, though he had 28 points — mostly in the third quarter — nine rebounds and seven assists. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and seven assists. Bobby Portis chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Bucks cut into what had been a 26-point Boston lead in the third quarter. Antetokounmpo keyed the charge with 18 points in the period. A 10-0 Milwaukee run, aided by a more than five-minute Boston scoring drought, trimmed the Celtics’ lead to 72-56 late in the third quarter.
Boston outscored the Bucks 11-10 the rest of the period to take an 83-66 advantage into the fourth.
Milwaukee kept nibbling and got it down it to 94-82 on twofree throws by Antetokounmpo, followed by a 3 by Tatum.
The lead was back up to 10186 when Antetokounmpo was stripped underneath the basket, leading to another 3 from Tatum.
Holiday missed a 3 on the other end and Grant Williams dropped his own on the ensuing fast break to make it 107-86 with 1:52 left.
With Smart watching in street clothes from the bench, the Celtics scored the game’s first seven points on their way to taking an 18-3 lead and forcing a timeout by the Bucks.
Boston scored from a variety of different spots on the court during the run, attacking both at the rim and inside the paint. It also included 12 points from beyond the arc, where the Celtics struggled for most of Game 1.
Antetokounmpo missed his first six shots of the night before finally getting on the scoreboard via a dunk with less than a minute left in the opening period.
It didn’t stop Boston from banking a 32-21 lead heading into the second quarter, boosted by 17 points from Brown — a career playoff high for a quarter.
The Celtics continued to share and kept Milwaukee’s defense in chase mode, taking a 65-40 edge into the half.
Herro honored: Miami guard Tyler Herro was announced as the NBA’s top sixth man this season, the first player to win the award as a member of the Heat. He averaged 20.7 points, nearly four more per game than any other reserve in the league, and had a huge role in Miami securing the No. 1 seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs.