Brown scores 30 as Celtics even the series with Bucks
Jaylen Brown scored 25 of his 30 points in the first half, and the Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks 109-86 on Tuesday night to even their second-round playoff at one game apiece.
Brown went 9 for 10 in the first half, including 5 for 5 from the 3-point line. Jayson Tatum added 19 points and eight assists. Al Horford had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The series doesn't resume until Game 3 on Saturday in Milwaukee.
Boston finished 20 of 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 tripledouble in the series opener, limiting him to 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 Celtics 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 Celtics scoring drought, trimmed Boston's lead to 72-56 late in the third quarter.
But Boston outscored the Bucks 11-10 the rest of the period to take an 83-66 advantage into the fourth.
The Celtics continued to share and kept Milwaukee's defense in chase mode, eventually taking a 65-40 edge into the half.
HEAT'S HERRO IS SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR >>
Tyler Herro was told before the season began that he wouldn't be in the Miami Heat starting lineup. To his credit, he saw that as an opportunity.
“I said, `Let's go for Sixth Man of the Year,'” Herro said.
And that's what he got. Herro was announced Tuesday 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, plus had a huge role in Miami securing the No. 1 seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“It means a lot,” Herro said. “I accepted the sixthman role for a reason. I wanted to be the best sixth man in the league.”
By overwhelming consent of the 100 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league and vote on season-ending awards, that's what Herro was. He received 96 first-place votes and 488 total points, well ahead of runner-up Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cameron Johnson of the Phoenix Suns was third.
Love got three first-place votes and 214 points in the system where players received five points for a firstplace nod, three for second.