Brown scores 30, Celtics beat Bucks 109-86 to even series

BOSTON ( AP) — 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 secondround playoff at one game apiece.

Brown shook off a dismal shooting night in Game 1, going 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 triple-double 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.

Milwaukee kept nibbling away and got it down it to 94-82 on a pair of free throws by Antetokounmpo, followed by a 3 by Tatum.

The lead was back up to 101- 86 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 looking 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 quick time-out 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 the 3-point line, 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, eventually taking a 65-40 edge into the half.