Post Game - Celtics vs. Bucks - Wednesday, November 22 (W)

Celtics-Bucks takeaways: C's hold off late surge to win Thanksgiving Eve thriller

https://sports.yahoo.com/celtics-bucks-takeaways-cs-hold-032738839.html

Justin Leger
Wed, Nov 22, 2023, 10:49 PM EST·4 min read



Celtics-Bucks takeaways: C's hold off late surge to win Thanksgiving Eve thriller originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Three Key Storylines

No answer for explosive Celtics
C's (mostly) keep Bucks' stars in check
Big night for the bench

The Boston Celtics feasted on the Milwaukee Bucks in their much-anticipated Thanksgiving Eve showdown.

It was a playoff-like atmosphere at TD Garden on Wednesday night as the C's took on arguably their toughest competition in the Eastern Conference. Adding to the intrigue was Celtics guard Jrue Holiday facing his former team for the first time since they traded him in the blockbuster deal for Damian Lillard in September.

The Celtics got the Garden buzzing with a 10-0 run to open the game and stayed hot throughout the first half, leading by as many as 21 points. Milwaukee fought back and cut the deficit to three points late in the fourth quarter but it was too little, too late. Boston held on for the wire-to-wire victory, 119-116.

Jaylen Brown starred with a team-high 26 points in the victory. Jayson Tatum battled through an illness and finished with 23 points. Seven Celtics players scored in double figures.

Brook Lopez and Lillard led the Bucks with 28 and 27 points, respectively.

With the win, the C's snapped Milwaukee's five-game win streak and maintained the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings with a 12-3 record.

Next, the Celtics will visit the Orlando Magic on Friday for their third In-Season Tournament Game. Before we turn the page to that matchup, here are our takeaways from Wednesday's triumph.

Bucks have no answer for C's defensively

It didn't take long for the Celtics' stacked offense to expose the Bucks' lackluster defense. Jaylen Brown set the tone with an emphatic dunk on the opening possession and scored eight of the C's 10 points on their 10-0 run to open the game.

Milwaukee had no answer for Brown, Tatum, or any other Celtic for that matter. Boston erupted for 67 points in the first half while shooting 12-of-23 from 3-point range.

The C's had seven players with double-digit points and shot 52.4 percent from the floor (40.5 percent from 3) as a team. Their offensive outburst was highlighted by several highlight-reel plays including Kristaps Porzingis' posterization of Brook Lopez, Brown's windmill dunk, and Tatum's clutch plays down the stretch.

The Bucks battled in the fourth quarter, but they ultimately were unable to get stops when it mattered most. Boston got its way whenever it needed a bucket, and that was the difference.

C's (mostly) keep Milwaukee's stars in check

The Bucks bolstered their offense before the season by adding Lillard to the mix, but their star tandem of Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo was virtually non-existent throughout the first half.

Boston limited Lillard and Antetokounmpo to a combined 3-of-16 shooting in the first quarter, resulting in Milwaukee's lowest scoring output in a single quarter (17 points) so far this season. The duo shot 7-of-24 from the floor through the first two frames.

Antetokounmpo, primarily guarded by former teammate Jrue Holiday, wasn't much of a factor in the second half either. The Greek Freak finished 7-of-20 from the floor and missed all three of his 3-point attempts, finishing with 21 points.

Lillard didn't make much of an impact until the fourth quarter, when he awoke from his slumber and fueled Milwaukee's comeback bid with 11 points. He ended up with a solid stat line (27 points, 11-24 FG, five assists) but Boston's stellar defense on him for the first three quarters -- primarily by Derrick White -- prevented him from taking control and propelling the Bucks to victory.

Second unit shines

It's safe to say the Celtics' bench has bounced back from its early-season slump.

That especially goes for Payton Pritchard, who followed up his 21-point performance in Charlotte with another impressive outing against Milwaukee. The 25-year-old guard brought great energy and notched 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in his 21 minutes.

Sam Hauser had a rare off night (1-for-9) vs. the Hornets but resumed his red-hot shooting in this one. He also tallied 10 points, hitting four of his five shots (2-3 3-PT) in 20 minutes.

Veteran big man Al Horford had an outstanding all-around game, notching 11 points (4-7 FG, 2-3 3-PT) while bringing down eight boards, dishing six assists, and adding a block.

Pritchard, Hauser, and Horford (25 points) outscored the Bucks' top three of Antetekounmpo, Lillard and Khris Middleton (19 points) in the first half. Their contributions were the key to what turned out to be a narrow victory over their Eastern Conference rival.

From another perspective:


Celtics beat Bucks in early showdown of top Eastern Conference teams

https://www.fox6now.com/sports/bucks-celtics-game-112223

By Ken PowtakPublished November 22, 2023 9:21PMMilwaukee BucksAssociated Press



BOSTON - Jayson Tatum shook off an illness to have 23 points and 11 rebounds, carrying the Boston Celtics over the Milwaukee Bucks 119-116 on Wednesday night in an early showdown of top Eastern Conference teams.

Jaylen Brown had 26 points and eight assists for Boston, which improved the NBA's best record to 12-3. Kristaps Porzingis added 21 points and Derrick White scored 13.

The Celtics opened a 21-point lead in the first half and never trailed. They held that double-digit edge until the Bucks made a late charge in the final two minutes, slicing it to 114-111 before Tatum hit three free throws in the closing 21.2 seconds.

Brook Lopez led Milwaukee (10-5) with 28 points. Damian Lillard had 27 points, five rebounds and five assists, but Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited to 21 points after scoring at least 40 in his last two games.

The Bucks, who scored 130 points or more in their last three games, had a five-game winning streak halted.

Tatum started despite being listed as questionable after scoring a season-high 45 points in an overtime loss at Charlotte in the last game.

The Celtics led 67-53 at halftime after shooting a sizzling 58.1%, including 12 of 23 from 3-point range.

They broke in front 10-0 and pushed it to 21-8 before opening a 54-33 edge on Brown’s three-point play midway through the second quarter.

Antetokounmpo was pulled by first-year coach Adrian Griffin after a dibbling violation. The two appeared to have words while the star was leaning against the scorer’s table facing the court, where he remained before checking back in on the next stoppage of play.

The teams made some of the biggest additions during the offseason, looking for supremacy in the East.

In late June, the Celtics acquired Porzingis in a blockbuster three-team deal that sent one of its longtime floor leaders, Marcus Smart, to Memphis.

The Bucks later added Lillard on Sept. 27, months after he requested a trade out of Portland. Milwaukee traded Jrue Holiday in that deal, and the Celtics acquired him from the Trail Blazers four days later.

Those players got involved right away, too, when Holiday picked up Lillard defensively on Milwaukee’s first possession and Porzingis challenged Antetokounmpo’s shot that caromed off the backboard on his initial drive to the basket.

____________________________________________________________________

Celtics 119, Bucks 116: Milwaukee's furious fourth quarter rally falls short in final seconds

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2023/11/22/milwaukee-bucks-vs-boston-celtics-game-score-time-tv-starting-lineup-injury-report-odds-schedule/71670877007/

Jim Owczarski
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

BOSTON –The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics met for the first time this season and Wednesday’s night game at TD Garden in an early battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and the Celtics held off a furious rally to win 119-116 in the closing seconds.

A Damian Lillard three-pointer with 43 seconds left made it 114-111 Boston, but Jayson Tatum knocked down a free throw with 21 ticks left to give the Celtics a two-possession lead. After a foul, Lillard missed a dunk attempt with Derek White contesting from behind and Tatum clinched it with two more free throws with 11 seconds left.

The loss ended a five game winning streak for the Bucks, who are now 10-5. The Celtics remain atop the conference at 12-3.

Brook Lopez scored a season-high 28 points on 12 of 18 shooting for Milwaukee, and the big man was a huge force in the team nearly coming all the way back from a 20-point fourth quarter deficit. Lillard finished with 27, but was 3-for-10 from behind the three-point line. Giannis Antetokounmpo (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Khris Middleton (12) also scored in double figures. Tatum had 23 points.

First half shooting does in Bucks

There is a cliché that the NBA is a “make or miss league” – and while that is also an oversimplification it bore out in the first half in a bad way for Milwaukee. The Bucks missed their first seven shots as the Celtics took a 10-0 lead and the Celtics ended up shooting a higher percentage from behind the three-point line (12 for 23, 52.2%) than the Bucks did from the paint (13 for 27, 48.1%).

And unfortunately, those misses came from their stars.

Middleton was 0 for 6 and missed five shots from 12 feet or closer. Antetokounmpo was 4 for 13, and six of his misses were from 10 feet or closer. Lillard was 3 for 11 and three of his misfires were from 11 feet and in.

Overall in the half, the Bucks trio combined for 19 points on 7-of-30 shooting (23.3%), including 1 for 8 from behind the three-point line. On the other side of it, Boston’s trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porziņģis combined for 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting (61%). They also were 4 for 10 from behind the three-point line.

While the game was 48 minutes long that opening stretch of Milwaukee misses and Boston makes were the difference, as the Bucks outscored them from there.

Bucks face Jrue Holiday for first time since trade

Before the game, Jrue Holiday’s former teammates in Milwaukee – especially those that won a title with him in 2021 – looked forward to seeing him. They acknowledged it would be strange to see him on the opposite side of the court, but before the game Holiday made a quick visit to a familiar place – the visiting locker room at TD Garden – to say hello to many of his former teammates.


It’s not a common practice in most sports, but if any individual could do it, it was Holiday. Hugs and greetings were exchanged, as many of his former Bucks teammates didn’t have the chance to see him after the Sept. 27 trade that initially sent him to Portland. Boston acquired him in a separate deal on Oct. 1. The warm greetings continued through warmups on the court, but then it was time for basketball.

Holiday picked up Giannis Antetokounmpo on the defensive end, and Brook Lopez rocked Holiday with two strong screens – the second of which sent the guard sprawling to the floor and flexing his left shoulder.

Holiday would end up guarding Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton at times, also. On the other end, he guarded by Antetokounmpo at times and was held to five points on 1-for-8 shooting.

He made his first and only shot early in the fourth quarter, an open three-pointer that put the Celtics up 99-79 and effectively clinch the game, as they needed all of that advantage to hold off a late Bucks charge. He added two free throws late, also.

Jaylen Brown sets tone for Celtics

The first play of the game was a definitive one, as Brown drove past Antetokounmpo baseline and threw down a thunderous dunk. Brown would add a windmill slam later in the game after beating MarJon Beauchamp, along with knocking down jumpers whenever it seemed the Celtics needed one.

With Tatum playing through an illness and Porziņģis having a hard time with Antetokounmpo and Lopez in the middle, Brown rose to the occasion for Boston. The all-NBA guard scored 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting and also handed out eight assists.

Did you notice?

After Antetokounmpo missed three-pointer and turned the ball over in the middle of the third quarter, Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin subbed Bobby Portis in for the star. But, Antetokounmpo did not go to the bench, but rather stayed at the scorer’s table and had a verbal back-and-forth with Griffin. Antetokounmpo subbed back in for Lopez 40 seconds later.

Five numbers

1 Blocks by Bucks center Lopez. He came into Wednesday’s game leading the league in contested shots (205) and No. 2 in blocks (42).

4-4 Bucks road record. They began the season 1-3 away from Fiserv Forum.

29 Minutes for Middleton, a season-high. Unfortunately for the Bucks, he was just 4 for 14 from the floor for 12 points. He added 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

47 Rebounds for the Bucks, including 13 on the offensive end that resulted in 19 second-chance points. The Celtics came into the league as the No. 1 defensive rebounding team in the league. The Bucks had a 10-point advantage in second-chance points for the game.

116-109 Score, in favor of the Bucks, after the Celtics started the game on a 10-0 run.

Well almost a statement game as we had the lead, a crisper ball sharing offense and energetic defense. We punched them in the mouth first and had the lead the whole game, building it as high as 21. Love the way Jaylen played, attacking and setting up Z for numerous thunderous dunks. Z was a force the whole game, attacking with many thunderous dunks!! Kudos to Tatum, playing despite some kind of flu and leaving it all out on the floor with a gritty 11 rebounds, constantly battling in the paint. White was outstanding, helping us build the lead, shutting Dame down early.

The much maligned bench came thru, Al a constant force with some great defense. Hauser hitting 3’s, running the floor for an alley opp from Jaylen and playing very good defense. Very improved in every phase from last year. Pritch battling and making plays and shots. Last 4 minutes the Bucks made a comeback, they are still a very good team that is also primed for a championship run.

Give them credit, Dame showed why he’s an elite player eventually making Dame time plays at crunch time. I thought we had some good looks, but just missed some decent shots that were good shots at end, but Tatum eventually came thru with a patient dunk and another hard drive getting to the line. Zinger also had a big 3 after a timeout.

Great start, lousy finish.  A win is a win, but this wasn't pretty. Charlotte came back from 18 down to win, Milwaukee almost came back from 22 down to win. I

The final 119-116 score isn't indicative of the game.  For one thing Malik Beasley hit a one-legged off balance 3 at the buzzer for the final 3 points.  That means it really was a two possession game win for us, not the single that it looks like.  Having said that, though, our 4th quarter defense stunk.  They had two quarters, 2nd and 4th, where the Bucks scored 36 and 37 points respectively.  That is NOT good defense.  Subtract those last 3 it's still 36 and 34 and neither are good.  In the end the game was decided on a poor defensive effort that let Dame to the rim, but he couldn't get the ball over the front of the rim on the dunk attempt with 13 seconds left and the Celtics up 4.  That dunk would have made it a 2 point game and Malik Beasley's 3pt point buzzer beater the game winner.  That's how close it got after being not anywhere near close at all.

Our offensive quarters were unimpressive except for the 2nd where we scored 38 and offset their 36.  Our other 3 quarters were < 30 points each.  Why?  When our fg% was 52.4% why weren't we scoring in the mid-30s every quarter?  One reason is because, while our ball movement was excellent for the most part, we started to take lazy 3 point shots in the 4th.  Not really running plays, not trying to take the clock down, just launching.  Tatum (2-9 from 3) and Z (2-7 from 3) are prime suspects.

But the better answer is the same BS we've seen for the last 3 games:  not really wanting the ball.  

We had 15 turnovers vs 9 for them and they had 9 steals vs only 3 for us.  Steals, in particular, are deadly since they are by definition live ball changes of possession.

Another symptom of the last few games is our dearth of fgas.  Last night we took 84 fgas, while they took 101.  That's 17 more shots by them.  You don't have to be scoring at a very high percentage to make up a lot of ground when you get 17 more shots up.

Yet a 3rd symptom, which we saw last night, is not taking care of our defensive glass.  They had 13 offensive rebounds vs only 4 for us.  I'll bet most of those 9 extra rebounds accounted for a lot of those additional 17 fgas.

I don't doubt Bucks fans will complain about the officiating, believing they deserve more.  It certainly went both ways, with one ref letting little Damian Lillard grab Porzingis and pull him away from an entry pass and steal the ball, and then T Z up when he complained.  In the end we both took 17 ftas, so shut up.

Jrue Holiday 1-8, 1-5 from -3, against his former team.

Our bench came up BIG.  Great job by Sam, Al and Payton.  A combined 31 points on 12-19 (63%) shooting, 6-10 from 3.  8 assists and only 3 turnovers.  Al with 8 rebounds, 1 block, 6 assists and zero turnovers.  Sam with a block and some really, really good defense.  Maybe opposing coaches should start thinking twice about trying to isolate him.  Bobby Portis was screaming for the ball against Sam, and shot 2-6 on the game, but Sam defended Dame very well.  Did you ever think you'd hear someone say that?!  Interestingly, Porzingis was the only Celtic starter with a positive +/-, the other 4 had negative +/- while all 3 Celtic bench players had a positive +/-.  The entire Bucks bench scored 22 points on 9-22.  Our much maligned bench, as short as it is, outplayed theirs completely.

Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
yesterday
Mazzulla on Hauser's alley-oop slam: "Sam can do a lot of things people can't think he can do ... but no, I didn't wake up thinking I'd see that."


One of Jaylen Brown's best games this year.  26 points on 10-16, 3-5 from 3 and, very importantly, 8 assists and only 1 turnover.  He's still not a great dribbler, but he might be one of the best lob throwers on the team.  Z sure appreciates them.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Jaylen Brown on his playmaking tonight: "Definitely just another part of my game that I’ve been growing. This is a new year, it’s a new season and I feel like I’m playing some of my best basketball just how I’m seeing the floor. And as I get into the flow and the rhythm of things…


Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics @celtics
yesterday
JB on his early chemistry with KP: “It’s an automatic connection right now.”

Probably half of Jaylen's 8 assists were to his carpool/airplane guy Kristaps Porzingis.


At one point we were up 22 points.  Why didn't Joe send in Svi or Oshae or Lamar or Dalano?  I realize this was a quasi-playoff game, but up 22?  At home?  And he doesn't trust them not to lose it?  He only played 8 guys even thought there were stretches of the game where he had plenty of slack.  Same shite, same coach, different game.  Sorry to keep harping on this but i see potentially bad things, late season fatigue and/or wear-and-tear injuries, coming from this down the road.  I hope I'm wrong...


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
yesterday
Kristaps Porziņģis said the energy of the crowd has been fueling him, even to the point that he’s been racking up techs. “Maybe I have to relax a little bit.”

Yeah, maybe you should, because things don't get less intense at Da Gahden in the playoffs.


n the final analysis we have the #1 record in the league at 12-3. In the East Orlando, Milwaukee, Philly and Miami are all tied for 2nd @ 10-5 and are two games back of us. In the west Minny is 11-3, a half game back from from us and OKC @ 11-4, a whole game back from us. Denver and Dallas are 3rd @ 10-5. Minny plays OKC within the next few games, so that will be a big game. Let's hope OKC takes them down and gives us a little more breathing room. OKC plays Philly, Minny, Lakers and Dallas in their next 4 games. Those will be tough. We play Orlando next, on Friday. If we beat them we will have beaten our nearest rivals (Milwaukee, Miami, Philly and Orlando) and have the edge in our H2H matchups early on in the season.





Bob


.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Well almost a statement game as we had the lead, a crisper ball sharing offense and energetic defense. We punched them in the mouth first and had the lead the whole game, building it as high as 21. Love the way Jaylen played, attacking and setting up Z for numerous thunderous dunks. Z was a force the whole game, attacking with many thunderous dunks!! Kudos to Tatum, playing despite some kind of flu and leaving it all out on the floor with a gritty 11 rebounds, constantly battling in the paint. White was outstanding, helping us build the lead, shutting Dame down early.

The much maligned bench came thru, Al a constant force with some great defense. Hauser hitting 3’s, running the floor for an alley opp from Jaylen and playing very good defense. Very improved in every phase from last year. Pritch battling and making plays and shots. Last 4 minutes the Bucks made a comeback, they are still a very good team that is also primed for a championship run.

Give them credit, Dame showed why he’s an elite player eventually making Dame time plays at crunch time. I thought we had some good looks, but just missed some decent shots that were good shots at end, but Tatum eventually came thru with a patient dunk and another hard drive getting to the line. Zinger also had a big 3 after a timeout.

Cowens

+1

I'll just add not only was Al's defense great, his rebounding was also outstanding. He got some tough boards.

A little disappointed in our inability to close out the game, but had some open looks that we just missed.

Celtics 119, Bucks 116: Milwaukee's furious fourth quarter rally falls short in final seconds
Jim OwczarskiMilwaukee Journal Sentinel


BOSTON –The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics met for the first time this season and Wednesday’s night game at TD Garden in an early battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and the Celtics held off a furious rally to win 119-116 in the closing seconds.

A Damian Lillard three-pointer with 43 seconds left made it 114-111 Boston, but Jayson Tatum knocked down a free throw with 21 ticks left to give the Celtics a two-possession lead. After a foul, Lillard missed a dunk attempt with Derek White contesting from behind and Tatum sealed it with two more free throws with 11 seconds left.

The loss ended a five game winning streak for the Bucks, who are now 10-5. The Celtics remain atop the conference at 12-3.

Brook Lopez scored a season-high 28 points on 12 of 18 shooting for Milwaukee, and the big man was a huge force in the team nearly coming all the way back from a 20-point fourth quarter deficit.

"I was just trying to help my team, that's all it ever is," Lopez said of his offensive output. "I'm just out there trying to help my team win, doing what I can to help the team win."

Lillard finished with 27, but was 3 for 10 from behind the three-point line. Giannis Antetokounmpo (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Khris Middleton (12) also scored in double figures. Tatum had 23 points.

“We can compete with the best of ‘em, we just have to play our best basketball,” Middleton said of what the Bucks could take away from the game. “Get off to better starts, which we haven’t done all year yet. You see against any team if you start slow it’s hard to play catch up the whole game. But, throughout the game I thought we played through a lot of rough stretches where we were still there. Our defense helped in the game and eventually our offense caught up to us. I like the way we competed all night even though we could’ve gave up. We didn’t, with how ugly it got at the start, a great crowd, hard place to play, hard place to win, but our guys stayed with it the whole night.”

First half shooting does in Bucks

There is a cliché that the NBA is a “make or miss league” – and while that is also an oversimplification it bore out in the first half in a bad way for Milwaukee. The Bucks missed their first seven shots as the Celtics took a 10-0 lead and the Celtics ended up shooting a higher percentage from behind the three-point line (12 for 23, 52.2%) than the Bucks did from the paint (13 for 27, 48.1%).

"You know that they're an elite three-point shooting team and whatever you do, when you play the Celtics or a team like that, you gotta multiply it by two – you gotta close out harder, you gotta run back harder, you gotta jump higher, you gotta be more physical and I thought we did that in the second half," Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said. "It was the tale of two games there. The first half you have to execute at a high level and we missed a lot of shots around the rim that we normally make. But you gotta play through those, you gotta keep playing and I thought we did in the second half. I thought it was Bucks basketball in the second half."

In the first half, Middleton was 0 for 6 and missed five shots from 12 feet or closer. Antetokounmpo was 4 for 13, and six of his misses were from 10 feet or closer. Lillard was 3 for 11 and three of his misfires were from 11 feet and in.

“I thought we had a lot of great looks – unfortunately they did not go down tonight,” Middleton said. “This is a night where you want those to go down. But it didn’t happen. I thought we still played well enough through stretches that kept us in the game, kept us fighting.”

Overall in the half, the Bucks trio combined for 19 points on 7-of-30 shooting (23.3%), including 1 for 8 from behind the three-point line. On the other side of it, Boston’s trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porziņģis combined for 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting (61%). They also were 4 for 10 from behind the three-point line.

"We didn't come out ready, simple as that," Antetokounmpo said. "They came out ready to play. They made a couple shots. We kind of eased into the game and when you play a good team you cannot do that."

While the game was 48 minutes long, that opening stretch of Milwaukee misses and Boston makes were the difference as the Bucks outscored them from there.

“Yeah, I think we missed nine layups in the first half,” Malik Beasley said. “Coach harped on that. Some nights it goes like that. But I think the good point is we fought. It was a three-point game at the end of the game and it shows that we can compete. They’ve been a team that’s been together for a couple years. With us, we’re kind of still jelling together and I feel like we did a great job of keeping our composure.”

Lillard didn’t feel like there was good pace, screening or ball movement on the offensive end in the first half, which only helped create some issues on the defensive end with a Celtics team that moves the ball well. To Middleton, that resulted in the Bucks chasing too much, whereas in the second half they were more attached to their man defensively.

“I think we just stepped up our aggressiveness,” Lillard said of the fourth quarter charge. “At halftime we came in the locker room and said we gotta step to ‘em. Everything they did was a little too comfortable on both ends of the floor. We weren’t disrupting them enough defensively and we weren’t making them get into rotations and guard hard enough offensively. You see what happened when we started doing that. We gave ourselves a chance. We were right there. I think it’s that story of you know, you gotta put four quarters together, especially with a really good team.”

Before the game, Jrue Holiday’s former teammates in Milwaukee – especially those that won a title with him in 2021 – looked forward to seeing him. They acknowledged it would be strange to see him on the opposite side of the court, but before the game Holiday made a quick visit to a familiar place – the visiting locker room at TD Garden – to say hello to many of his former teammates.

It’s not a common practice in most sports, but if any individual could do it, it was Holiday. Hugs and greetings were exchanged, as many of his former Bucks teammates didn’t have the chance to see him after the Sept. 27 trade that initially sent him to Portland. Boston acquired him in a separate deal on Oct. 1.

"I was thrilled to see him," said Lopez, who also was the one to snag Holiday's game jersey. "It's always great to see Jrue-san. I definitely miss him. A great person, such a good friend of mine. Good to see his family as well postgame. I just wish him all the best. It was fun to compete against him tonight."

The warm greetings continued through warmups on the court, but then it was time for basketball.

Holiday picked up Giannis Antetokounmpo on the defensive end, and Brook Lopez rocked Holiday with two strong screens – the second of which sent the guard sprawling to the floor and flexing his left shoulder.

Holiday would end up guarding Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton at times, also.

“I haven’t seen that in a long time, but you know, that’s what he does, he’s all over the place guarding different matchups, matchups you didn’t think he would guard or should guard,” Middleton said. “But that’s how talented that guy is.”

On the other end, he was guarded by Antetokounmpo at times and was held to five points on 1-for-8 shooting.

He made his first and only shot early in the fourth quarter, an open three-pointer that put the Celtics up 99-79 and effectively clinch the game, as they needed all of that advantage to hold off a late Bucks charge. He added two free throws late, also.

Jaylen Brown sets tone for Celtics

The first play of the game was a definitive one, as Brown drove past Antetokounmpo baseline and threw down a thunderous dunk. Brown would add a windmill slam later in the game after beating MarJon Beauchamp, along with knocking down jumpers whenever it seemed the Celtics needed one.

With Tatum playing through an illness and Porziņģis having a hard time with Antetokounmpo and Lopez in the middle, Brown rose to the occasion for Boston. The all-NBA guard scored 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting and also handed out eight assists.

Did you notice?

After Antetokounmpo missed three-pointer and turned the ball over in the middle of the third quarter, Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin subbed Bobby Portis in for the star. Antetokounmpo did not go to the bench, but rather stayed at the scorer’s table and had a conversation with Griffin. Antetokounmpo subbed back in for Lopez 40 seconds later.

"He wanted to stay in, I wanted to give him a breather, that's all it was," Griffin said after the game. "Then I told him to stay at the table for one possession and he got right back out there."

When asked for his view on what happened, Antetokounmpo declined comment.


Five numbers

1 Blocks by Bucks center Lopez. He came into Wednesday’s game leading the league in contested shots (205) and No. 2 in blocks (42).

4-4 Bucks road record. They began the season 1-3 away from Fiserv Forum.

29 Minutes for Middleton, a season-high. Unfortunately for the Bucks, he was just 4 for 14 from the floor for 12 points. He added 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

Middleton: Felt great. I wanted to finish the game, felt we had a great chance to win and we did. Just overall I feel great. Each night I feel like I’m taking a step in the right direction.

47 Rebounds for the Bucks, including 13 on the offensive end that resulted in 19 second-chance points. The Celtics came into the league as the No. 1 defensive rebounding team in the league. The Bucks had a 10-point advantage in second-chance points for the game.

116-109 Score, in favor of the Bucks, after the Celtics started the game on a 10-0 run.

Lopez: There were things in the first half we obviously could've done better right from the get go, so we focused on fixing those things. But there were a lot of things we were doing right that we knew we just had to keep doing, just keep being us.

Led start to finish. Yes, the late game scoring drought showed up for two consecutive games. But a really satisfying win especially given the contributions from the bench. If we can add a bench to this starting five, we will have a very special team.

Celtics17 wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Well almost a statement game as we had the lead, a crisper ball sharing offense and energetic defense. We punched them in the mouth first and had the lead the whole game, building it as high as 21. Love the way Jaylen played, attacking and setting up Z for numerous thunderous dunks. Z was a force the whole game, attacking with many thunderous dunks!! Kudos to Tatum, playing despite some kind of flu and leaving it all out on the floor with a gritty 11 rebounds, constantly battling in the paint. White was outstanding, helping us build the lead, shutting Dame down early.

The much maligned bench came thru, Al a constant force with some great defense. Hauser hitting 3’s, running the floor for an alley opp from Jaylen and playing very good defense. Very improved in every phase from last year. Pritch battling and making plays and shots. Last 4 minutes the Bucks made a comeback, they are still a very good team that is also primed for a championship run.

Give them credit, Dame showed why he’s an elite player eventually making Dame time plays at crunch time. I thought we had some good looks, but just missed some decent shots that were good shots at end, but Tatum eventually came thru with a patient dunk and another hard drive getting to the line. Zinger also had a big 3 after a timeout.

Cowens

+1

I'll just add not only was Al's defense great, his rebounding was also outstanding. He got some tough boards.

A little disappointed in our inability to close out the game, but had some open looks that we just missed.

Exactly JB missed a lefty lay up that is usually money and Tatum missed 2 lay ups also, then finally he had enough of that and did a beautiful hesitation finish/dunk weaving thru traffic.