Post Game - Celtics at Bucks - Thursday, January 11 (L)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585156

Celtics-Bucks takeaways: Fatigued C's get blown out in Milwaukee

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/celtics-bucks-takeaways-fatigued-cs-025309361.html

Justin Leger
Thu, January 11, 2024 at 9:53 PM EST·5 min read

Celtics-Bucks takeaways: Fatigued C's get blown out in Milwaukee originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Three Key Storylines

Fatigue vs. fresh legs

C's can't buy a 3

Bucks honor Jrue Holiday

On Thursday, the Boston Celtics played like a team that had to travel for the second night of a back-to-back immediately after a draining overtime win.

The C's couldn't keep up with the rested Milwaukee Bucks as they were blown out at Fiserv Forum, 135-102. The Bucks exploded out of the gate with 41 first-quarter points, went on a 25-0 run, and led by as many as 43 in the rout.

Boston's 43-point deficit marked its largest since it trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 45 in April 2015. Milwaukee earned that lead by shooting a blistering 57.1 percent from the field in the first half, including 11-for-22 from 3-point range. The Celtics shot just 32 percent through the first two frames and were an uncharacteristic 1-for-16 from beyond the arc.

Bobby Portis (28 points), Giannis Antetokounmpo (24 points), and Damian Lillard (21 points) did most of the damage for the Bucks. Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser led the Celtics with 21 and 15 points respectively as Boston's starters rested for the entire second half. Oshae Brissett added 13 points off the bench, including a thunderous dunk in the first quarter.

The Celtics will get a much-needed day off before returning home to host their former head coach Ime Udoka and the Houston Rockets on Saturday night. Before we turn the page to that matchup, here are three takeaways from Thursday's game.

Fatigue vs. fresh legs

Some will frame this as a statement win for the Bucks or an embarrassing loss for the Celtics. However, it's pretty clear that fatigue was the primary factor in Boston's demise.

The Celtics arrived at Fiserv Forum on the second night of a back-to-back following an emotional overtime victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Thursday's matchup was their fifth game in the last seven nights. Meanwhile, the Bucks took their home court after getting the last two days off.

For a team with that kind of disadvantage, getting off to a solid start is crucial. The C's were unable to do so as Milwaukee outscored Boston 41-23 in the first quarter. Right off the bat, it was obvious which team was playing with fresh legs.

The night only got worse for the Celtics in the second quarter, when the Bucks ripped off a 25-0 run in which Boston failed to tally a point for 6:37. Milwaukee took a 37-point lead into the half.

Knowing the game was out of reach, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla sat his starters for the entire second half. At that point, rest was the priority with the C's set to return home and have just one day off before hosting their former coach Ime Udoka and the Rockets.

The next time the Celtics and Bucks meet will be March 20 at TD Garden. Fortunately for Boston, it'll have a day to rest before that showdown.

Bucks dominate from deep

Another telltale sign the Celtics were gassed: they couldn't buy a bucket from beyond the arc. They shot a woeful 1-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half while the Bucks went 11-for-22.

No Celtics starters made a 3-point shot. They were a combined 0-for-10 before being benched for the second half.

The bench unit helped boost the C's 3-point percentage to 26.5 (9-for-34), but that was only good for trimming the deficit to 33. The Bucks stayed hot even after sitting their starters and finished 18-for-42 (42.9 percent) from 3.

Payton Pritchard (2-for-8, 21 points), Sam Hauser (4-for-8, 15 points) and Svi Mykhailiuk (2-for-3, 9 points) were the only Celtics players to make more than one 3-pointer in the game.

Milwaukee honors Jrue Holiday

The one positive moment for the Celtics came in the first quarter, when Jrue Holiday received a well-deserved tribute in his first game back in Milwaukee since being traded by the Bucks in the offseason.

The fans at Fiserv Forum gave Holiday a standing ovation as a tribute video played on the jumbotron. You can watch the tribute video and the reaction from the crowd below.





Holiday spent three seasons with the Bucks and helped them to an NBA championship in 2021. He averaged 18.5 points, 6.8 assists, and 4.7 rebounds through 193 games played with Milwaukee while earning first-team All-Defensive nods in 2021 and 2023.

Before sitting the second half of Thursday's game, Holiday tallied six points (2-9 FG, 0-4 3-PT) to go with four rebounds and two assists.

This is perfect.  A true blessing in disguise.  Let me explain.  

1.  Our bench got some very valuable playing time.  Granted it was garbage time but the league should, but won't take notice of this.  Our bench guys played great I thought.  The league's response to this one-off game should be, "Holy Crap!  We're in trouble against these guys in a 7-game series."  I don't believe this will register until about 4-5 years out and we're hanging Banner 22-23.  

2.  MIL still sucks.  A blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a blue moon.  Their backs were up against it.  They had to win.  I'll make no excuses for the Celtics.  Bucks beat us.  If it is anything, it has to do with what dboss was saying.  Mentally taxing.  If we were "tired", we'd have been front rimming everything. We were spraying like a shotgun. That's mental. Our schedule as a contender the last few weeks has to be the most difficult by far over that stretch in the NBA.  But this plays right into....

3.  Bucks will still think they've got everything under control.  i.e. no need to do anything drastic by trade deadline.   We just clobbered the best team in the league.  We're good.  Perfect.  Get ready to be bounced in the 1st round again, 2nd at the latest.  Can't change your stripes.

4.  Jrue, while absolutely correct, should have kept his mouth shut but he knows what he's doing.  Don't give a team locker room poster material.  Just like Russell coming back into the locker room before the game saying, "Hey, you know they've got balloons up in the rafters to drop for when they beat us tonight in the G7?!"  I'm ok with this since it was done during the regular season.  Again, Jrue is correct.  We are the far better team and will take them out if they are present in the ECF.  This comment will be long forgotten.  

5.  You want consolation?  The Fakers were clobbered last night as well!!  That almost erases any pain from this game!!  They REALLY suck.  Oh happy day!!

Now onto Saturday's Ime reunion tour.  While HOU is still a crappy team, they ain't the same team they were last year.  They ain't a doormat.  We're going to have to be on our best behavior.  Need to come out and take care of business.  

db

Hi,
Yes, that was a stinker. I hope they have a good detergent to wash it off.

AK

December 28th was 2 weeks ago from last night's game exactly, 14 days.  We've played 9 games in those 14 days, 5 of those 9 on the road.  Some of the games were "gimmes" (e.g. Detroit, Toronto, San Antonio) but there were 3 games against some of the league's top teams (OKC, Minny and Milwaukee), 2 against now 22-15 4th place Indy (both in Indy) and a game against mediocre but not awful Utah (the Jazz are tied with the Lakers for 10th place in the WC).  There were three b2bs in those 9 games in 14 days.  That means that 6 of those 9 were part of a b2b.  This was as close to a scheduled loss as you can define it.  The only way it could have been worse is if we had a brutally long west coast road trip and the last game was in the thin air of Mile High Denver.

If there's some consolation in this loss, Joe pulled his starters after 2 and the game got ugly after that.  Consolation?  For one thing our bench won the 2nd half 64-59.  Also, aside from resting our primary players and not leaving them in and taking the chance on them getting hurt (which is something, btw, Joe would have done last year, so kudos to him for learning) it'll send a message to the league office, "Next year, don't schedule BS like this.  Don't expect a team to play through 2 brutal weeks and then throw them up against a Championship contender on the road, on a SEGABABA, and expect a good game on national TV."


Steve Bulpett
@SteveBHoop
Trust me, Celtic fans will enjoy these notes from the Sultan of Stat a hell of a lot more than they did that 135-102 loss to the Bucks tonight.

@DickLipe
, as always, places things in some very interesting historical perspective.







Sadly, this is the last Celtic game I will even be able to follow as tomorrow I leave Copacabana and Rio and fly back to Buenos Aires, and from there onward to Ushuaia, to get BACK on a damn ship to the Antarctic.  This trip will be 23 days instead of that aborted 11 day one.  Internet access will be limited, if any, much less the ability to livestream games.  The ship leaves Ushuaia on 1/14 and returns (hopefully!) on 2/4.  I will probably be back online on the 5th or 6th when I get to Quito, Ecuador.  It will be interesting to see what I return to.  Not just our win/loss record but will there be any trades on interest.  The trade deadline is 2/8, so I'll be back just in time, but there almost certainly will be movement around the league before then and every trade that involves an East Coast team affects the Celtics at least indirectly.  Hell, even a wholly west coast trade affects us if it effects who we might face down the road, both in the regular season as we battle for playoff position and in the playoffs.  Would you rather face Minny as is, or an improved Denver or OKC that overtakes and/or beats Minny in the playoffs?

Go Celtics!!


Bob


.

One to forget. Predictable after the previous day OT victory.

Smart move by Joe throwing in the towel at the half and getting time for the bench.

Milwaukee, and if the team goes far enough, Minny, could be opponents this spring. Both are tough outs.

Onward.

The meat grinder schedule finally caught up with the Celtics.  

A reprieve from the battle field will be short lived and probably does not make it any easier to go out there and win the next engagement.

The schedule does not get any easier.  The Celtics have 2 more sets of B2B games coming up this month.  The remaining 10 game schedule for January does not include any marshmallow opportunities.  If this team wants to win this year they will have to endure the physical and mental challenges of an unkind schedule.

Playing flat will happen.  That is not a big surprise.  What did surprise me was CJ throwing the towel into the middle of the ring at halftime.  An NBA game has 2 halves and each can be total opposites for good or bad.  I would have preferred to see the starting unit hit the floor in the 2nd half and if they could not make a dent in their deficit, then pulling them from the game would have been fine with me.

I just do not see how the fewer minutes that they did play will make any difference tomorrow night when they face the brash young Rockets.  

It is most important that the mental toughness of this team be tested over and over again.  They should be given no quarter.