Bucks vs. Celtics: The Slide Continues

Milwaukee falls in a back-and-forth clash with the defending champs

In a game that felt desperately needed by the Milwaukee Bucks, they were unable to cross the finish line with a win, falling to the Boston Celtics by a 113-107 score.

Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast Bucks In Six Minutes below:

What Did We Learn?

Once again, the third quarter was where the foundation of the Bucks began to collapse. After working so hard to capture a well-deserved double-digit advantage going into the locker room, it only took a matter of moments for it to disappear when the second half kicked off. Immediately, Boston rattled a 12-0 run and Milwaukee’s lead began to evaporate away. Right out of the gates, Doc was forced to call a timeout and recalibrate his guys. Here’s what Rivers had to say about the slow start to the second half:

“I just thought…you know, I don’t know. I thought we lost our pace. I called a timeout I think on the second play. Because you could see it. We came out flat. That happens, I don’t know why…I wish we all knew why. And they took advantage of it. You know, that stretch, that got them more and more — I thought we were the aggressor for two quarters and then they were the aggressor in the third quarter. I will say I thought we got it back in the fourth, but we really never played well like we played again. You know, we scored but I thought they were the far more aggressive team from the third and the fourth quarter and we were the aggressive team in the first two — and that bothered me, especially how we came out. You know, I haven’t called a timeout in a minute-and-a-half in a while, but it was obvious. Our first play was so slow, so passive. We hadn’t done that all night and so, you know, then we did it again, then we did it a third time. We’ll watch the film and figure out why that happened but our guys…we just can’t sustain. You know, the Cleveland game. We came out like gangbusters and as the game goes on, we just don’t sustain our play. Like, the gameplan against Cleveland was great coming out and we lost it. The gameplan coming out tonight — the game was great and then we lose our way. So it’s my job to try and make sure we keep going. Keep playing. Keep playing at the right pace. We didn’t do that.”

Three Observations

Payton Pritchard continues to be a thorn in the Bucks’ side.

The tradition of Payton Pritchard frustrating the Bucks continued in this one. In the first half, he erupted for 17 points, burying five threes. He’s become such a lethal part to the Celtics’ winning formula off the bench and it was another prime example of his contributions in this one. It’s just so impressive how he cuts and weaves through the defense to find open spots to get his shots up. He would cool off in the second, tallying just one point due to some tighter defense and limited capabilities from Ryan Rollins. However, he proved his worth off the bench yet again.

AJ Green continued to make a strong impact.

The Dairy Bird kept his recent string of shooting performances going in this one. Off the bench, he registered 27 minutes of action while scoring 12 points. He did so by burying 4-of-6 from beyond the perimeter. In his last three games, he’s now 15-of-21 from deep, exemplifying once again his talented shooting skill. As Khris Middleton continues to remain sidelined (Doc Rivers told us postgame that he didn’t have any updates on his status), Green is going to be relied on more and more with his 3-point shooting.

Damian Lillard couldn’t get going in this one.

It happens to the best of shooters and last night, the cold streak finally hit Damian Lillard. He’s pieced together so many powerful outings to begin the season, but his shot was unable to be found against Boston’s defense. He hoisted up eight 3-point attempts and was unable to generate any sort of momentum, connecting on just one of them in all four quarters. His total shot chart read just 4-of-15 from the floor for just 14 points. It now marks the second consecutive game with struggles for Dame, as he’s now 10-of-30 from the field and just 1-of-11 from 3-point land in his last eight quarters. Calculate that up and you get a -45 RPM.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Giannis Antetokounmpo continued his strong stretch of play, conducting a performance of 43 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for a victory.
• Ryan Rollins received just over 12 minutes of action. Doc had said he was going to start cracking the rotation and sure enough, he did. In those 12 minutes of action, he didn’t score a point, but he did have quite the highlight of a block. In fact, he tallied three blocks on the afternoon.
• It was a bit of a struggle for Andre Jackson Jr. He saw the starting lineup once again, but was unable to generate the same momentum we saw him produce the other night against the Jazz. He’d tally just one point in 22 minutes of action.
• Jayson Tatum really came alive for the Celtics late in this one. After scoring just eight points in the opening half, he scratched out 23 points the remainder of the way. Some of his big shots late came from beyond the 3-point arc, with each of them making it more difficult for the Bucks to develop any type of answer.
• I mentioned it briefly above, but in case you missed it, Doc Rivers mentioned that he didn’t have any further updates on the status of Khris Middleton.
• There was some interaction between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown in this one:

• And here was Jaylen Brown’s thoughts on the above moment:

Giannis then mentioned that he enjoys being a child and does so to keep himself young. He ended his comments by joking that if he had an opportunity to do it to Brown again, he would do so.

Up Next

The Bucks return to action Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum when the Toronto Raptors come to town in the first NBA Cup action of the season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CDT and can be viewed on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.

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