1. Dominant Defensive Performance
The Celtics held the Bucks to only 79 points, the lowest point total that a team has finished with against Boston this season. The previous low was 90 points against the New Orleans Pelicans on October
27th. After allowing 26 points in the first quarter, Boston only allowed 16 in the second, 19 in the third, and 18 in the fourth quarter.
When asked postgame if Joe Mazzulla changed any part of his defense after the first quarter, he said that they were just playing “a little bit more physical” but nothing else changed a whole lot. He highlighted the Bucks shooting 5-8 from three in the first quarter which is over their average three point percentage and that led to the defensive physicality going up and the Bucks shooting 5-26 from beyond the arc for the rest of the game.
2. Jaylen Brown Big Second Half
For the 26th time this season, Jaylen Brown has scored 30+ points in a game, finishing with 30 points and 13 rebounds on 12-20 shooting from the field and 4-6 from three. A lot of Brown’s impact came in the second half, scoring 22 of his 30 points and really iced the game early with a couple of big runs.
After scoring 8 points in the first half, Brown finished the third quarter with 12 points. Brown operated flawlessly in the midrange and scored the Celtics first 7 points of the second half. He started with a beautiful jumper over Kyle Kuzma on the baseline, then hit a wide open pull up jumper coming off a Neemias Queta screen, and finally he ended his midrange mastery with an And-1 jumper over Ryan Rollins. Brown wasn’t done in the third quarter however, splashing a three and drawing a goaltending against Myles Turner.
Moving on to the fourth quarter, the Bucks were on a 9-0 run midway through the quarter and cut the Celtics lead to 19. That was when Brown started another scoring tear, going on a personal 10-0 run to ice the game for Boston.
He started the run with a nice driving layup on Ryan Rollins. Then he moved on to a wide open three pointer on the wing. The next basket came off of a missed shot by Brown, but Queta made a nice save before it went out of bounds and he was able to get a second chance and make an easy layup. The final basket felt like the dagger in this game as Derrick White made a nice cross court pass to Brown for a wide open corner three, a Bucks timeout, and a loud cheer by the TD Garden crowd.
3. Anfernee Simons Huge First Quarter
Anfernee Simons had a great game against the Bucks, finishing with 27 points shooting 10-18 from the field and 6-10 from three. This is the 9th time this season that Simons has scored over 20 points off of the bench this season and in this game he had an offensive explosion in the last 2:25 of the first quarter, scoring 11 straight points.
Simons began his offensive explosion with getting Gary Trent Jr. on an island and making a straight line drive to the basket for a layup. Next, Derrick White got a steal and found Simons wide open on the fast break for three. The third basket was arguably his best play of the night. Guarded by Pete Nance, Simons hit him with a nasty crossover and hit a step back three in his face. Finally for final bucket of the quarter, he shot a heat check three over Amir Coffey at the buzzer to tie the game.
If this was Anfernee Simons’ last game in TD Garden, he sure did go out with a bang and to a standing ovation from the TD Garden faithful as he checked out of the game.
4. Derrick White Great Offensive Performance
In a season with some offensive inconsistency from Derrick White, this game was one of his better all-around games this year. White finished with 17 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds on 6-14 shooting and you could feel the impact that he made with his scoring and playmaking.
After hitting two threes in the first quarter, White started to find his groove with two buckets in the second quarter and one in the third. In the last minute of the second quarter, White hit Myles Turner with a nice crossover and finished a layup over a good contest. The next basket had AJ Green on an island and White hit a pull up midrange jumper over him. Finally, around the start of the third quarter, he had another nice mid range jumper, getting wide open on bad defense by Kyle Kuzma.
Out of White’s eight assists, I would say he had three that really were really impressive. The first came in the first quarter off of a stolen pass by White where he found Anfernee Simons on the fast break for a three. The second came in fourth quarter where he drew the attention of three Bucks players and was able to find Neemias Queta wide open for a hook shot. Finally, White made a cross court pass to Brown who was wide open in the corner for three to seal the victory for the Celtics.
5. Neemias Queta vs. Myles Turner
One battle that I was paying attention to in this game was Neemias Queta against Myles Turner. Queta was coming off of a dominant performance against the Sacramento Kings and I thought that with the lacking inside presence that Myles Turner presents, he could feast. My theory was proven correct in this case with Queta finishing with 14 points and 8 rebounds on 7-10 shooting while Turner finished with only 7 points and 4 rebounds on 2-8 shooting.
The first bucket he had came on play where he faked a handoff to Brown and turned the corner for a big slam that Turner just let happen because he wasn’t paying attention. Next one came when Queta was streaking down the court and took Turner one-on-one under the basket. After a few pump fakes, he was able to hit a nice hook shot. The third came in the second quarter when Jordan Walsh was cutting to the basket, Turner decided to double him on the baseline and was late to contest Queta who hit a wide open shot. Finally, Pritchard made a nice bounce pass to Queta under the basket that he was able to finish with a reverse layup over Turner.
6. Jordan Walsh Energy Plays
Jordan Walsh’s final stat-line of 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block on 2-6 shooting might not look impressive but if you watched the game you would know how much of a menace he was on the Bucks all night long.
Starting with the two baskets Walsh made, both of them were an instance that he was able to make something out of nothing. The first came on a pass from Brown who wasn’t intending to pass it to Walsh, but it ended up with on the perimeter. To save the play, Walsh pump faked a wide open three that Pete Nance bit on and drove to the basket to finish a tough layup. The second bucket he scored was a similar driving layup over Nance that he finished with an and-1.
Walsh’s rebounding was the big story however, as all 5 of his rebounds on the night came as offensive rebounds. These were the highlights of his hustle play in this game and was a big reason why the Celtics won the rebounding battle.
7. Hugo Gonzalez Defensive Impact
Hugo Gonzalez finished with 0 points in this game so you would think there isn’t anything to talk about with his performance but I really liked the way he played in this game. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 steals and similar to Jordan Walsh, Hugo was terrorizing the Bucks on defense, making the extra effort.
His 2 steals in this game were some great plays, the first coming on a play where Ryan Rollins air mailed a pass that Hugo was tracking like Christian Gonzalez on the Patriots, and started a fast break. The second came in the fourth quarter where White back-tapped Kyle Kuzma. Gonzalez ran with the steal and found Derrick Whtie who ended up getting fouled on his shot attempt. Hugo had a couple miscues on offense in this game that would have given him some easy baskets, but in 17 minutes that were played, he was a +11 overall, showcasing his positive impact.
8. Bucks Dominated in the Paint
Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks really have no presence under neath the basket and it showed in the points in the paint battle. Boston outscored them 42-28 and with Milwaukee’s three point shooting falling off a cliff throughout the game, that was the biggest outlier for their loss. Not only did they get manhandled there, they lost the rebounding battle as well. The Celtics out-rebounded the Bucks 52-40 and 17 of Boston’s rebounded were on the offensive side. Just a dominant paint performance by the Celtics.
9. Positive Assist-Turnover Ratio
After only turning the ball over 7 times against Sacramento on Friday, Boston continued their streak of limiting turnovers with only 9 against Milwaukee while forcing 10 against the Bucks. This is huge for the Celtics because turnovers have been a big deal in a lot of Boston’s losses so the face they were limited today was great. Not only were the Celtics great with the turnovers, but they also finished with 24 assists on the night. A lot of these assists resulted in wide open shots as the Bucks defense was a step behind the Celtics on what felt like every possession. If Boston shot even a little bit better than the 15-42 (36%) from three, the Celtics probably win this game by 50 points.
10. Pioneers Classic Champs
The Bucks vs Celtics game today was the Pioneers Classic Game celebrating the 75th anniversary of the NBA’s first black players Chuck Cooper, Earl Llyod, and Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton. Cooper made history with the Celtics, becoming the first black player to get drafted to the NBA in the second round of the 1950 NBA Draft. Cooper is in the Basketball Hall of Fame and played 6 seasons in the NBA, 4 of which with the Boston Celtics but also with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks and the Fort Wayne Pistons. Boston also honored other legends in this game, including the families of Bill Russell, Tom “Satch” Sanders, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones.
Boston was able dominate Milwaukee all night long, winning 107-79 and receiving the inaugural Pioneers Classic Trophy. Jaylen Brown was given the trophy in his postgame interview and said “What an honor to be able to celebrate the legacy of the people that came before us.”
