The Boston Celtics traveled to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks in their second meeting of the season. The first quarter was close, but Boston outplayed the Bucks through the final 3 quarters to comfortably win the game, 117-97. Paul George led Boston with 27 points on the night, Jayson Tatum had 21 points as the Boston Celtics move to 8 wins on the season. Mike Conley started his 1,143rd game in the NBA alongside Derrick White in the backcourt, with Jayson Tatum, Paul George, and Neemias Queta in the frontcourt.
Milwaukee started Tyler Hierro, rookie Brandon Burries, Kyle Kuzma, Jaime Jacquez Jr., and Myles Turner in their fifth home game at Fiserv Forum.
Milwaukee came out of gates rolling; they went 8 of 11 from the field to start the game. Boston was ice cold at the other end, going just 2 of 10. Kyle Kuzma outscored Boston by himself with 14 points in just 5 minutes of play shooting the lights out with 4 triples to start the game. Boston was down early, 6-17, before Joe Mazzulla eventually called a timeout.
Kuzma eventually cooled off, bricking a pair of threes as Boston had seemingly weathered the early storm. Jayson Tatum had 9 points to start the game, with 3 triples of his in the first seven minutes. Jordan Walsh, Payton Pritchard, Mitchell Robinson, and Sam Hauser checked into the game with Jayson Tatum, the only starter for either team to play the first 12 minutes.
Boston cut the Bucks lead to just 7 points at the 2-minute mark, the C’s making inroads on the scoreboard as Kuzma and Hierro went to the bench in the first quarter.
Boston kept getting stops to end the quarter and eventually cut the Bucks lead to just 2 points, 25-27. A stunning comeback considering the early hole they dug themselves to start the game. Tatum led the way for Boston with 16 points in 12 minutes of play. Boston only had four scorers after the first quarter; Paul George and Mitchell Robinson had 4 points each, and Queta made 1 of 2 free throws.
Luka Garza and Baylor Scheierman got into the game to start the second quarter and raised the defensive intensity for Boston with a pair of hustle plays. Paul George drained a fadeaway three-pointer to give Boston their first lead of the game, 28-27. PG scored all 8 points to start the second quarter before Bucks’ head coach, Taylor Jenkins, called a timeout.
Baylor Scheierman had a two-hand dunk in front of the visitor’s bench, which had the Celtics’ players up off their seats. Derrick White had 5 quick points for Boston as the C’s went on a 17-7 run to start of the second quarter. Jayson Tatum had a long 7-minute spell on the bench and returned to the game with Boston up by 10 points, 44-34, with 4 and a half minutes to go in the half.
The second quarter was all Paul George for Boston; he poured in 16 points in the 2nd quarter, heading to the bench after a solid 10 minutes of play. Boston were in complete control at halftime with a 13-point lead, 58-45.
Boston opened up the third quarter where they left off, they hit seven straight points in the first 2 minutes of play. Queta hit a tip layup, followed that up with a fadeaway jumper, Boston up by 20 points, 65-45. The Boston lead swelled to 23 points at one point before Kyle Kuzma and Ryan Rollins had back-to-back 3-pointers for Milwaukee to cut it back to 16.
Mitchell Robinson provided some great minutes to close out the third for Boston, he had a tip in basket and a lob dunk for his 12th point of the night, Boston in cruise control to close out the third quarter.
Payton Pritchard went supernova to start the 4th quarter, he hit 3 triples in a row for Boston as they were looking to close it out on the road before a big game in Philly on Tuesday night. Boston connected on 6 three-pointers midway through the fourth quarter, they had a 109-86 lead with 5 minutes left in the game.
The final minutes saw the stay ready crew take the floor for Boston, with Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, Luka Garza, Jordan Walsh and Ron Harper Jr. The game was never in doubt after halftime for Boston, a clinical win on the road to a struggling team.
Boston next travel to Philly to take on Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and the 76ers, at 8pm EST.
