Bucks lose their third straight as 63 total points from Giannis, Lillard aren't enough against Celtics
BOSTON – The Milwaukee Bucks lost their third straight game to fall to 1-4 on the young season with a 119-108 defeat at the hands of the defending champion Boston Celtics on Monday night at TD Garden. The Celtics improved to 4-0.
After the game, Giannis Antetokounmpo insisted that he's still encouraged by where the team is headed.
"It’s the fourth game of the season," Antetokounmpo said. "Even if we sucked, if we were very, very bad, it’s the fourth game of the season. Like, you have to be optimistic. This is the job that we are in. But at the end of the day we have a great team. I believe we’re going to keep on playing better, keep on learning from our mistakes, and eventually we’re gonna start winning games.”
Box score: Celtics 119, Bucks 108
The Bucks were led by Antetokounmpo's 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Damian Lillard added 33 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Brook Lopez had 13 points and Gary Trent Jr. added 10.
Boston was led by Payton Pritchard's 28 points off the bench, while Jaylen Brown added 30 points. Jayson Tatum had 15 points on 16 shots while Derrick White had 13 points on 13 shots.
Did the Bucks find some identity despite loss?
In the preseason, the Bucks acknowledged they were slow playing the installation of the entire offense as they waited for the return of Khris Middleton to the lineup. But Middleton has yet to practice five-on-five as the regular season reaches its second week, and the offense has played unevenly through the exhibition schedule and early part of the season.
The team felt confident in the defensive principles under the direction of assistant coach Greg Buckner, head coach Doc Rivers’ “defensive coordinator,” but the team allowed 133 and 115 points, respectively, to rebuilding teams in Chicago and Brooklyn.
Following the team’s disappointing loss to the Nets on Sunday, Antetokounmpo said the team has yet to find that definition. Before taking on the Celtics, Rivers agreed the team was still searching.
Perhaps Monday night has moved the Bucks closer to finding out who they are in 2024.
In taking a 56-53 first half lead, the Bucks guards fought over screens and largely stayed connected to the Celtics perimeter players. The bigs played to their size, being physical but not fouling. Boston got up 25 three-pointers, but all-stars Brown and Tatum were 0-for-7 from deep and were forced into tough two-point shots otherwise.
The Bucks rebounded collectively and were patient and unselfish on offense. While not all their shots went down (26.3% from behind the three-point line, 43.5% overall), there was no denying they had good looks the majority of the half.
“I think when we pay attention to the details and we do the things that we talk about in the locker room and that we work on, we execute that on the floor,” Lillard said.
“Especially tonight we saw what the game looked like against the best team in the league when we did those things. And the stretchers that we kind of got away from that, we also saw what it looked like then. I think it just shows you gotta be comitted to doing those things for extended periods of time. You can’t do it in stretches because the stretches that you don’t do, the game can open up on you. In the second half that’s pretty much what happened.”
And even though the game eventually got away from the Bucks late in the second half as they couldn’t make open threes, the Celtics had no answer for the Bucks when they decided to attack the rim. In fact, the Celtics used a 14-3 run early in the third to wrest control of the game at 67-61 because Lopez and Antetokounmpo settled for long shots.
But once the two bigs – and Lillard – attacked the rim the Bucks eventually took a 73-70 lead.
“I don’t like moral victories but I just thought that’s what we can be, at least for three quarters,” Rivers said. “I thought we ran out of gas a little bit.”
Boston gradually took the lead again by getting five second-chance points and creating some turnovers. But again, the Bucks remained disciplined in that offensive approach and remained within shouting distance into the fourth quarter.
“They didn’t do what they wanted. I thought our physicality, our pressure, our energy was just more like how it should be every night," Lillard said. "That’s what we gotta do and we gotta present ourselves that way. And just make teams uncomfortable to start. And then, that’s when the game begins.”
Unfortunately, they couldn’t make enough baskets to truly reset the game.
“I think for the most part we played good basketball, coming from a back-to-back, coming from a bad loss (Sunday) against Brooklyn I think we came in, set the tone," Antetokounmpo said. "Early into the game the ball was moving, we were attacking, guys were making shots, we were getting downhill, we were definitely getting rebounds, protecting the paint and getting rebounds and going the other way. We did a lot of things good tonight.
“I think we had a very good film session this morning and seeing where we’re trying to make this team go. Had a great film session with coach Doc (on Sunday) night. It’s something we’re going to continue to have, me and him just to be on the same page with how we want to set the table for the team.”
“But at the end of the day there were some steps toward the right direction but for me that’s not enough. You want to win games. You want to win games. We need a win.”
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Payton Pritchard's three-point shooting too much for Bucks
The defending champion Celtics are a prolific three-point shooting team under head coach Joe Mazzulla, taking the equation that 3>2 to an even greater extreme in the early stages of this season, hoisting an astounding 51.3 three-point attempts per gave over their first three games.
To put that in context, they shot 42.5 per game last season on the way to the NBA title. The record for a season is 45.4 per game, set by the 2018-19 Houston Rockets.
So Boston putting up 46 three-pointers on Monday night when the regulars were in was no surprise – or even an indictment on Milwaukee’s defense – because that’s just what the Celtics do. But the Bucks did a good job for most of the night in limiting the looks of Boston stars Tatum and Brown from behind the three-point line, and they made point guards Derrick White and Jrue Holiday also work to make triples.
Center Al Horford made a couple of threes, but those five players combined to go 10 for 31.
The Bucks no doubt will take that.
Unfortunately, Payton Pritchard came off the Celtics bench and single-handedly kneecapped all that effort.
The 6-foot-1-inch guard went 7-for-11 from behind the three-point line in his first 22 minutes of play – including a dagger with 10 minutes, 55 minutes to go in the game that put the Celtics up 95-82. The Bucks on the other hand couldn’t buy a three (6-for-26, 23.1% with the regulars) all game long, so that deficit was just too great for them to make up.
Rivers and Lillard said Pritchard was a focus in the morning film session, and yet the Celtics guard was still able to change the game for the home team.
“He got their three-ball going, because we kept them off the three line for the most part,” Rivers said. “We loved how we were defending, channeling them inside. We just didn’t think they could make enough twos. But when you do that and you give up some layups, you can not give up threes and I thought he started it and then in the third, early fourth, they got loose for three-point shots and that hurt us. I thought that changed the game.”
Pritchard’s threes were all necessary, but they were also timely – like at the third quarter buzzer to give his team a 90-82 lead and get TD Garden rocking. Or the five he made in the first half – part of a 19-point effort – that kept the Celtics in the game as the Bucks defended well and methodically attacked the Celtics interior.
Third quarter is the turning point for the Celtics
Through the first 34 minutes of play, the Bucks had held the Celtics to just three second-chance points. The Bucks had attacked the defensive glass, cleaning up a weakness that plagued them the previous three games (38 offensive rebounds and 51 second-chance points allowed). But in a one-minute span late in the third quarter, a Xavier Tillman Sr. offensive rebound led to a Derrick White three-pointer and a 82-80 Celtics lead. Then, Jordan Walsh came flying in for a putback on a missed White three to give the Celtics an 87-80 lead. Those five points keyed a 11-2 quarter-closing run for the Celtics to give them a 90-82 lead they would not relinquish.
“We did a good job in the first half of being connected and making them go the second, third, fourth option that they never do," Bucks forward Bobby Portis Jr. said. "I think our low man was very active. We’ve been drilling our defense over the last two, three, four weeks just trying to get it down. Obviously it’s a new system that we’re trying to partake in, but it’s been good for us. I think the biggest thing is coming up with the defensive rebound. I think we kind of cleaned that part up tonight. But the threes, the extra threes they hit, just giving up the touch and closing the touch is one thing we can really lock more in on.”
5 numbers
3: Straight losses for the Bucks.
Portis: “There’s no such thing as moral victories – I don’t do that – but I feel like there are things; I didn’t play my best tonight, right, so there’s a lot more room to grow and a lot more things to get better at and keep working at and keep drilling so we can be the best team we can be. Obviously it’s October, so it’s long season ahead, so many games left, 78 games left, 78 opportunities to be the best we can be. So, still looking forward to that but still kind of disappointed how we started. But we’ll get better as the season grows.”
4: Blocks by Brook Lopez. He had nine in the first two games vs. Philadelphia and Chicago.
9: Point deficit for the Bucks in the third quarter as they were outscored 37-26. The Bucks have struggled coming out of the half in every game thus far.
11: Bench points for the Bucks with the regular rotation in, with Pat Connaughton leading the way with five. Pritchard scored 28, but the other three Celtics bench players combined for two points. Bobby Portis Jr. had four points on 2 of 6 shooting.
20: Celtics points off 16 Bucks turnovers when the regulars were in the game.
Is Giannis playing tonight?
Yes. Antetokounmpo has been managing tendinitis in his right patella through the preseason and the start of the regular season but appears no worse for wear through three games.
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When will Khris Middleton play?
The three-time all-star has yet to appear on the court for the Bucks, as head coach Doc Rivers said Middleton will need to practice five-on-five to get cleared for a game. Milwaukee is scheduled to have a practice before playing in Memphis on Thursday, so there should be an update on Middleton's progress this week.
Bucks injury report
Khris Middleton, out (surgery on both ankles)
Giannis Antetokounmpo, probable (right patella tendinitis)
Celtics injury report
Kristaps Porziņģis, out (foot surgery)
Sam Hauser, questionable (lower back pain)
Bucks starters
Guards: Damian Lillard, Gary Trent Jr.
Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taurean Prince
Center: Brook Lopez
What channel are the Bucks on?
The biggest game of the young season will be broadcast and streamed locally on the FanDuel Sports Network, formerly Bally Sports Wisconsin. Lisa Byington, Marques Johnson and Melanie Ricks will be on the call.
Bucks vs. Celtics odds, over/under
The Bucks are 9.5-point underdogs and the over/under is 232.5 points for the game, per BetMGM.
Bucks schedule 2024
These are the Bucks' upcoming games over the next week:
Thursday: at Memphis, 7 p.m. CT
Saturday: vs. Cleveland, 7 p.m. CT
Monday, Nov. 4: at Cleveland, 6 p.m. CT
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks fall to Boston Celtics 119-108 for third straight loss
