Celtics 99-140: Boston sweeps Milwaukee with an epic performance and all-out basketball

For them, it was a good test, but not the game of the season. For them, it was the final game in order to survive the claim of first place in the entire NBA that would provide the absolute home advantage in the playoffs. At the end of the night, it wasn’t just survival instinct that spoke, but the metal Celtics who crushed the Milwaukee Bucks (140-99) to set the Eastern Conference ablaze with five games left in the regular season.

Boston’s team went up to 53-24 (28-9 at home and 25-15 away), with Jaylen Brown doing things and miracles in the first period and Jason Tatum backing him up ever since. They totaled 70 points (25/38 shooting, 11/15 three-pointers), in an amazing performance at the Fiserv Forum. Joe Matsola saw his players play with strength, focus and assertiveness, understand the gravity of confrontation and take advantage of opportunities to stay alive in the game for first place in both the East and the NBA.

The Bucks fell to 55-22 (30-8 at home and 25-14), who would now trail in a potential tie with the Celtics as they lost the series 2-1. Seemingly ill-prepared for their opponents’ physical game, the Milwaukee team was exhausted from the effort 24 hours earlier in Indianapolis and witnessed their top players have had a bad night. Not only was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who also struggled against the Celtics wall, as well as Junior Holiday, who fell from 51 points for the Pacers to six, but also Chris Middleton, who had two legs fresh but still needed time to find his points. . feet from.

Antetokounmpo account

He was down in the first half (5 points, 2/7 shooting, 1/2 shooting, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block in 8:58), but the worst part was that he was blocked by Robert on his attempted dunk. Williams and sprained his injured right wrist. In the second half he pushed and pushed the only one to upset the Celtics defense, he had 20 points in the half but with seven missed pointers and four three-pointers. It wasn’t a good night for him, he got out early and watched much of the third and fourth periods from the bench, very disappointed with how the game was going.

24 points
11/22 2 points
0/5 three throws
2/3 shots
7 rebounds
2 assists
1 robbery
1 block
2 errors
-32 to +/-
At 25:17

36-54 points at bat, 8-12 points off the bench, 45-38 points from the bench, 9-17 points from opponent fouls, 17-8 points from second chances.

Bucks schedule until the end of the regular season

• Sixers in
• processors out
• bulls in
• I’m grizzly inside
• wild birds

Race

With so many frictions and tough marks early on, not only did the Celtics have a tough time with the money, but they also faced Jaylen Brown in an incredible situation. Their convincing perimeter scored 17 points for a 21-25 lead in the ninth, with Boston closing the period at +8 (26-34) thanks to their efficiency from the three-pointer.

Consecutive shots from Tatum early in the second put the Celtics at +14 (30-44), the lead came to 22 (30-52 in the 18th minute) as the home team held on to the score for four minutes, and went to 30 (40-70) before Short first half. Everything was going downhill, everything for the visitors was going up… It’s true and the score in the first half left little room for anyone hoping for a real fight in the second half.

At the start of the third, the teams went to 34 (53-87), passed 40 and after an elbow from Brown at Middleton who was forced to go into the locker room, Budenholzer realized there was nothing to chase. He pulled his start, seeing Mazoula hold on until the end of the twelve minutes (74-114) and the fourth was quite procedural in nature as both coaches emptied their seats.

If the skirmishes between Griffin and Thanassis had been at the end, when the former made an unnecessary unsportsmanlike act towards the latter and tripped him up, resulting in his ejection, the stadium would have been emptied much earlier.

the dodecalepta: 26-34, 47-75, 74-114, 99-140

Bucks Milwaukee (Mike Bodenholzer): Middleton 13 (1 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), Giannis Antetokounmpo 24 (11/22 2-pointers, 0/5 3-pointers, 2/3 blocked shots, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), Lopez 8 (3/5 2 points, 5 rebounds), Allen 3 (1), Holiday 6 (2 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Engels, Portis 12 (2 3-pointers, 10 rebounds), Crowder , Carter 8 (2/8 3-pointer), Matthews 4, Connaughton 8 (2), Beauchamp 3 (1), Thanasis Antitokonmo, Dragic 9 (3/3 3-pointer)

Boston Celtics (Joe Mazzola): Brown 30 (10/15 2 throws, 3/5 3 shots, 1/2 shots, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Tatum 40 (4/8 2 shots, 8/10 3 shots, 8/ 8 shots, 8 rebounds), Horford 14 (4/6 triples, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), White 8 (2), Smart 10 (2 triples, 4 rebounds, 8 assists), Brogdon 14 (3 rebounds, 5 assists assists, 4 steals), Grant Williams 6 (1), Robert Williams 7 (7 rebounds, 4 blocks), Houser 3 (1), Cornette 4, Mascala, Griffin 4

Milwaukee Bucks stats: 24/58 2 made, 14/43 3 made, 9/13 blocked shots, 56 rebounds, 22 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 13 fumbles, 16 turnovers

Boston Celtics stats: 29/48 2 made, 22/43 3 made, 16/20 blocked shots, 55 rebounds, 28 assists, 8 steals, 5 blocks, 8 turnovers, 18 fouls