Bucks decide not to show up, held to franchise low by Celtics

After losing two straight, the Boston Celtics came into last night's game vs. the Milwaukee Bucks at TD Garden in need of a win.

The fact that it turned out to be so one-sided and historical were some nice footnotes to a pathetic showing by the Bucks. The Celtics (47-17) won 87-56.

Milwaukee (26-39) was playing the second leg of a back-to-back on the road so a flight and losing an hour to daylight savings didn't help but come on? There are no excuses for dropping 22 points in the first half against a team that you played pretty hard against a week earlier.

The Bucks were held to a franchise-low point total and the Celtics also set a defensive mark for lowest points allowed in a game.

Oh well. Ray Allen led the hit parade with 17 points while Nenad Krstic continued to be a rebounding machine with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Paul Pierce added 14 points in a short night as the starters got to leave for good in the third quarter.

Jeff Green (11 points) and Troy Murphy (12 points, 7 rebounds) were the standouts off the bench along with Carlos Arroyo (6 assists).

With a back-to-back tonight, in Newark, things will no doubt be much harder for the Cs as they take on the Nets. New Jersey has won their last four games in a row and Deron Williams returns from a few games away (his wife had a baby) so he'll be raring to go. Don't be surprised if this one goes down to the wire. You've seen that script before.