Just When All Hope Was Lost, The C's Pull Off Their Best Win Of The Season 122-114 At Bucks

 

    Coming into tonight's rematch between the Celtics (22-23 overall, 9-16 away) and Bucks (29-15 overall, 18-6 home) at the Fiserv Forum, I don't know who would have been crazy or frankly stupid enough to think that Boston would snap Milwaukee's eight-game win streak. That's the beauty of sports though, the unexpected often becomes reality. A day after the NBA Trade Deadline passed with Daniel Theis shipped off to Chicago and Evan Fournier on his way from Orlando, the Celts managed to put together their best performance of the year in a 122-114 victory that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. We've been fooled too many times by this team during this bumpy season to think it's anything but an aberration that is until they prove us wrong again. 

    Center Robert Williams (7 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 blocks, 2 steals) got his first start of the season and as you can tell by his statistics, he made the most of his 27 minutes. His energy seemed to boost the entire club as swingman Jayson Tatum (game-high 34 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) was fantastic and guard Marcus Smart (23 points, 8 rebounds) had his usual once-a-year lights out shooting display (7-of-10 on 3s!). Point guard Kemba Walker (21 points, 5 assists, 3 steals) has actually been good for a few weeks now but it's hard to notice when the team is a trainwreck. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown added 18 points and five rebounds while another new Celtic Mo Wagner hit a 3-pointer and grabbed five rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench. 

    After being held to 13 points on Wednesday, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo (16 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) wasn't much better this evening which makes you wonder how healthy he's feeling. As we know, it's not like Boston is considered great defensively so it's tough to explain how they locked him up in these two contests. Nobody on Milwaukee reached 20 points as small forward Khris Middleton led them with 19 points and two steals. Point guard Jrue Holiday scored 17 points but he had six costly turnovers. Shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo added 13 points but he was 5-for-15 from the field. Giannis' brother Thanasis put up 12 points and five rebounds off the bench while shooting guard Sam Merrill got hot in garbage time (making the score what it was) and finished with 15 points. 

 The C's had lost five straight games in Milwaukee and after Wednesday's bitter defeat, this was exactly what they needed. The first half treated them well as they led 32-26 after the first quarter and 60-55 at halftime. The third quarter was the key of the game as they pumped in a season-high 43 points to take a 103-89 advantage into the final frame. They went ice cold in the fourth as the Bucks got them 25-19 but thankfully by that time it was out of their reach. 

    As a team, Boston shot 4.5% better from the field than Milwaukee (48.9%-44.4%) and hit three more 3-pointers (22-19). They also made twice as many free throws (14-7), had three more assists (27-24), three more steals (10-7), five more blocks (8-3) and two less turnovers (16-14) than the home team. Kemba will be resting tomorrow night (9, NBC Sports Boston) but the Celtics will be in Oklahoma City (19-25 overall, 8-13 home) to try and take this back-to-back from the Bucks and Thunder. After this four-game road trip started poorly with the overtime loss at Memphis (21-21) on Monday then the comeback fell short against Milwaukee in round one, winning this game gives them a chance to go 2-2 which would be fine. The Thunder are not a playoff team so even with this condensed schedule, the Celtics should beat them if they want to start to rebuild any kind of trust in their fanbase for the rest of this bizarre campaign.

On The Eve Of The Trade Deadline, Let's Hope That Was The Last Glimpse Of A Mediocre Celtics Roster

 

    Oh man, you really couldn't have scripted a more perfect way for the Celtics (21-23 overall, 8-16 away) to go into the NBA Trade Deadline tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. They trailed by as much as 25 points in the third quarter tonight at the Fiserv Forum against the Bucks (29-14 overall, 18-5 home) only to have a crazy rally in the fourth quarter which gave them the chance to tie it or win at the end of regulation. Naturally, center Daniel Theis (10 points, 2 blocks) got wide open on the inbounds pass by guard Marcus Smart (12 points, 6 assists) but he missed a 3-pointer at the final buzzer that would have won it. Instead, Milwaukee survived for a 121-119 victory-their eighth win in a row-while Boston fell to 2-6 since the All-Star break and 1-10 in its last 11 road games. 

    So what say you Celts GM Danny Ainge? Have you seen enough from this underachieving group to mercifully do anything to put it out of its collective misery? Sadly, despite all the rumors of the team's interest in Orlando forward Aaron Gordon and swingman Evan Fournier, I fear that Ainge will either do nothing or something very minor before the deadline passes. Don't get me wrong, I am not delusional enough to think that the C's have any chance whatsoever to win the NBA championship this season no matter how many slick moves that Danny could pull off. Still, it would be nice for a change to see them be more about proactive action rather than after the fact recapping all the things that almost happened but ultimately didn't. 

    Two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (13 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) will probably never have a worse performance against the Celtics and yet his team still came out on top. Small forward Khris Middleton (game-high 27 points, game-high 13 rebounds) picked up the slack for the Greek Freak. Center Brook Lopez (5 rebounds, 3 steals) and shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo both scored 17 points while point guard Jrue Holiday added 13 points and two steals for the home team. Boston also allowed backup center Bobby Portis to score 21 points off the bench in just 17 minutes. 

    For the Celtics, one of their All-Stars was good while the other was not himself: I'll let you guess which was which as shooting guard Jaylen Brown had a team-high 24 points and 10 rebounds while swingman Jayson Tatum was held to 18 points (on 7-for-19 shooting), eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Boston wasted a fine night from point guard Kemba Walker (23 points, 6 assists, 3 steals) who briefly looked like his old self and backup point guard Jeff Teague scored 15 points in 17 minutes off the bench. 

    The hottest team in the NBA looked just like that as they led 35-30 after one quarter and 70-59 at halftime. Are you old enough to remember when Boston was actually considered a good defensive team? That seems like years ago. The Bucks outscored the Celtics 30-27 in the third quarter and Boston took the final frame (33-21) but it wasn't enough to come away with what would have been their biggest and most meaningful win of the season. Milwaukee shot 2.1% better from the field (50%-47.9%), they made four more free throws (14-10), grabbed eight more total rebounds (46-38) including four more offensive boards (13-9) and four more defensive boards (33-29) and they scored seven more second chance points (23-16) than the C's. 

    Boston gets another shot at Milwaukee on Friday (7:30, NBC Sports Boston) and somehow I'm betting it will go way worse for the visitors. Giannis is guaranteed to play much better and the Bucks will ride the momentum of a very good team finding their rhythm at the right time of the season. No matter if it's Gordon, Fournier or somebody else that is a trusted veteran in the league, I can only wish that Ainge will make something work to help ensure that another lost season like this (with Tatum and Brown on the team) is not acceptable and won't occur again anytime soon. 

Tatum Comes Through In The Clutch & Giannis Chokes In Wild Season-Opening Win For The C's

 

    In a night that started with a moving tribute to Celtics icon Tommy Heinsohn, Boston did him proud with a riveting 122-121 season-opening victory tonight against Milwaukee at an empty TD Garden. C's star Jayson Tatum (30 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals) hit an absurd 3-pointer that banked off the glass before going in with 0.4 seconds left in regulation. That gave the Celtics a 122-120 lead, so obviously game over, right? Haha it's still 2020 for a few more tedious days therefore the reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (game-high 35 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and 7 turnovers) was fouled by one of the newest Celtics-center Tristan Thompson (12 points, 8 rebounds)-going up for an alley-oop off the inbounds pass. Giannis hit the first free throw but then he front-rimmed the second one and that's how it shockingly ended. 

    With point guard Kemba Walker out for at least the near future with his troubling knee injury, the Celts will have to lean heavily on Tatum and shooting guard Jaylen Brown (team-high 33 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) and this evening against last season's No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, they both stepped up in a major way. Center Daniel Theis added 10 points while the other starter fill-in point guard Marcus Smart (7 assists, 2 blocks) struggled offensively managing just three points in 38 minutes. This was the third time that Tatum and Brown have each scored 30 points in the same game and not surprisingly, their team is 3-0 in those special occasions that should soon happen more frequently. They also became they first Celtics teammates to ever do that in a season-opener. Head coach Brad Stevens improved to 5-3 in season-openers as the Celtics head coach.

    Boston's bench is one of its biggest question marks coming into 2020-2021 but at least this evening, they were light years ahead of Milwaukee's terrible bench. The Celtics outscored them 34-12 thanks mostly to veteran point guard Jeff Teague (19 points, 2 steals) who was fantastic in his Celtics debut. Former All-Star Khris Middleton (27 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists) nearly notched a triple-double while the Bucks' huge offseason addition point guard Jrue Holiday added 25 points and six rebounds. Finally, former Villanova star Donte DiVincenzo (15 points, 5 rebounds) looked like he belonged in Milwaukee's starting lineup which is undoubtedly one of the best in the league. 

    They didn't meet in the bubble playoffs (since the Bucks laid an egg against the Heat) but before that, Boston and Milwaukee had met in the previous two postseasons as this has gradually become a solid rivalry in the East. Did I mention that the C's almost blew a 17-point lead? Haha oh that. They were up 101-84 going into the fourth quarter but that was all gone before Tatum hit his prayer. As you can guess, it was a very entertaining back-and-forth contest as the Bucks jumped out to a 34-31 lead after the first quarter before Boston took control in the second quarter (33-25) to go up 64-59 at halftime. In the Disney World bubble, the third quarter was a nightmare for the C's but not this time as they outscored the Bucks 37-25. 

    As always under Stevens, Boston will live and die by the three and they hit four more than Milwaukee (18-14). They also had four more assists (23-19), twice as many steals (8-4) and 10 less turnovers. The Bucks must be shaking their heads, wondering how they even lost this game. They shot over 50% (51.1%-47.5%), they took seven more free throws (18-11) and hit seven more (15-8) than Boston. Milwaukee also grabbed 15 more rebounds (52-37) including 14 more defensive boards (41-27). No matter what happens for the rest of this bizarre 72-game Covid-19 shortened regular season, there won't be many better games than this one, I guarantee it (Charles Barkley voice)!

    The NBA takes Christmas Eve off-giving bozo James Harden more time to hit the club-but then they are back for one of the most important days of the year for the league: Christmas. There are five marquee matchups spanning all afternoon and night including your Celtics hosting (5, ABC) the Nets (1-0) who embarrassed the Warriors (0-1) 125-99 last night in Brooklyn. Perhaps the most annoying man in pro sports-Kyrie Irving (who scored 26 points vs. Golden State)-will return to Boston along with a fully-healed Kevin Durant (he put up 22 points against one of his old teams). The Warriors were playing without Klay Thompson and Draymond Green so I don't want to be like everyone else and overreact too much about one win but the Nets looked deep and damn good. If nothing else, Celtics-Nets should be a spicy new rivalry since you'll remember that Durant could have chosen to come here in free agency a few years back but he rightfully picked the easiest road to a ring-the Warriors. Still, Boston sports fans have amazing memories when it comes to real or perceived slights by players on other teams.

The Dream Is Over: Celtics' Unbeaten Summer League Run Goes Down In Flames

After three very solid games in a row to start the 2012 Orlando Summer League, the Celtics laid an egg this afternoon against the Pistons.

Detroit (3-1) led the whole way and coasted to an easy 93-79 victory over Boston (3-1) to hand them their first loss of the week or summer if you will. All you need to know about how one-sided it was: the Pistons shot 12.5% better (48.6-36.1) and dished out 14 more assists (23-9).

Here come the excuses: the Celtics gave their main starters a bit of a break so the bench guys started. Not that it mattered since the Pistons were on fire all game long; credit to Boston for cutting it to seven in the fourth but they were never really in it.

Former Kentucky point guard Brandon Knight looked like Rajon Rondo with a game-high 19 points and 14 assists. Austin Daye had 15 points and eight rebounds, Khris Middleton scored 12 points and UConn product Andre Drummoned added 10 points and eight rebounds.

The two real bright spots for the C's were JaJuan Johnson (17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks), who had his best performance of the week and Kris Joseph (17 points, 11 rebounds), who continues to open eyes. Jamar Smith had 13 points, Jared Sullinger struggled from the field (2-for-9) but still managed 11 points and seven rebounds while Dionte Christmas scored his customary 10 points.

Boston closes out its week in Orlando with a matchup against the host Magic (2-2) tomorrow morning (10 a.m., NBA TV). After that, the C's will fly to Las Vegas as they are also participating in NBA Summer League in Sin City. Their first game there is on Monday night vs. Atlanta (6 p.m., NBA TV).

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate