Good health is the key, Ime Udoka says after a season when the opposite was often true.
As such, on a night when the Celtics had a chance to clinch the second seed, the coach chose to sit Jayson Tatum (knee) and Al Horford (back). Toss in the ongoing absence of Rob Williams, and the Celtics still pushed the defending champs to the limit on their homecourt.
The Celtics, on the way to burying 21 3-pointers against a Bucks team known for porous 3-point coverage, fell just short in a 127-121 loss to Milwaukee. Thus wasted was a 22-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double from Jaylen Brown — his second of the season — and a 29-point night from Marcus Smart.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo helped put this one away with 29 points and 11 rebounds.
The Celtics, despite four turnovers in a six-possession stretch, carried a 119-118 lead into the last three minutes. Smart boosted it with a drive, Bobby Portis tied the score from downtown with 2:11 left. Derrick White missed from downtown, and when Smart fouled Antetokounmpo, the Bucks star was only able to hit once from the line for a one-point lead.
White missed an eight-footer, and Holiday put back his own miss for a 124-121 lead. Brown, two fingers on his shooting hand bandaged, shot an airball from the top of the arc, the Celtics maintained possession with seven seconds on the shot clock, and Theis missed an open layup off an inbounds pass from White.
Antetokounmpo, fouled down the other end with 39 seconds left, only hit once again, this time for a 125-121 edge.
George Hill poked the ball away from Brown, had his shot goaltended by Theis off the break, and gave Milwaukee a 127-121 lead with 20 seconds left.
Three Celtics — Brown (20 points), Theis (22) and Smart (24) — were scoring at a high clip by the end of three quarters, with the Bucks barely holding onto a 102-97 lead. Theis had just put together a 14-point third to go along with another 14 from Smart that included four 3’s.
The Celtics, who hit 18 3’s over the first three quarters, opened the fourth with a 10-2 run, including the first five points from Payton Pritchard and the second five from Derrick White, for a 107-104 lead with 9:25 left.
But after the Bucks took a brief 109-107 lead on a Jrue Holiday 3-pointer, the Celtics hit back again with a 7-0 run that included White’s fourth three of the night and was good for a 114-109 lead.
But the Celtics turned it over three times in their next four possessions, Holiday and Bobby Portis took the lead back with two straight 3’s, and despite a Brown put-back, Antetokounmpo gave the Bucks a two-point lead by muscling in with a three-point play.
Smart hit from downtown for a 119-118 lead, turned it over the next time down, blocked Antetokounmpo.
