Every player has off nights, but for the Boston Celtics, things quickly spiraled out of control on Wednesday during a dismal road game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Celtics, owners of the NBA’s best record (29–8), entered the marquee matchup on the second night of a back-to-back looking for a win, only to have the Bucks run them out of Fiserv Forum en route to taking a whopping 75–38 halftime lead.
Due to the large deficit, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla elected to pull his sterling starting five of Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis to begin the second half, turning an already bad night into a much worse one.
As expected, NBA fans were up in arms online not only at the sight of Boston’s poor play, but the likes of Payton Pritchard, Svi Mykhailiuk, Sam Hauser, Lamar Stevens, Luke Kornet battling Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the Bucks starters to begin the third quarter.
The Bucks’s lead eventually grew to as much as 40 points before TNT eventually pulled the plug for much of the quarter. Of course, the decision to cut away did nothing to prevent the Celtics from getting roasted on social media:
Well, that was an ass-kicking, no matter the circumstances. Bucks look great and the Celtics look like crap. B2B or not, a 37-point halftime deficit is getting dominated.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) January 12, 2024
Largest halftime deficit for the Celtics since 1967 😮 https://t.co/kRBesDQ4tT pic.twitter.com/jrTaDbqFGd
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) January 12, 2024
Celtics benched their starters for 2nd half after 37 PT halftime deficit 😳 pic.twitter.com/u3Gzqyxuw7
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 12, 2024
No but actually benching your starters after the half is loser energy. Guess what, the Celtics are not the first team in NBA history to play a road B2B. Every team does it https://t.co/jif9B2AFMj
— Rohan Katti (@RKattiJr) January 12, 2024
Celtics Twitter, your starters quit after the first half pic.twitter.com/oMXlyQmOSE
— 𝐁𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 (@Bucks_Take) January 12, 2024
The Celtics should be fined for pulling starters after one half on a nationally televised game.
— Mason 🦌 (@ImMaseMan) January 12, 2024
That’s ridiculous.
Yeah I’d pull my starters too if they played over 60 minutes in the last 24 hours
— TatumsWrld (@BodiedbyTatum_) January 12, 2024
Insane Celtics hating. https://t.co/VOyLL31LBs
equipment managers around the league seeing the bucks up 75-38 against the celtics at halftimepic.twitter.com/AKWZfcOYFW
— Vivek Jacob (@vivekmjacob) January 12, 2024
Celtics down 40?? pic.twitter.com/7lLOocliQa
— bag (@mookiebag) January 12, 2024
celtics giving up midway through the 3rd quarter pic.twitter.com/o6Drzgg5Gr
— carter (@carterkelpsh) January 12, 2024
