MILWAUKEE — Rob Williams caught a Bobby Portis elbow off the top of his head during a third quarter rebound battle, hit the floor and had to be helped to the locker room.
He returned, and the pace hadn’t improved at all, to the Celtics’ misfortune. Matched against an opponent as physical and shut down-oriented as themselves, the Celtics dropped Game 3 103-101 when one Al Horford putback attempt rolled off the rim, and a second successful one was ruled to have come just after the buzzer.
Thus wasted was a back-loaded 27-point performance by Jaylen Brown, to go along with another 22 from Horford. Jayson Tatum got off to a slow start and was unable to break free of the bruising conditions, finishing with 10 points on 4-for-19 shooting..
They certainly didn’t have enough to match the combined work of Giannis Antetokounmpo (42 points) and Jrue Holiday (25).
Brown was fouled off the break with 1:49 left, and hit twice for the Celtics’ first lead (100-99) since early in the third quarter.
Holiday missed, and the shot clock buzzer sounded, though the Celtics produced a long, empty possession down the other end that ended on a missed Marcus Smart 3-pointer.
The Bucks inbounded with 50 seconds left, and Antetokounmpo drove for the lead. Brown missed, and Holiday hit a jump hook with 11.2 seconds left for a 103-100 Milwaukee lead.
But with 4.6 seconds left Holiday fouled Smart 20 feet away. The Celtics guard hit the first, grabbed the rebound of his intentional second miss, and missed again. Tips by Rob Williams and Horford missed as the clock expired.
Pat Connaughton’s corner 3 gave the Bucks a 97-90 lead with 5:20 left, and Horford immediately answered, also from downtown. The Celtics center then cut the margin to two with four minutes left, and with 3:44 left, Smart rimmed out the first of two free throws, leaving the Celtics trailing by a point.
Connaughton launched an air ball, Tatum missed a fadeaway, and Antetokounmpo scored from the lane for a 99-96 lead. Brown cut the margin to a point again with two free throws with 2:33 left.
Connaughton and Horford swapped downtown misses.
The Celtics trailed at the start of the fourth quarter 80-67, and as evidenced by Tatum’s eight-point, 3-for-17 afternoon, good offense was a wish, not reality.
Derrick White and Brown hit back-to-back threes early in the fourth, followed by a Horford hoop that cut the Bucks lead to 88-81 with 8:27 left.
Brown’s 3 also triggered a 10-2 run that cut the Milwaukee lead to 90-85, before Antetokounmpo ended it by posting up Grant Williams.
But Brown drove right back at the Bucks star, converting a three-point play that cut the Bucks lead to 92-88 with 6:29 left. But Antetokounmpo blew by Brown for the dunk on the next play.
Though Antetokounmpo scored Milwaukee’s last 12 points of the third quarter, the Celtics took the lead with a quarter-closing 7-0 run, including a Grant Williams 3-pointer for a 50-46 halftime lead.
