BOSTON — For a third straight time this season, the Bucks found themselves in a competitive game with the Celtics.
And for a third straight time, it was the defending champions who made enough plays down the stretch, this time for a 111-105 victory in front of a raucous sellout crowd at TD Garden that completed a 3-0 sweep of the season series.
“We take that right now we’re in the game with them, but we haven’t beaten them and we do believe we have a big stretch that we’re going to get better,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re going to get a lot better, and they will too a little bit, but we will a lot.
“So yeah, we hope to play them again in the playoffs in the late rounds, and we’ll see how it goes. But right now they’re the champs, and until someone beats them, they’re the champs.”
It would have been easy to mistake this game for one in April or May. There was great intensity on the court and in the stands, and the officials allowed physicality throughout. The teams combined for 15 turnovers, and the stars on both sides — Jayson Tatum (34 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jaylen Brown (25 points) for Boston, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (30 points, 11 rebounds) and Damian Lillard (31 points) for Milwaukee — all made massive contributions.
The Celtics didn’t have Kristaps Porzingis (injury management ahead of Saturday’s game vs. Memphis), and Derrick White (1-for-10, 0-for-8 from 3) and Payton Pritchard (scoreless in 24 minutes) had arguably their worst games of the season. Boston also didn’t get a single second-chance point (11-0 in favor of Milwaukee).
It still wasn’t enough to tip the scale in the Bucks’ favor.
“It wasn’t a playoff game, but it was a special night,” Tatum said. “This is my eighth year, and these nights where you’re playing a team that’s really good with some special players, and the crowd is really involved, and guys are making plays and feeding off the energy of your teammates and of the crowd and the fans, the amount of times that we’ve won games in moments like that.
“It’s just another special night at TD Garden that I’ve been a part of.”
If there was any doubt about the night’s intensity, it was on display in the third quarter, when Al Horford’s wife, Amelia, got up from her front-row seat and exhorted the crowd to cheer louder when Antetokounmpo was at the foul line.
“Yes, no question,” Horford immediately said, when asked if it feels different to play the Bucks. “There are certain teams that it just does, and we’ve been since JT’s rookie year, we went to seven against those guys.
“Year after year, both teams have had a lot of success in the East, and it is different, every time we play them, and that’s just the reality.”
During large portions of Friday’s game, it looked as if the Bucks finally might have the upper hand. Boston struggled to get going offensively from deep, missing 15 consecutive 3-pointers from late in the first quarter to early in the third. Antetokounmpo repeatedly battered his way to the rim, shedding defenders left and right, while Lillard — despite not getting a few continuation calls he would have wanted — had success attacking Boston’s defense.
And yet, with 90 seconds to go, Antetokounmpo found himself on the left wing and, when Horford backed off him, decided to step into his first 3-point try of the night. But he missed, and a quick Horford response at the other end gave Boston a four-point lead it never relinquished.
“Coming down, I saw Al Horford backing up,” Antetokounmpo said. “I felt like I could make it. Shot it. Went well, in my opinion. S—, if I had the chance to shoot it again, I’d shoot it again. I’ve made it multiple times, so I’d shoot it again.”
Perhaps that chance will come in the playoffs, the next time these teams could meet. The Bucks were 2-8 when they lost to the Celtics in Milwaukee a few weeks ago but have since clawed their way back to .500 by winning nine of the 11 intervening games.
The question is how much more they can continue to improve between now and a potential rematch.
“I’m not going to talk about moral victories and everything, but they’re a great team,” said Bucks forward Khris Middleton, who came off the bench and had 11 points on 2-for-10 shooting in 23 minutes in his season debut. “We want to get back to where they were last year, and they’re trying to get back to where they were last year also. So it’s just about putting our best foot before and trying to be the best team. I’m not worried about anything else, really.”
