The Milwaukee Bucks were outplayed from the very start of their Eastern Conference Semifinal game at Boston Tuesday night, losing to the Celtics, 109-86.
Buoyed by early leads of 18-3 early and 65-40 at halftime, Boston was able to withstand a pair of second half Milwaukee runs that got them to within 12 in the fourth quarter. But that was as close as the Bucks got, as Boston evened up the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.
“Credit to them – they beat us pretty handily tonight,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters after the game. “But there were a couple plays in late third quarter and in the fourth quarter, it felt like maybe we could’ve got it inside of 10 and just find a way but we didn’t. So, we’ll look at the film and see how we can be better going into Game 3.”
Milwaukee was led by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 28 points, 23 of them in the second half. Boston’s Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 30, while teammate Jayson Tatum chipped in 29.
Game three of the series will be Saturday afternoon starting at 2:30 p.m. at Fiserv Forum.