In the previous two games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Milwaukee Bucks, the third quarter of play has done in the Boston Celtics. It happened again Monday night. Giannis Antenkoumpo had 39 points and the Bucks outscored the Celts by 10 in the third quarter to take a 113-101 win in game four at TD Garden in Boston. Milwaukee now leads the best of seven 3-1.
Boston only allowed Milwaukee to have one lead in the opening quarter by two points, and the hosts led by as many as 11 in taking an eight point advantage after the first 12 minutes. The Celtics led throughout most of the second quarter, before the Bucks took their biggest lead of the first half on a Khris Middleton three pointer with 2:19 left at 47-43. Boston though scored the last six points of the half on a three pointer from Marcus Morris, a Jayson Tatum layup, and then a 1-2 effort from the line from Morris to take a 49-47 lead into halftime.
After a back and forth start to the third quarter, the Bucks took over after halftime for the third straight game. Kyrie Irving gave the Celtics their final lead of the night on a pair of free throws with 4:12 to go at 67-65. A 15-3 Milwaukee run put the visitors up by 10, and they held an eight point lead entering the final quarter. Down 12 in the fourth Boston made one more run, going on a 7-0 surge to get within 91-86 on an Al Horford layup with 7:25 left. The Bucks top star Antenkoumpo though took over with 17 of his game high 39 in the final 12 minutes, as the visitors built the lead back to 13 and Boston could only get as close as eight the rest of the way in losing both home games so far in this series. Milwaukee has now outscored Boston a combined 112-72 in the third quarter in the last three games, all Celtics losses.
Antenkoumpo added 16 rebounds and four assists to lead Milwaukee. George Hill had 15 points, four rebounds, and five assists. Middleton added 13 points and seven assists, while Eric Bledsoe also added 13 points with three assists. Boston had three players who had double doubles in the loss. Irving had 23 points, six rebounds, and 10 assists. Horford had 20 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Morris finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Tatum was the third Celtic with a double double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists. Jaylen Brown added 16 points and seven rebounds. Milwaukee shot 45% from the floor, while Boston was at only 37%. Neither team shot well from three point range, as Boston was 9-41 and Milwaukee went 8-37. The Celtics top scorer Irving, has shot just 19-62 (31%) from the field in the three straight Boston defeats.
Boston will look to avoid elimination in game five back in Milwaukee. Tip time is scheduled for 8 pm Wednesday night.
