Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 70 points, led by a game high from Tatum who had 41 as the Boston Celtics outscored the Milwaukee Bucks by 20 in the second half on Christmas evening to pull away for a 139-118 win at TD Garden in Boston in a battle of the current top two teams in the NBA.
Boston got off to a hot start as Tatum and Brown led the way over the first 24 minutes and built a 10 point first quarter lead at 30-20 on a Malcolm Brogdon three-pointer. Milwaukee went on an 8-0 run to slice it to a two point deficit, before the Celtics ended the period on a 6-0 spurt finished off with a three-point bank shot at the buzzer by Sam Hauser. The lead went to the biggest of the first half at 47-36 on a Blake Griffin layup, but the Bucks would score 13 of the final 20 points to cut it to just a 62-61 score at the halftime break behind a balanced scoring attack with three players in double figures.
Boston would never trail in the game again, and would outscore Milwaukee 38-25 in the third quarter to begin pulling away. The Celtics led by as many as 22 down the stretch late in the fourth, as Tatum and Brown combined to shoot 25-41 from the floor and 8-16 from the three-point arc. Tatum added seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals to his point total in the win while Brown had five rebounds and four assists. Derrick White had 12 points and Al Horford and Grant Williams chipped in 11 a piece to round out the double digit scorers. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday were the leading scorers in the loss for Milwaukee (22-11). Antetokounmpo had 27 points, nine rebounds, and three assists while Holiday added 23 points, six rebounds, and seven assists. Boston is now 24-10, 1.5 games better than Milwaukee for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The C’s will return to action on Tuesday when they host the Houston Rockets at 7:30 p.m.
Recap by Chris Lessner
