BSJ Game Report: Celtics 119, Bucks 108 - Payton Pritchard gets hot, Jaylen Brown finishes the job

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Bucks, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

It wasn’t the prettiest start to the game for Boston, which shot 28.6% from 3 in the first quarter but Derrick White and Jayson Tatum kept them within one after one. Payton Pritchard caught fire in the second, but the C’s defensive lapses and turnovers set them back by three at the half. They made a run early in the third but Milwaukee recovered. Then White got hot and triggered an 11-2 close to give Boston an eight-point lead heading into the fourth. The lead grew to 15 early on with Jaylen Brown doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and Boston never looked back. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

Payton Pritchard goes off: What a night for this guy. He hit everything, including a buzzer-beater that stole Doc Rivers’ soul. 

“This morning, I literally circled his name and was like this guy comes in and he’s the game changer,” Rivers said “I don’t know if you remember, last year, we had a six-point lead and he came in and he changed the whole game. He did it again tonight.”

Jaylen’s big second half: He scored 21 in the second half, attacking smaller matchups and drawing a bunch of fouls. 

“A lot of my shots come in the paint and I feel great about that over the course (of a season),” Brown said. “I've been efficient for the last few years, so you don't let, like getting good looks, getting two feet in the paint ever deter you. Going forward, that's where I make my money at is in the paint.”

Keeping Giannis Antetokounmpo in check late: He was his usual unstoppable self for a lot of the game, but the Celtics held him to only six fourth quarter points. He turned the ball over three times, two on offensive fouls and also on a travel, killing any chance of a Milwaukee comeback.  

TURNING POINT

The Celtics went on a 16-2 run after a delay of game technical foul on Boston made it 80-79 Milwaukee. The refs missed the ball obviously hitting the rim, calling a :24 second violation and that seemed to somehow energize Boston into finally playing some higher-energy basketball. 

“I think injustice always makes us feel like we can be superheroes,” Jrue Holiday said “I think during games there’s going to be weak calls or bad calls. How we respond to them, or how we responded to it tonight, we responded really well.”

THINGS I LIKED

- Payton Pritchard: He tied Eddie House’s record for 3-pointers off the bench by hitting eight of 12. Pritchard was massively important in the second quarter when he hit half of Boston’s shots and put up 11 of his 28 points. He was 4-6 from the field and 3-5 from 3 in the second and the rest of the C’s were 4-15 and 1-7. If he didn’t have that shooting night, Boston would have been down big at halftime and I’m not sure how things would have gone after that. 

- Jaylen Brown: Struggled out of the gate, shooting just 2-8 for nine first-half points. But he caught fire for an 8-11 second, many of those and-1’s, to lead Boston with 30 overall and 21 in the second half. 

“Jaylen is just a guy that can score in bunches,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “He picks and chooses spots really well. He knows when to take over a game. He knows when to get to his spot. He came out of a timeout and got an and-one. He just knows how to play within the offense. So I like just watching him picking spots well, I thought he did a great job of that in the second half.”

- Derrick White keying the C’s run: The box score shows a fairly ho-hum night for White. 13 points on 5-13 shooting (3-10 3pt) and eight assists is fine, but he was the one who got that third-quarter run started. He hit two 3-pointers and then blocked an Antetokounmpo shot, sending the Garden crowd into a frenzy. Pritchard missed a 3 after the block and I swear if he hit it, they would have had to stop the game and inspect the foundation of the building for cracks from it shaking so much. 

Sometimes it’s not about how much you score, but when. White’s outburst was perfectly time and changed the game. 

- Jrue Holiday: 21 points on 7-12 shooting (4-7 3pt), doing most of his damage in the fourth to hold off his former team. But there wasn’t anything extra in the game for Holiday just because it was the Bucks. 

“We already beat them twice last year. And then I won a championship. So I love them all,” he said. “They’re like my brothers. So no ill will or beef or anything. But I love beating them because, I mean, who doesn’t love beating people.”

- Jordan Walsh: Mazzulla finally went to him early in the game and he made some great energy plays. He was effective on the boards, boxing out Brook Lopez on one play to preserve a 24-second violation. 

“He played well. He came in and played some big minutes against a good team,” Holiday said. “I think seeing Jordan getting out there, getting some reps, playing great even though he probably wanted to knock down a couple more shots, but you see what type of player he is. And that’s just a testament to him putting in the work, him taking his time and being able to go out there and concentrate.”

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

-Frustrated Jayson Tatum: This happens every so often with Tatum. He was clearly not happy with how the game was being officiated and I think it affected his offense. It’s not that he played poorly. He shot poorly, but he did do other things to help the Celtics win and he was their +/- leader. But it was a very off night from him scoring-wise and I think the refs were a big reason why ... 

-The refs: … and for good reason. I’m rarely one to mention the officials, but they had a very off night for much of this one. Maybe it’s for the best, because Boston’s frustration with them was probably enough to snap them into focus late in the game. But some of the missed calls there were egregiously bad. I’m not sure what Damian Lillard did to deserve 18 free throws in this game because I never thought he was having such a takeover night that he couldn't be stopped.

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

I like these kinds of early tests: Milwaukee has issues right now, and I thought Boston had a chance to break every shooting record in the world in this game. But the game never materialized that way. On top of it, the refs missed some blatantly obvious calls, which frustrated everyone in this game. 

The Celtics did what they had to do to win. Pritchard carried them when no one else could. White got things going at a pivotal time. Brown came through like a superstar when their other superstar couldn't get on track. And Tatum did other things down the stretch, like grab four rebounds and dish three assists. 

Mazzulla says all the time that success looks different every night, and on this night, it went much differently than I thought. The most important thing is that they figured out how to not only win, but even get a few minutes of garbage time at the end. 

These games will happen from time to time. We know what the blueprint is for winning, but anyone who has tackled a home improvement project will tell you that once you get to work, it never goes as planned. The real test is how you adjust to the situation to still get the job done. 

The same guys might be suiting up for the Celtics this season, but it's still a different season. Just like investing, past performance doesn't guarantee future success. Opponents have new players and have had guys get better. There are different officials and different interpretations of rules. Even though a lot is the same around the team, a lot is different around the league, and that makes for a new set of challenges. 

They are still figuring themselves out. They need these kinds of nights to test and push them.

Next up: The Celtics head back out on the road to face Indiana on Wednesday night.