BOSTON -- At first, it looked like the Boston Celtics had a blowout on their hands. An easy win over a 1-6 Milwaukee Bucks team. But the third quarter turned the whole game on its head.
Milwaukee caught fire from deep. And as the Bucks upped their ball pressure, the Jayson Tatum-less Celtics offense struggled to get good looks. That led to some easy Bucks baskets.
Tyler Herro went from ice-cold to red-hot. Brayden Burries found some life. Everyone on the Bucks started hitting more threes. All the while, Paul George and Derrick White couldn't find their footing in the scoring column.
George began the game scoring well, and White's ball-handling was great. But both trailed off as the night went on. George turned the ball over a lot, and White's driving game declined.
Yet the Celtics refused to let the Bucks storm ahead completely. They forced some turnovers. Found a way to get the ball inside. The offense went dry, but it wasn't non-existent.
With 2:22 to go, the Celtics missed a shot, but Neemias Queta ended up on the ground, fighting for the offensive rebound. Sam Hauser helped him corral it, and somehow, Baylor Scheierman ended up grabbing it through everyone.
He dribbled baseline against pressure, looked back, and found a cutting White. He finished an and-one at the rim to give Boston a five-point lead out of nowhere.
White's shot got away from him in the second half. So did George's offense. But when Boston needed buckets the most, both of those guys found a way to make it happen. George and Queta in the pick-and-roll. White getting to his float game. George with a huge pull-up three.
Some huge Scheierman rebounds helped close the game out after a flurry of Celtics buckets put them ahead. It wasn't pretty, but Boston walked out of TD Garden with a 109-102 victory.
Up: Mitchell Robinson
This was Mitchell Robinson's best game as a Celtic. There was a noticeable energy shift. It just looked like he was moving better. Hustling more. Asserting his dominance inside.
Robinson had grabbed nine rebounds by halftime, including five on the offensive glass. He was active on defense, hyper-aware on offense, and running up and down the court well.
It wasn't a perfect game. Robinson was just 1-of-7 from the field at the half, and he's not exactly shooting from very far away from the basket. But it was a massive improvement from the Robinson of the last few games.
He ended the game with three points, 10 rebounds (six offensive boards), one assist, one steal, and one block. He only shot 1-of-8 from the field, but progress is progress.
Down: The third quarter
Milwaukee came out of halftime like a team that had nothing to lose... because it had nothing to lose. After getting demolished in the first half, Taylor Jenkins must have given one hell of a halftime speech, because the Bucks looked like a whole new team.
They upped their ball pressure, they started flowing on offense, and they got to the rim better. It caught the Celtics on their back heels, and what was once a convincing lead turned into a very close game.
Bad offense led to bad defense for the Celtics, as the Bucks poured in 38 third-quarter points. They went from down 21 to down eight in a single quarter. Needless to say, it wasn't the Celtics' finest moment.
Up: Luka Garza
I've said this constantly, and I'm going to keep hammering it home: Luka Garza needs consistent minutes. He's just too good to be riding the bench all year, and it seems like Joe Mazzulla has already figured that out.
Perhaps "figured that out" isn't a fair assessment. Garza was never out of the rotation. But as the year has gone on, it feels like he's been a bigger part of things.
Part of that is Robinson missing the game against the Orlando Magic. Part of it is the newfound double-big lineups. Regardless, Garza has been playing more, and that's a positive.
Garza started the game red-hot from 3-point range. He made his first three threes of the night. And the double-big lineups with him and Robinson looked good. Both guys were monsters on the offensive glass.
Garza finished the night with 11 points, five rebounds (three offensive boards), two assists, and a steal while shooting 4-of-7 from the floor and 3-of-4 from distance.
Down: Attacking ball pressure
This has been and likely will continue to be a problem for the Celtics. There is a significant decline in their offensive flow when facing increased ball pressure. At least when Tatum isn't on the court.
It's why they struggle against the Detroit Pistons. It's why they struggled against the Houston Rockets on Monday night. It's why, when the Bucks came out with a high-intensity defense in the third quarter, Boston's offense failed to ignite.
As soon as the shots stopped falling for the Celtics -- as soon as offense became hard to come by -- the defense began to slip, too. Milwaukee thrived in transition. It got to play against a scrambling Celtics defense. And that helped the Bucks get hot.
Up: Double-big lineups
As mentioned, Robinson and Garza both looked good in the double-big lineup when they shared the floor. It opened things up for each of them.
For Robinson, it allowed him to float under the rim. He didn't have to set every screen or run every action. That gave him the necessary energy to crash the glass better than he has all season. And his defensive activity was better, too.
Meanwhile, it let Garza sit behind the 3-point line more often. He's been money from deep range this year. Plus, having both guys gun for offensive rebounds at the same time caused havoc (in a good way).
Down: Non-Tatum lineups
If there's one thing that's become clear over the last 72 hours, it's that the Celtics are going to really struggle on offense without Tatum on the court. It happened against the Rockets, and it happened in the second half of this game, too.
The first half was solid. Milwaukee was playing very poorly, and the Celtics did their job. But as soon as the Bucks upped their ball pressure, Boston's offense got sloppy.
Turnovers led to easy buckets for the Bucks, and the Celtics couldn't generate enough quality looks. By the time they got any good looks, they were so cold, those didn't fall, either.
Tatum is obviously the head of the snake. But right now, it feels like he's a bit too important to Boston's offense. He's the get-out-of-jail-free card. An easy trip to the free-throw line. A middy. Forcing the other team to double him so a teammate gets an open look. When he's not on the court, the Celtics' offense isn't nearly consistent enough.
Bonus
The close finish to this game was very impressive. Boston looked rough in the second half, but in the final few minutes, it really put things together.
George and White cleaned things up on offense. They ran the pick-and-roll and managed to summon quality looks out of thin air. That's what the Celtics need from them.
But the biggest shoutouts of all go to Scheierman and Queta. Those two were absolute monsters, especially on the boards. Boston doesn't win this game without the hustle those two showed off down the stretch.