Jayson Tatum scores 31, Celtics overcome slow start to beat flailing Bucks: 10 takeaways

Jayson Tatum and the Celtics rallied back from a 17-point first-half deficit to beat the Bucks 113-107 on Sunday despite 43 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Here are the takeaways.

Jayson Tatum came alive at the right time
Tatum scored just eight points in the first half, shooting 2-for-7, but he scored 11 in the third (and assisted on eight more with three assists), and he added 12 more in the fourth as the Celtics pulled away. Once again, the Celtics leaned heavily on their superstar in the second half, and once again, Tatum delivered valuable (some might say the most valuable) production at crucial moments.

The Celtics have now played 11 games. In those 11 games, Tatum has scored 30 or more in seven. He poured in 31 on Sunday, converting 13 of his 15 trips to the free-throw line to go with 12 rebounds and six assists.

We’ve noted this before, but the evolution we’ve seen from Tatum in the first 11 games is an important one: Last year, he turned himself into a passing threat when opposing defenses threw everything they could at him. This year, with opposing defenses just as worried about Boston’s plethora of 3-point shooters as they are about the Celtics’ superstar, Tatum is generating a lot of points by getting downhill to the rim and forcing his way to the free-throw line. In other words, Tatum is still facilitating plenty of offense for his teammates, but defenses seem to be conceding that they can’t sell out to stop him only to give up 3-pointers for all of his teammates camped out at the 3-point line.

How a coach would go about stopping that is far beyond us here in this space. If you’ve got any bright ideas, see if you can find the phone number of an Eastern Conference GM. You might be able to make some money.

Sunday was an important win

We have now seen what it looks like in three consecutive games when an opposing team gives the Celtics their absolute best. The Warriors stifled the Celtics in the first half of Wednesday’s contest, and the best shooter in the history of the game finished the job. The Nets were physical and aggressive, and they forced the Celtics into a difficult overtime win. And on Sunday, the Celtics got the absolute best version of Antetokounmpo, and they punched their way back to a win.

Sunday’s game could have been a rallying point for a potentially dangerous Eastern Conference rival. Instead, the Bucks are a somewhat-staggering 2-8.

How do the Bucks feel about Tyler Herro?

Antetokounmpo had a huge first half (and trolled Jaylen Brown)

After Brown and Antetokounmpo had minor beef in the first quarter (Antetokounmpo tried to spin into the paint with his elbows up and appeared to catch Brown in the shoulder), Antetokounmpo pretended that he wanted to make peace with the Celtics star.

Instead, he smoothed his hair with a big grin (the cameras never showed us Brown’s expression which is a shame).

Brown didn’t have a huge game in his return from injury (14 points on 4-for-13 shooting, five rebounds and four assists), but he had some nice moments, and he presumably will feel significantly more jovial than Antetokounmpo as the Celtics fly back to Boston.

Antetokounmpo, who expressed frustration after the Bucks got smacked by the Knicks on Friday, dominated the opening 24 minutes of Sunday’s game. He scored 27 points in the first half and rolled right over the likes of Luke Kornet and other smaller Celtics in his way. Boston’s big advantage against Antetokounmpo has always been the fact that Al Horford can defend him 1-on-1, but even that plan didn’t do much in the opening minutes.

But the Celtics started to turn the tide with a double-big lineup with Horford matched on Antetokounmpo and Neemis Queta protecting the rim, and they were significantly better against Antetokounmpo in the second half. One look that seemed to work a few times (whether by accident or by design): The Celtics put Holiday on Antetokounmpo and showed a big behind him (generally Horford) to dissuade Antetokounmpo from driving. Having to beat both Holiday and Horford is far from an easy task.

Payton Pritchard kept the Celtics alive

While the Bucks fire-bombed the Celtics from 3-point range in the first 24 minutes of the game (most notably the first five), part of the problem was a slow start by the Celtics’ stars.

Enter Payton Pritchard, who kept the Celtics competitive with one of his patented 3-point flurries. Pritchard made five 3-pointers in the first half, including four in less than four minutes, which helped keep them in range despite Milwaukee’s hot start.

Pritchard didn’t score another field goal in the second half, but he nearly single-handedly held the Bucks back from a prime opportunity to run up a lead that would have been much more difficult to overcome.

The Celtics targeted Damian Lillard over and over

The Celtics love to attack bad defenders, and Lillard clearly piqued their interest, especially in the second half. The Celtics repeatedly ran actions trying to force Lillard onto Tatum, and far too often for their own good, the Bucks allowed it to happen. Lillard was relatively competitive against Tatum, but the mismatches created good chances.

Maybe the most impactful moment came late in the fourth quarter with the shot-clock winding down. The Celtics got the switch, but Tatum didn’t have much time to attack. Antetokounmpo, however, started getting antsy and stepped over to defend Tatum, who calmly passed the ball back to Derrick White. White canned the 3-pointer.

The Bucks have a lot of problems, and one of the biggest is that their second-most important player can be targeted by opposing offenses. On a similar note: Trying to score against the guard combination of Derrick White and Jrue Holiday is a nightmare. Lillard was 4-for-15 from the field and 1-for-8 from three with three turnovers, and he looked harried all evening.

Sam Hauser’s slump continues

Hauser looked like he might break out of his recent struggles on Sunday when he knocked down his first triple out of the corner, but he missed his next four attempts and finished 1-for-5 from behind the arc and 1-for-6 overall.

Hauser is now shooting 29.2 percent from 3-point range this season.

The bad news: Hauser has been somewhat streaky over the course of his career, and this season looks like it might be similar.

The good news: Whenever Hauser breaks out of his slump and goes on a run, the Celtics might be borderline unbeatable for a while, especially if Pritchard continues his rampage.

The Bucks got two delay-of-game technicals

A delay-of-game technical isn’t the biggest deal in the world (just a one free-throw penalty), but they show a lack of good decision-making, and the Bucks voluntarily surrendered two of them.

The first delay-of-game was assessed to Andre Jackson Jr. in the first half, setting the stage.

The second came on a layup by Antetokounmpo with eight minutes remaining, after which he bumped the ball out of bounds with his head. It wasn’t egregious, but it was a pretty clear violation.

The third was committed by Portis a little more than a minute later. With the Bucks leading by one and both teams lined up for a jump ball in the fourth quarter, Portis kept insisting that he needed to stand in front of Queta. The officials intervened – Queta is entitled to his space on a jump ball – but Portis refused to budge.

Eventually, the officials appeared to grow frustrated having to repeat themselves. Portis was whistled for the delay-of-game, and Pritchard made the technical free throw to tie the contest.

The delays surrendered two points in a game the Bucks lost by six. They might not have decided the game, but they were completely unforced errors by the Bucks and could have changed the tenor of the possessions down the stretch.

The officials missed a bad flagrant foul on Antetokounmpo

Midway through the third quarter, as the Celtics forced their way back into the game, Tatum went up for a 3-pointer in the corner. As he landed, court microphones caught him yelling in pain, and he immediately went to the floor clutching his ankle. The officials didn’t call anything, and play continued.

Replays showed that Antetokounmpo undercut Tatum, putting a foot in Tatum’s landing space. When Tatum came down, his ankle appeared to tweak painfully.

Tatum limped to the sideline, and he returned to the game after Mazzulla burned a timeout to give him a chance to rest.

Still, it was a really bad miss by the official, who was standing in perfect position to see what happened. Landing space fouls can have an impact that goes far beyond free throws and the ball.
“Ridiculous,” Joe Mazzulla said afterward. “You can’t miss that.” … “He didn’t let it impact the rest of the game on either end of the floor. The refs did a great job, they knew that they missed it, and any time you can have that relationship with them where they saw it and they did it, you just move on. But that’s something that’s gotta be – he’s hurt an ankle before, and that could have got him lost time. But credit to him for handling it the right way.”

Some Jrue Holiday and Derrick White appreciation

Sometimes defending Antetokounmpo is a team effort.

White finished with 15 points (including a couple of really tough buckets), six rebounds and six assists to go with a steal and a block.

Holiday, meanwhile, showed the Bucks once again that they might not have upgraded as much as they hoped (if at all) – he was a team-high +15 with 15 points as well, along with two steals.

The Celtics’ back court’s ability to defend switches might be more important (and less discussed) than their ability to bury 3-pointers.

A new parquet

Next up for the Celtics: A rematch with the Hawks on Tuesday as they open group play in the 2024 NBA Cup on a shiny green parquet floor. They will face the Nets in Brooklyn on Wednesday in their third game in four nights.

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