Furious fourth quarter rally comes up short as Bucks lose 122-119 to Celtics without Giannis

BOSTON – The two top teams in the Eastern Conference went head-to-head for the third time this year on Wednesday night at TD Garden, but the highly anticipated nationally televised game between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks lost some luster throughout the day as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday were ruled out.

But the teams still put on a show, with the Bucks nearly erasing a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit before the Celtics pulled out a 122-119 win in the final seconds.

Bobby Portis scored 14 fourth-quarter points and got his team to 116-114 with 32 seconds left with a runner that drew a whistle, but he missed the free throw and Jaylen Brown countered with two bonus free throws with 20 ticks remaining. After Damian Lillard missed a tough layup attempt over Brown on the other end, Jayson Tatum added two more free throws with 12.1 seconds left to effectively seal the game by putting the Celtics up six.

“He was great,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said of Portis. “He plays with a lot of energy, a lot of effort, got hot and we all know once he gets hot keep trying to play through him. He did a great job of keeping us in the game and bringing us back.”

The victory gave the Celtics a 2-1 season series lead on the Bucks. They play each other a final time in the regular season on April 9 in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee fell to 17-18 on the road.

BOX SCORE: Celtics 122, Bucks 119

Lillard led the Bucks with 32 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 6 of 10 from behind the three-point line. Portis added 24 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. Middleton had 22 points, six assists and six rebounds. Brook Lopez and Jae Crowder were plagued by foul trouble and combined for 15 points.

“There’s no moral victories or nothing like that," Lillard said of playing without Antetokounmpo. "We wanted to win the game regardless of who is on the floor because we think we got a good enough team regardless, as we’ve shown. We’ve been saying it’s about the journey and us pushing towards the team we want to become and at the right time of the season and this is part of that.

"Obviously playing 16 games without Khris we had to continue to find a way and lean on guys to step up and kind of fill that hole collectively and they did. And now playing without our best player, it’s the same. We gotta have the same mentality, we gotta be confident and we gotta look around the room and see we got a lot of depth, we got experience, we got guys that can get a lot done. And that’s been our mentality.

"But I think when we become whole as we close out the season all of these experiences and all of the adversity that we’ve had over the course of the season, I think it’ll shine bright in the moments that we need it to.”

Boston won its seventh straight game, its second-longest win streak of the season, to improve to 55-14. The Celtics had already clinched a playoff spot and the victory gave them an Atlantic Division title. Milwaukee dropped to 44-25 and the Bucks immediately headed home to face the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night at Fiserv Forum.

Tatum scored 23 of his 31 points in the first half to lead the Celtics, while Brown (21), Kristaps Porziņģis (17), Derrick White (23) and Payton Pritchard (19) also reached double figures.

Bucks can’t get over hump in second half

Lillard and Malik Beasley opened the third quarter by hitting 2 three-pointers apiece, and the two-minute flurry helped pull the Bucks within 73-68. But Brown hit a three of his own to stem the tide, and then followed with a basket off a Milwaukee offensive foul to go up 10. A Middleton bucket kept the Bucks somewhat connected at 78-70, but then the Celtics ripped off an 18-6 run over the next five minutes to effectively put the game away and go up 20 points. The Bucks did not make another three-pointer until Pat Connaughton knocked one down with 27 seconds left to make it 101-83 Celtics.

Milwaukee got to within 10 points on two occasions in the fourth quarter, down 104-94 with 7:40 to go and 107-97 over a minute later. And even though the Bucks had done a good job of limiting Tatum in the second half by sending a second body, Tatum found the open teammate in White for key three-pointers to keep the Bucks at arm's length.

“We knew that they win when they make threes and we just didn’t close to the body a lot of times off our turnovers,” Lillard said. “We let them get second and third opportunities on the glass and it just led to threes. You let a team like this, the best team in the league, get threes – especially to start the game at home and feel good about themselves – it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

Portis made three consecutive baskets to cut the deficit to 110-103 with just under three minutes to go, but Tatum scored his first points of the second half with a pair of free throws and a driving basket between missed three-pointers by Portis and Lillard. Then, when Tatum was forced into a tough jumper, Porziņģis collected an offensive rebound and slammed it home emphatically.

Milwaukee stayed with it, but ultimately couldn't get the final combination of a stop and a bucket to square the game or take a lead.

Tatum went 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

“It was one of those games where they keep getting the lead, we kept fighting back,” Rivers said. “As far as that, you love that. We did keep fighting. We end up shooting the ball better than them tonight. I thought our zone was really effective, mixing back zone, man. It made them hesitate what they were running. That helped us.

“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds tonight with turnovers, offensive rebounds, bad possessions. Then bad possessions defensively, switching when we shouldn’t switch, fouling late. But all those are great things for us to watch film and to learn and get better at. So, this is a really good learning opportunity for us is the way I look at it.”

Khris Middleton looks good in return from injury

In his second game back from a severely sprained left ankle that sidelined him for 16 games, Middleton played just under 33 minutes against Boston and scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2-for-3 from behind the three-point line.

“Felt great overall," he said after the game. "I thought my wind was there for the most part. Some of those longer stretches I got a little tired and fatigued, but that’s part of it, that’s part of getting back in shape, that’s part of basketball in general. Just gotta find a way to get through it.”

This came after scoring 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting in just under 26 minutes against Phoenix on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Middleton averaged 17.1 points, 5.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 30.5 minutes per game from Dec. 7 through Feb. 3 before injuring his ankle on Feb. 6. In his last full game before the injury, he logged 38 minutes in a win over Dallas on Feb. 3.

“The number was 30 tonight, so two extra minutes," Rivers said. "That wasn’t that bad. He felt great. He wanted to stay in. I hated to take him out that one stretch (in the fourth quarter). He just made a shot but we’re looking at his minutes and we had to take him out. Our whole thought was if we made a run we could have him for the last three minutes, but he sat for like six minutes, so he got put in a tough situation.”

Before the game Rivers was noncommittal about Middleton being able to play Thursday night against Brooklyn, however. The three-time all-star played in back-to-back games just once this season, on Jan. 3-4 – and he appeared in just over 15 first-half minutes in the second game.

Turnovers put Bucks behind early

Before the game Rivers said a key for his team against Boston would be to withstand the Celtics' early offensive punch, and they did just that after falling behind 23-12 but rallying to a five-point deficit after the first quarter.

Milwaukee would then survive another run, as Boston would push its lead to 18 points with 4:06 left in the first half. But the Bucks got to within nine points before the Celtics took a 69-56 lead at halftime.

While the Celtics shot 10-for-21 (47.6%) from behind the three-point line, they were able to build their lead – and keep the Bucks from truly closing – by forcing nine turnovers and scoring 11 points off Milwaukee’s mistakes.

The Bucks’ margin for error was already thin without Antetokounmpo and against the best team in the league – with the best home record – they couldn’t afford to give away possessions. And some of them were a result of perhaps trying too hard, like Crowder throwing an inbound pass away out of a timeout, Middleton lobbing a pass to Portis that was just too high, or passes into the post that had to find their way through too many hands.

Then after the Bucks hit a quartet of three-pointers to open the second half and get to within 73-68, an offensive foul by Lopez and an errant Lillard pass helped the Celtics to a 78-68 lead to slow Milwaukee’s momentum in the quarter. Through three quarters, Boston scored 16 points on 14 Bucks turnovers.

“It matched (the deficit) throughout the game for the most part. And it’s one thing if they were like forced. We had some bad ones tonight. So, we’ll watch it. We’ll see it," Rivers said. "I thought there were stretches where we got stuck offensively and whenever we did that’s usually when a turnover happened. These games, they’re good learners for our guys. I thought there were stretches where everyone was trying to do too much. And you don’t need to do that.

"Just do your job, do what you’re supposed to do, move the ball, keep playing and it works out for you. I thought the best part of the fourth quarter I thought we trusted that and that’s what happened.”

Milwaukee cleaned that up in the fourth quarter, which helped spark its comeback by turning it over just once.

“Once we started to take care of the ball and do the things that we talked about at the level that we talked about doing ‘em, we see how the game changed and we gave ourselves a chance,” Lillard said. “It was an uphill battle. For us, we want to keep pushing forward no matter what’s going on and we did. Like I said, we gave ourselves a chance, we just came up short.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo misses second straight game with injury

Antetokounmpo began Wednesday as questionable to play with left hamstring tendinopathy, but the MVP candidate didn't make the trip to Boston, even though he was officially ruled out later in the afternoon.

"He's feeling good, not great," Rivers said before the game. "Those things are something you don't take a chance on. Especially now. It wasn't very hard. Giannis probably would've come if it was up to him, but these are the ones you just have to say no and let him get better. You just don't need to travel. It's a one-day trip, you know, the way we looked at it. We left one of our coaches back to work him out. He worked out today. Not hard, but he did some shooting and stuff. It's just a better way of treating it."

Antetokounmpo missed the Bucks’ win over Phoenix on Sunday with soreness in the hamstring after going through pregame warmups. Rivers wasn't ready to call the hamstring issue an "injury" before the game against the Suns, and noted it would give Antetokounmpo five days off before the Celtics game. Antetokounmpo did some "light" work in practice on Tuesday.

“It’s unfortunate but I think guys, hate to say it, are accustomed to it,” Middleton said. “They’ve got an opportunity to step up and play big minutes but for the most part guys have. I thought tonight we did a great job of still playing our game, facilitating the ball, Dame doing what he does, I’m trying to do what I do to help everybody out there. It was the carryover from Phoenix. Just gotta keep playing the right way. When Giannis comes back, same thing, keep playing the right way and know we got another dominant guy ready to come back and help us out.”

The 29-year-old said he first felt an issue in the muscle when playing against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, and he played the next two games in Sacramento and against Philadelphia.

“You don’t play with calves and hamstrings," Antetokounmpo said after the win over the 76ers on March 14. "They’re shaky. You can feel like a strain or whatever the case may be and it’s (small) and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. So, that’s pretty much going to be longer out. So you don’t mess with stuff like that."

The forward's absence means that Rivers has had his "big three" of Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Lillard for just three games since taking over – which happened to be his first three games in Denver (Jan. 29), in Portland (Jan. 31) and at Dallas (Feb. 3).

Middleton sat out the Feb. 4 game in Utah as part of knee management on a back-to-back, then Lillard sat out in Phoenix on Feb. 6 with an ankle sprain -- only to see Middleton severely sprain his left ankle eight minutes into that game. He returned to the court on Sunday, which was Antetokounmpo's first absence with the hamstring.

The Bucks return home for a game against Brooklyn on Thursday, which is one of their 13 remaining regular season games. The season ends in about three and a half weeks on April 14.

"Obviously you would love to have the three guys but you're not gonna get it, so I don't worry about it much," Rivers said. "I stopped worrying about that a long time ago. You just can't. We do have shootarounds. We have a lot of practice actually for an actual NBA team at this point because have these two day things. But again, even on that, you hope the guys are healthy so they can practice. You can have a practice day and no one practices so that doesn't help either. It would definitely help us to have everybody on the floor and everybody in practice, but again, it is what it is. We'll figure it out."

NICKEL: Giannis Antetokounmpo in MVP contention while also playing through minor injuries

Five numbers

2 First half shots for Bucks guard Malik Beasley, including just one three-pointer. The Bucks ran some plays for him to open the third quarter and he knocked down 2 three-pointers, which helped the Bucks pull to within 73-68. He finished 2-for-8 for the game for six points. He added six rebounds.

3-2 Bucks record without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks beat Toronto (Nov. 15), lost to Cleveland (Jan. 17), beat the Los Angeles Clippers (March 4) and Phoenix (March 17).

3-5 Boston’s record against Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Denver and Minnesota – the next four best teams in the NBA. The Celtics are 52-9 against the rest of the league.

10.5 Points Milwaukee was as an underdog at the start of the game after Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out. Per ESPN Stats & Information, it was their biggest differential in a game since 2017.

3,449 Career rebounds for Khris Middleton, passing Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief (3,447) for No. 8 all-time in franchise history.

REQUIRED READING: Jrue and Lauren Holiday have profound impact on city they had to leave behind

Bucks still clinging to No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference

Despite the loss to the Celtics, the Bucks remained in second place in the Eastern Conference and one game clear of Cleveland in the loss column as the Cavaliers (43-26) lost to Miami. The Celtics, the only team in the NBA to have clinched a playoff spot already, are barreling toward the No. 1 seed – but Rivers said recently he’s not too focused on where his team falls by the end of the regular season.

“I’ve never, in my entire coaching career, worried about seedings,” he said. “Either you’re good enough or you’re not. And that’s the bottom line. I think I’m going history lesson, but in 2010 if you remember we elected not to play any of our guys in the last game, that switched us I think from the (three) seed to the (four) seed and our guys didn’t care. We made it to the finals. If you’re good enough, you’re good enough, if you’re not, you’re not, and that’s a fact. I tell you what, I’d rather be healthy enough. And that’s why you try to make sure you’re healthy going into the playoffs. And then the second thing after health, you have to be playing well. ‘Cause if you’re not playing well going into the playoffs you’re not going to make it either. So you need those two things going for you – health and playing well.”

Rivers’ title-winning Boston team in 2007-08 was the No. 1 seed with a 66-16 record and his 2009-10 team was the fourth seed before reaching the finals.

The Bucks made earning the No. 1 seed a goal last regular season and accomplished it with a 58-24 record. But after an injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first game of the first round of the playoffs, they were bounced in five games by the Miami Heat.

Milwaukee also earned the top seed in the East in 2018-19 (60-22) and 2019-20 (56-17) and lost in the conference finals and second round, respectively.

The Bucks were the No. 3 seed in 2020-21 at 46-26 before winning the NBA championship and the third seed in 2021-22 (51-31) before losing in the second round.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fourth quarter rally comes up short as Bucks lose 122-119 to Celtics