Jayson Tatum scored 16 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter and the Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks 117-103 on Monday night.
Jaylen Brown returned to the lineup after missing five games with a tight right hamstring and scored 19 points for Boston. Grant Williams scored 17 points, and Robert Williams III and Al Horford each scored 10.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Milwaukee one day after scoring his 26th career triple-double in a win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Jrue Holiday also had 20 points for the Bucks, who lost only for the third time in 15 games. Khris Middleton came out on a hyperextended left knee late in the third quarter.
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The Celtics were coming off a 1-4 trip to the West Coast, and coach Ime Udoka showed his team a movie of opponents going down the lane easily.
“We’ve been talking about who we want to be and we’re just showing them,” he said.
“I had an animated movie session on that trip,” added Udoka. “We didn’t like that feeling and we went back to who we are.”
The Bucks had cut Boston’s lead to 95-86 midway through the fourth quarter before Tatum flipped for a basket and followed with a 3-pointer from the right wing, giving the Celtics a 100- lead. 86.
“You have to give those guys credit and we weren’t at our best,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Whatever the reasons, we have to be better.”
Tatum finished it off with consecutive triples from the left corner, putting it 114-96 with 2:15 to play.
“I had it all going,” Holiday said. »He got a couple of open triples. It was just some rhythm.
Returning to TD Garden after a difficult trip, the Celtics started slowly, falling behind by 12 in the first half before turning a one-point lead at halftime into a 64-56 lead with a 13-6 gain. to start the second half.
“This was not the time to sugarcoat anything,” Tatum said of the movie reunion. »He showed us. Was opened “.
They pushed their lead to 11 after three quarters and made it 90-76 on a 3-pointer by Dennis Schroder just over a minute into the quarter.
“On that trip to the west coast we were outside of our identity,” said Grant Williams. “Tonight was part of our return to our identity as the best defensive team in the league.”
AP
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