The Boston Celtics sealed their seventh consecutive home victory this Friday, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks 111-105 driven by 34 points from Jayson Tatum, in his return after missing the previous game against the Detroit Pistons due to knee discomfort.
The Celtics imposed their law in the Boston Garden in a duel between Eastern powers and increased their balance to 19 wins and four losses, to maintain the pressure on the Cleveland Cavaliers, leaders.
The Bucks lost their second consecutive game, after surrendering to the Atlanta Hawks at home last Wednesday, and have a record of eleven wins and eleven losses. For his part, Tatum returned with 34 points, ten rebounds and five assists. He connected on twelve of his 20 field goals and made four three-pointers.
He had the support of Jaylen Brown, with 25 points, and Jrue Holiday, who also returned in a big way after missing the game won against the Pistons due to knee discomfort. Holiday, the big ex of the game, had 20 points, five rebounds and six assists. He also hit four 3-pointers for the Celtics. Dominican Al Horford, starter in Joe Mazzulla’s quintet, contributed eight points and nine rebounds.
The Bucks fell despite another brilliant performance by the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had a double-double of 30 points and eleven assists. Doc Rivers’ team was also not enough with the 31 points of Damian Lillard, who also captured five rebounds and gave four assists.
The Bucks were ahead on the scoreboard until the last three minutes. They led 101-100 with 2.49 minutes left, but the Celtics stepped on the accelerator in the final stretch with a final run of 11-4. A dunk from Tatum and a triple from Horford changed the momentum of the match and Holiday, with a great jump triple, handed the victory to Joe Mazzulla’s team.
The Celtics will now face the Memphis Grizzlies and the Detroit Pistons at home before visiting the Washington Wizards. The Bucks will visit the Brooklyn Nets of Spanish coach Jordi Fernández, before facing the Orlando Magic in the NBA Cup.
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