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Payton Pritchard’s huge night lifts Celtics over Bucks for fourth straight win: 8 takeaways
The Celtics looked a little sluggish in the first half but ultimately beat the Bucks 119-108 for their fourth straight win.
The Celtics pulled away from the Bucks in the second half, claiming a 119-108 victory for their fourth-straight win to start the season.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The Celtics looked a little sluggish in the first half, which was something of a surprise since the Bucks were the team playing their third game in four nights. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown struggled early, the Celtics (Payton Pritchard excepted, more on him in a minute) went cold from three, and the Bucks looked like a team very cognizant of how their recent losses to the Nets and Bulls looked.
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But facing their second test against a projected contender in the Eastern Conference so far, the Celtics proved they had plenty of answers once again in the second half. Gary Trent Jr. is a useful player, but he probably can’t hold up defensively against the likes of Tatum and Brown for an entire game. Taurean Prince can’t either. The Bucks have a lot of experience, but the concentration required to keep up with the Celtics’ ball and player movement is taxing.
In the end, the Bucks got 33 from Damian Lillard and 30 from Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it didn’t matter; the Celtics won by double digits. Monday’s game might not have been as bad a loss as their previous two, but there were a lot of less-than-encouraging signs.
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For the Celtics, Monday’s win was just another Monday — just another 3-point barrage — in Boston.
“I thought we just kind of stayed right here from a tactical and a technical standpoint, and there was some friction there that we had to work through,” Joe Mazzulla said. “So I thought that was great.”
2. Payton Pritchard is on an absolute tear.
In the first half when the Celtics were otherwise stagnant, Pritchard kept them attached and down by just three at halftime burying five 3-pointers. In the second half, he continued to bury 3-pointers as the Celtics closed the gap, took the lead, and started to pull away.
And, of course, he buried what is now his signature: a 3-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter that left Doc Rivers bent double with his hands on his knees in frustration.
“That’s why I feel like everybody’s got to take them, no matter the distance,” Pritchard said. “It’s a gut punch when you do hit them. The momentum — you felt the Garden. The momentum swings are crazy.”
Pritchard finished with 28 points on 10-for-14 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists. His start to the season has people around the team wondering about postseason awards, and while this pace probably can’t continue (Pritchard tied a franchise record for 3-pointers made off the bench with his 8-for-12 performance) his shooting is so useful for the Celtics and can be so damaging for opponents that the speculation feels warranted.
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3. A reporter asked Pritchard about the video of him playing 1-on-1 against a boy in a park that went viral.
Pritchard said he and his wife were walking their dog, and kids playing basketball spotted him.
“I had a beanie and stuff on, so I didn’t think anybody would really notice me, but these kids saw me from afar and they were yelling,” Pritchard said. “[…] It was kind of low key. We were just messing around really, just playing 1-on-1 with them. They were actually pretty good, though. Little scrappy kids getting after it. So I definitely appreciated it, and I was talking a little bit. I don’t know. I like moments like that. Just felt like a kid again, playing outside.”
4. Jaylen Brown had a bad first half (2-for-8 from the field, three turnovers), but he came alive in the third quarter getting to the basket and scoring around the rim. He put together a flurry of baskets that helped push the lead away from a single-possession game, including this nasty little hesitation that shook Taurean Prince followed by a strong finish at the rim.
Brown finished with 30 points on 10-for-19 shooting and earned 14 trips to the free-throw line. On a night when Tatum was off (6-for-16, 15 points), Brown was essential in securing the double-digit win.
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“Going forward, that’s where I make my money at, is in the paint,” Brown said.
5. Derrick White is off to a fantastic start to the season, and he was excellent (albeit a little inefficient) on Monday – 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting with eight assists and his typically impressive defense. White buried a pair of huge 3-pointers that kicked off a third-quarter run, and he recorded this ridiculous block against Antetokounmpo.
Could this be the season Derrick White makes an All-Star team? His candidacy might be pretty strong if his current pace continues and if the Celtics win enough to warrant a third selection without Porzingis in the early going.
6. Jordan Walsh didn’t get any minutes on Saturday against the Pistons, but he played briefly (and uneventfully) in the first half on Monday.
In the second, however, Walsh put together some of his best minutes of his NBA career so far. Walsh scored a put-back layup, and his energy and hustle were a perfect complement for his talented teammates. Walsh created multiple opportunities on the defensive end, played mistake-free offense on the offensive, end and even helped defend Antetokounmpo into a travel early in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics don’t need Walsh to be a world-beater. They need him to fly around and create extra possessions on the defensive end, which is precisely what he did on Monday.
“He played well,” Jrue Holiday said. “He came in and played some big minutes against a good team. I think seeing Jordan getting out there, getting some reps, playing great even though he probably wanted to knock down a couple more shots, but you see what type of player he is. And that’s just a testament to him putting in the work, him taking his time and being able to go out there and concentrate. Again, like I said, off the court, he acts the same way, very under control and he does what he’s supposed to do.”
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7. We would urge Celtics fans not to take Al Horford for granted. It’s not normal to be able to guard a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo at this level at age 38, but Horford, somehow, is still capable. He even went 4-for-5 from the field (and 2-for-2 from three) for good measure.
8. The Celtics wasted their first challenge even though they won it.
With 9:47 remaining in the first quarter, Mazzulla hit the green light for a play when officials whistled the ball to the Bucks off of Derrick White, but upon further review, the ball had actually bounced off the Bucks.
The Celtics like to use an early challenge on an out-of-bounds call if they know they will win it and create another possession, and Monday’s game was a perfect opportunity. Unfortunately for the Celtics, Jrue Holiday immediately turned the ball over on the inbounds pass after the timeout, and Lillard got a pair of free throws, negating the advantage of using the challenge. Later in the half, Lillard tricked the officials into calling a three-shot foul on Jaylen Brown, which (we can say with 20-20 hindsight) would have been a much more productive use of the challenge.
Mazzulla was successful again early in the second half when Al Horford clearly blocked a layup by Antetokounmpo, but the officials called a goaltend. That left the Celtics with 22 challenge-less minutes the rest of the way, which mattered on multiple occasions. It’s something of a media cop-out to say the officiating crew was bad both ways, but as both Mazzulla and Doc Rivers can probably attest, the officiating crew was bad both ways.
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“We saved four points,” Mazzulla said. “We saved two points on the goaltend, and we would have saved … their expected offense is really good. So we probably saved around 3.8 points on that. So, like, you have to do that.”
9. Former Celtics star Rajon Rondo was behind Milwaukee’s bench as a guest coach with his former coach Rivers.
“I knew he would coach if he wanted to do that,” Rivers said. “He definitely has the smarts. Smartest player I’ve ever coached. It’s been a two year thing of me trying to get him to do it. …It’s not that he didn’t wanna be a coach. He’s got a son that’s a really talented player, and he’s working with him.
“So, we’re crafting out a schedule right now to try to give him enough time to be there and to be with us. The one thing I can tell you, just through training camp that he spent, he’s hooked now. He loves it. It’s in him, and once it gets in you, it can’t get out of you.
“So that was my goal, and then the next steps are whatever, whatever happens.”
10. The Celtics hit the road again for an odd four-game trip. On Wednesday, they face the Indiana Pacers, followed by back-to-back games against the Hornets on Friday and Saturday.
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