5 Days of Celtics Games: Boston vs. Milwaukee

Overtime Heroics Editorial

1916 days ago

Ladies and gentlemen: welcome back to day three of ranking the top five Celtics games throughout the 2019-20 regular season. Previously, we went back to Christmas day to recap the Celtics dominant win over the Raptors. Today, we will go back to the start of the season to recap Boston’s tight win over the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks. Although the Bucks have been dominant against the Celtics in recent years, Boston finally grabbed a win against them winning 116-105 all the way back in October.

BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 30: Former player Paul Pierce hi-gives Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics during a game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 30, 2019 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

Make sure to check out day one and two if you haven’t already!

Celtics Turn it Around

The Celtics started out very slow, to say the least. At halftime, they found themselves down 58-42. Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Gordon Hayward were a combined 7 of 26 from the field. The only player keeping the Celtics in the game was Marcus Smart who had 19 points on 5 of 11 shooting. Despite the tough first half, it did not tell the whole story of the game. Walker finished with 32 and Tatum ended with 25. Hayward also added 21 points and 10 rebounds.

The game was tight the entire way until the closing minutes of the fourth when the Celtics started to pull away. Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton combined for 48 points in the final period. Kemba Walker’s strong second half (21 points) is what led Boston to a victory. He scored eight straight points to ultimately close out the game, then Jayson Tatum finished it off with a 3-pointer with 1:07 left in the fourth, then a mid-range jump shot to put the Celtics up 111-99.

Statement Win for Boston

This comeback for a new Celtics team at the time was huge, especially over one of the league’s best teams. “Feels great, especially since we got knocked out by these guys, and they were dealing kind of easy with us in the first half. The vibe was down, and for us to get a comeback win like this was huge for us” Hayward said following the comeback win. This was only Kemba Walker’s fourth game with Boston at the time. This was a defining win for the new team. “We’re tough, we’re not going to shy away when things go wrong, we’re going to win as a team, and we’re going to lose as a team” Walker told reporters after the game.

The reason this game ranks number three on my list is because of the comeback. Not only did the Celtics end up getting the win, but it was a defining moment for the team. They showed they could beat anyone in the league after taking down the Bucks. After a tough first half, it was great to see a new team put together a great second half to take down former MVP Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee. Make sure to join me again next time as we recap a dominating win for Boston over the Western Conference’s best team!

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