Payton Pritchard leads Celtics to 119-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks
On Monday night at the Garden the 3-0 Boston Celtics welcomed the 1-2 Milwaukee Bucks to Boston in a heavily anticipated early season Eastern Conference clash. Boston head’s into this game as 9.5 point favorites with the Bucks playing last night in Brooklyn. Milwaukee has had it’s early season ups and downs and will be tested mightily against the best team in the league on Monday night.
Giannis is still one of the best players in the league but him and Damian Lillard are still struggling to figure things out as a duo. While Boston boasts the best roster in the league led by Jayson Tatum who racked up his 11th Eastern Conference player of the week award after the first week of the season.
Milwaukee will be without Khris Middleton who hasn’t played a game yet this season, while Boston will be without Sam Hauser as he continues to deal with a lower back injury and Kristaps Porzingis who’s return is looking like it’ll be late 2024 early 2025 at best.
First Quarter:
Both teams got off to a slow start on Monday night with the first basket coming almost two minutes into the game when Damian Lillard gave the Bucks a 2-0 lead early. Boston started the game 0-6 from the field. The sloppy start for Boston would continue even after Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla won an early challenge. Jrue Holiday would throw away the inbound leading to a pair of free throws for Lillard giving Milwaukee a very early 4-0 lead with 9:44 to go in the first.
Derrick White would answer quickly for Boston though with 5 points of his own giving Boston it’s first lead of the night 5-4. The two teams would trade blows throughout the first quarter exchanging leads, but a small bonus early in the first was racking up two early fouls on Damian Lillard forcing Doc Rivers to take him out around the 6 minute mark of the first.
Boston would start to find it’s offense rhythm as the quarter went on with Payton Pritchard giving the team a spark off the bench. Pritchard scored 8 points in 5 minutes off the bench to close out the first quarter with the Bucks leading 29-28.
Second Quarter:
Milwaukee would come out in the second trying to extend their 1 point lead, Lillard would get free throws and Trent would add a bucket to give Milwaukee a 5 point lead early in the second quarter. For Boston though it was the Payton Pritchard show early with Pritchard racking up 16 points in 8 minutes keeping Milwaukee within 5 with 8:30 to go in the half. Pritchard would continue to have the hot hand hitting another 3 pointer upping his total to 19 and knotting up the score at 41 a piece.
The Bucks were determined to make the Celtics work even after playing in Brooklyn last night. Milwaukee held a 4-5 point lead for most of the first half. Payton Pritchard was the only Celtics scorer in double figures throughout the first half. While Giannis, Lopez, Lillard and Connaughton were all in double figures for the Bucks at halftime. Milwaukee spreading the wealth on offense would lead to a 56-53 lead at the half.
Third Quarter:
Boston would start the second half keeping with their script of Mazzulla ball and hoping the law of averages would even out their first half 3 point shooting woes. Boston was 9/27 from deep early in the second half trailing 58-56 after Mazzulla won his second challenge of the night. Both sides would continue to trade blows with 10 lead changes and 8 ties through the first 26 minutes of play.
This was easily the most offensive issues Boston had faced all season with Milwaukee giving playing them tough but even with all that the Celtics would find themselves leading 65-61 after a 14-5 run to start the second half. Milwaukee would start to slow the pace on Boston though making Giannis and Lopez both more effective with Lillard starting to pile up points as well.
Milwaukee would go on a 12-3 run to give themselves a 73-70 lead halfway through the third. Boston’s superstar duo would start to show why they’re the defending champs as the quarter went on with Jaylen scoring 12 in the third by the 4 minute mark. Propelling Boston to a 79-74 lead.
The Celtics would catch fire after this run, with Derrick White getting hot from beyond the arc and Jordan Walsh making his impact felt in limited minutes. White would hit a pair of 3’s and Walsh would add an offensive rebound put back to give Boston an 87-80 lead with under a minute left in the third. Neither to be out done by Payton Pritchard though with Pritchard adding to his already spectacular game with another end of quarter buzzer beater to give Boston a 90-82 lead getting Pritchard’s point total up to 22 on the night.
Fourth Quarter:
Milwaukee would start to show signs of fatigue after playing last night in Brooklyn, Jaylen Brown would score early in the 4th to give Boston their first double digit lead of the night. Brown was the second best Celtics player of the night behind Pritchard, Jaylen would add an and-1 at the 10:23 mark of the 4th to give Boston a 97-82 lead. However Milwaukee would chip away after a 3 pointer from Lillard and 3 free throws from Prince cut Boston’s lead down to 9.
If only Milwaukee could contain Jaylen Brown they might have had a fighters chance, Jaylen immediately responded to the Bucks run with another and-1. Celtics would lead by 8 for a small stretch until once again Payton Pritchard would hit a 3 pointer upping the lead to 103-92. Pritchard was up to 28 points on the night on 8/12 shooting from beyond the arc.
Boston would start to pull away late in the 4th with Giannis getting his 7th turnover on the night leading to a Tatum jumper giving Boston a 14 point lead with 5:45 to go. The Celtics would hold onto their lead as the 4th went on. Keeping a 10 point lead for almost all of the 4th with the Bucks running out of gas and Doc Rivers calling off the dogs with 3 minutes to go in the game. Giannis and Lillard were taken out and Milwaukee accepted defeat after giving Boston their most competitive game of the season through the first half.
Boston would go on to win by a final score of 119-108 but Payton Pritchard was the story in this one. Pritchard would end the night with 28 points on 10/14 shooting, 8/12 from beyond the arc. Showing up and giving his team a spark off the bench in a game they certainly needed it in the first half. Jaylen Brown would add 30 of his own with most of them coming in the second half to ensure his teams victory. Boston became the first team to move to 4-0 on the season and they’ll head to Indiana to take on the Pacers on Wednesday night.