Celtics collapse in second half, fall to Bucks 116-101

The Boston Celtics saw their five-game win streak vanish to the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, falling 116-101. 

It wasn’t like the Cs didn’t have their chances either as they built double digit leads on three separate occasions, but the Bucks erased the deficit each time. Boston went ice cold in the second half, missing 16 straight three point attempts, while only scoring 13 in the third quarter. 

Bobby Portis poured in an astonishing 27 points on 11-for-13 shooting, and Kyle Kuzma scored a season-high 31 points in the win. 

Both Jaylen Brown (30 points) and Jordan Walsh (20 points) kept pace for Boston in the first half, but the second half saw everyone struggle from the floor. 

Even despite the extended four-day break since their last game, the Celtics didn’t look rusty to open the game in Milwaukee. Boston jumped out to a lightning fast 21-8 lead thanks to some hot shooting out of the gates. 

The Celtics made their first 4-of-5 triples, with Walsh connecting on back-to-back attempts to extend the double digit lead. 

Milwaukee — who was 2-10 in their last 12 coming into Thursday — didn’t pack it in immediately though as Portis. injected the Bucks with some solid energy. Portis poured in seven points to spark a 14-4 run. 

Brown helped give Boston a little cushion to end the opening quarter, scoring five points in the final minute to end the quarter with 13 on 5-of-5 shooting. 

What kept the Bucks in the game was their ability to capitalize on a smaller Boston lineup. Joe Mazzulla opted for Josh Minott pretty quickly into the first, and Milwaukee used its size advantage to score seven second chance points while the C’s couldn’t muster any. 

But just like it did in the first, Boston’s three-point attack ballooned the lead right back up again. Both Anfernee Simons and Payton Pritchard knocked down back-to-back triples to give the Cs a 14-point lead. 

In the absence of Antetokounmpo, Kyle Kuzma carried the offensive load, and even went after Brown a little bit. The two shared some holiday wishes on multiple occasions on Thursday night. Kuzma’s 18 first-half points cut the deficit to just four, but no amount of offense was slowing down Walsh. 

The forward continued to display an elite performance on both ends, hitting his third three in the final seconds of the half to finish with 18 points on perfect 7-of-7 shooting. In the last five games, Walsh is 27-of-32 from the floor, good for 82%. 

The offensive rhythm Boston found in the first half completely vanished in the third as the down and out Bucks once again erased a double digit deficit. Milwaukee slowly built up a 27-8 run as the Cs could only muster 13 third quarter points. 

It didn’t help matters that the Cs went ice cold from deep, shooting 0-for-12 from three in the quarter. 

With Boston searching for any sign of life, Kuzma continued to spearhead the Bucks offensive attack, finishing the third frame with 29 points. Portis also added in 16 points, even getting in the face of Brown before drawing a technical foul. 

The fourth quarter didn’t see a Boston resurrection, as a horrific second half extended through the final quarter. Portis provided a pair of daggers to open the fourth, draining two triples from the corner to build the lead to double digits. 

Sam Hauser also struggled mightily in the loss, missing all 10 of his attempts, including three on a single possession in the fourth. 

In the end, the Celtics missed 16 straight threes, which was good for the fourth longest streak in franchise history. 

Boston will have some time to regroup following Thursday’s ugly loss as it will return to the TD Garden on Monday to face off against the Detroit Pistons.