The Boston Celtics nearly pulled off a miracle comeback against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, but they fell just short after Daniel Theis missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer. The 121-119 loss dropped the Celtics to 21-23 heading into the trade deadline.
The Bucks had it going from the opening tip, putting up 70 points in the first half while holding Boston to 59 points. Celtics head coach Brad Stevens lamented his team's start:
Brad Stevens on the Celtics’ start: “I thought they hit us in the mouth and kept punching.”
He thought Boston played well later on, but felt like the early deficit could have been even greater.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) March 25, 2021
While the game was relatively competitive in the first half, things started to really get out of hand in the third quarter when Milwaukee went up by 25 points. Boston finally got up off the mat by ending the third quarter on a 21-10 run to chop the deficit to 14. The Celtics continued their surge into the fourth quarter, making one last push in the final minutes before Theis' buzzer-beating miss lost them the game.
Boston lost despite shooting 19-of-47 from 3-point range. Milwaukee hit 17 3-pointers of its own and dominated offensively until the fourth quarter. Perhaps the Celtics would have actually won the game if they brought that intensity from the start, which is something Stevens was definitely hinting at with his comment.
Boston has been scuffling all season, for various reasons. Jayson Tatum is still dealing with the aftereffects of COVID-19, and he struggled to a 7-of-19 shooting performance on Wednesday. The Celtics are still the No. 8 seed in the East, but they aren't inspiring much confidence with a lot of their performances. It was nice to see them make the late run, so we'll see if they can carry that momentum over to next game against the Bucks on Friday after the trade deadline.
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