The Celtics got their five-game win streak snapped Thursday night, following a 116-101 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum.
Jaylen Brown finished with 30 points on 10-of-17 from the field, while Jordan Walsh went 8-of-10 to score 20 points and grab eight rebounds. Neemias Queta had a near double-double of nine points and 10 rebounds as the only somewhat bright spots for the Celtics, who fell to 15-10 on the season.
Kyle Kuzma led all scorers with 31 points on 13-of-17 shooting, while Bobby Portis hit 11-of-13 on his attempts, including 5-of-6 from deep to record 27 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Porter Jr. notched a triple-double of 18 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists to help improve the Bucks to 11-15 overall and 2-7 without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup.
It was the tail of two halves for the Celtics -- who connected on 11-of-23 from 3-point range and were shooting 52.4% which included with a 23-9 run in the second period to take a 67-60 advantage into the break before coming apart and only scoring 13-third quarter points and missing all 12 attempts from 3 to boot.
Milwaukee took their first lead midway through the third and never looked back, as they were up 87-80 heading into to final frame. Portis knocked down three 3-pointers as part of a 19-9 spurt for the Bucks, giving the home team a 106-89 lead with 6:49 left to play and C's coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters not long after the deficit grew to 21 within the next minute and a half.
"It's not our night," Mazzulla said in his postgame presser. "We've played some good basketball, and we have an understanding of when we're at our best. Tonight, we got a taste of when we're not at our best. So we'll get back to work, continue to work at it, but it's just one of those. It's not our night, and we'll move on to the next one."
Payton Pritchard (11 points), Derrick White (11 points), Anfernee Simons (seven points) and Sam Hauser shot a combined to go 0-for-19 from three in final 12 minutes. Hauser, who's from the Milwaukee area, went scoreless after missing all 10 of his shot attempts in 22 minutes off the bench.
Boston was 3-of-26 in the second half from behind the arc and finished 14-of-49 (28.6%) overall for the game, while the Bucks -- who prior to tip-off had lost seven of their last 10 -- were an efficient 13-of-29 (45%) from long distance.
"Milwaukee played with more force than us tonight," Brown told reporters. "I don't think we eased our way into the game. We had a good start, but you've got to have a harder-playing mentality all the way through. You can't take games for granted. Anything can happen on any given night. Just because we've had some success doesn't mean we have the privilege of not winning the margins or casually going through the game."
The Celtics still have the East's third best record despite the loss and are off until Monday when they host the Detroit Pistons (19-5) who sit atop of the standings in the same conference. Tip-off from TD Garden is at 7:00 pm ET on NBC/Peacock.
Game Notes:
Boston shot 39% from the field to the Buck's 58% and were out-rebounded 40-39. The Celtics were also outscored in the paint 50-28 while Milwaukee assisted 28 times on 46 baskets to the visiting team's 18 dimes on 34 made shots.
Joel Pavón
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