Bucks 116, Celtics 101

 

The Celtics third-quarter underperformance woes strike again, this time ending a five-game win streak in Milwaukee. The Celts had a seven-point halftime lead, but then were outscored by the Giannis-less Bucks, 27-13, in the third quarter. It's had to come back from that and the Celtics didn't.

The Bucks were not only Giannis-less, they didn't have Alex Antetokounmpo either and Thanasis Antetokounmpo only played two minutes and didn't score a single point.

The two teams were nearly even in three-pointers made (14-13, in the Celtics favor) and rebounds (40-39, in the Bucks favor). Boston even had 13-5 advantage in offensive boards. But the telling statistic is the Celtics' 49 three-point attempts with only 28.6% complete, while the Bucks were 44.8% on 29 attempts. In other words, the Celtics squandered the game with low-percentage outside shooting instead of driving into the paint for high-percent (58.2%) field goals inside the line. You live by the three, you die by the three. 

Boston's 36.5 percentage in three-pointers is only 13th in the league, yet their attempts are the third highest. Individually, Derrick White is sixth in the NBA in three-point attempts, but not even in the top fifty in percent made. Our top three-point shooter is Josh Minott at 45.6%, 11th in the league. 

Gotta work on that three-point shooting, fellas. And also shot selection.

Okay. The Celtics are nevertheless 15-10, second in the Atlantic and 2½ beck from the Knicks. They're off this weekend while other teams play the NBA Cup tournament, and then will host the Pistons (19-5) on Monday night. The two teams are 1-1 so far this season.