Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks faced off in TD Garden on Wednesday night in their early-season contest for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. In the closing seconds, the Celtics overcame a strong rally to win 119-116.

Damian Lillard’s three-pointer with 43 seconds left put Boston ahead 114–111, but Jayson Tatum’s free throw with 21 seconds left gave the Celtics a two-possession lead. With 11 seconds left, Tatum made two more free throws to complete the victory after a foul. Lillard had missed a huge opportunity with Derek White challenging from behind.

Prior to the setback, the 10-5 Bucks had been winning five straight games. The Celtics lead the conference even at 12-3.

Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez scored a game-high 28 points on 12 of 18 shots, and despite the team trailing by 20 points in the fourth quarter, the big man played a significant role in the team’s near-victory. Lillard finished with 27 points despite shooting only 3-for-10 from outside the three-point arc. Giannis Antetokounmpo (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Khris Middleton (12 points) were the only two players who scored in double figures. Tatum finished with 23 points.

Bucks’ first-half shooting does

The saying that the NBA is a “make or miss league” is exaggerated, but Milwaukee’s performance suffered tremendously in the opening half as a consequence. The Bucks missed their first seven shots, and the Celtics took a 10-0 lead. In the end, the Bucks shot 13 for 27, 48.1%, from the paint, while the Celtics hit 12 for 23, 52.2%) from beyond the three-point line.

For a total of 19 points in the first half, the Bucks trio shot 7 of 30 (23.3%) from the floor, including 1 of 8 from beyond the three-point line. On the other side, the Boston team, which included Kristaps PorziŇģis, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum, scored a total of 36 points on 14 of 23 attempts (61%). They also made 4 out of 10 shots from beyond the three-point arc.

Milwaukee missed more shots than Boston did in the first forty-eight minutes of the game, and that proved to be the difference as the Bucks outscored Boston in the second half of the game.Regretfully, their stars were the reason for the misses.

Middleton was 0 for 6, with five of his misses occurring inside a 12-foot radius. Antetokounmpo missed six of his thirteen attempts from ten feet or closer. Lillard misfired 11 times, three of them at distances of 11 feet or fewer.

First time since trade, the Bucks take on Jrue Holiday.

Former Milwaukee teammates of Jrue Holiday, particularly those who shared a championship in 2021, were excited to see him before the game. They agreed it would be unusual to see him on the other side of the court, but Holiday paid a brief visit to a familiar location, the visiting locker room at TD Garden, to greet a few of his former colleagues prior to the game.

While it’s not standard procedure in most sports, Holiday was the one who could pull it off. Since many of his former Bucks teammates had not seen him since the trade that moved him to Portland on September 27, hugs and greetings were shared. On October 1, Boston acquired him in a different transaction. It was basketball time after the friendly welcomes on the court during warmups.

On the defensive end, Holiday matched Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Brook Lopez floored Holiday with two powerful screens, the second of which had the guard sliding to the ground and extending his left shoulder.

Holiday would occasionally wind up protecting Khris Middleton and Damian Lillard as well. Conversely, he was occasionally covered by Antetokounmpo and was only able to score five points on one of his eight shots.

Early in the fourth quarter, he made his first and only basket—an open three-pointer that gave the Celtics a 99-79 lead and all but sealed the victory—as they needed that lead to fend off a late charge by the Bucks. Later on, he added two more free throws.

Celtics’ Jaylen Brown sets the tone

The first play of the game determined the winner as Brown sprinted past Antetokounmpo’s baseline and sank a thunderous slam. Brown would go on to add a windmill dunk to his arsenal and make jumpers whenever it seemed the Celtics needed one after defeating MarJon Beauchamp.

Notwithstanding Tatum’s illness and PorziņĖis’s difficulty containing Antetokounmpo and Lopez in the middle, Brown performed admirably for Boston. The all-NBA guard finished with 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting and eight assists.

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In the middle of the third quarter, Bobby Portis was replaced by star player Antetokounmpo by the Bucks’ head coach Adrian Griffin after the latter missed a three-point attempt and turned the ball over. Instead of heading to the bench, Antetokounmpo remained at the scorer’s table and had a verbal altercation with Griffin. Forty seconds later, Antetokounmpo took Lopez’s spot once more.

Five numbers

1 Blocks by Bucks center Lopez. He came into Wednesday’s game leading the league in contested shots (205) and No. 2 in blocks (42).

4-4 Bucks road record. They began the season 1-3 away from Fiserv Forum.

29 Minutes for Middleton, a season-high. Unfortunately for the Bucks, he was just 4 for 14 from the floor for 12 points. He added 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

47 Rebounds for the Bucks, including 13 on the offensive end that resulted in 19 second-chance points. The Celtics came into the league as the No. 1 defensive rebounding team in the league. The Bucks had a 10-point advantage in second-chance points for the game.

116-109 Score, in favor of the Bucks, after the Celtics started the game on a 10-0 run.