The two top teams in the Eastern Conference went head-to-head for the third time this year on Thursday night at TD Garden, but the highly anticipated nationally televised game between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks lost some luster throughout the day as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday were ruled out.

But the teams still put on a show, with the Bucks nearly erasing a 21-point fourth quarter deficit before the Celtics pulled out a 122-119 win in the final seconds.

Bobby Portis scored 14 fourth quarter points and got his team to 116-114 with 32 seconds left with a runner that drew a whistle, but he missed the free throw and Jaylen Brown countered with two bonus free throws with 20 ticks remaining.

After Damian Lillard missed a tough layup attempt over Brown on the other end, Jayson Tatum added two more free throws with 12.1 seconds left to effectively seal the game by putting the Celtics up six.

The victory gave the Celtics a 2-1 season series lead on the Bucks. They play each other one final time in the regular season on April 9 in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee fell to 17-18 on the road.

Lillard led the Bucks with 32 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 6 of 10 from behind the three-point line. Portis added 24 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. Khris Middleton had 22 points, six assists and six rebounds. Brook Lopez and Jae Crowder were plagued by foul trouble and combined for 15 points.

The Bucks’ margin for error was already thin without Antetokounmpo and against the best team in the league – with the best home record – they couldn’t afford to give away possessions.

And some of them were a result of perhaps trying too hard, like Crowder throwing an inbound pass away out of a timeout, Middleton lobbing a pass to Portis that was just too high, or passes into the post that had to find their way through too many hands.

Boston improved to 55-14 after winning seven games in a row, which is their second-longest winning run of the year. With the win, the Celtics won the Atlantic Division and guaranteed a postseason berth. Milwaukee’s record plummeted to 44–25, and they will play the Brooklyn Nets at Fiserv Forum on Thursday night after returning home.

Tatum scored 23 of his 31 points in the first half to lead the Celtics while Brown (21), Kristaps Porziņģis (17), Derrick White (23) and Payton Pritchard (19) also reached double figures.

Antetokounmpo began Wednesday as questionable to play with left hamstring tendinopathy, but the MVP candidate did make the trip to Boston, even though he was officially ruled out later in the afternoon.

Antetokounmpo missed the Bucks’ win over Phoenix on Sunday with soreness in the hamstring after going through pregame warmups. Rivers wasn’t ready to call the hamstring issue an “injury” before the game against the Suns, and noted it would give Antetokounmpo five days off before the Celtics game. Antetokounmpo did some “light” work in practice on Tuesday.