On Thursday night at TD Garden, the two best teams in the Eastern Conference squared off for the third time this season. However, the much-awaited nationally televised match between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks lost some of its excitement during the day due to the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday.

Nevertheless, both teams put on a spectacle, with the Bucks coming close to overturning a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter and the Celtics winning 122-119 in the closing seconds.

With 32 seconds remaining, Bobby Portis scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and pulled his team within 116-114 thanks to a runner who drew a whistle. However, he missed the free shot, and with 20 seconds left, Jaylen Brown answered with two additional free throws.

Celts take a commanding lead and hang on to defeat the Bucks.

With 12.1 seconds remaining, Jayson Tatum hit two more free throws to basically close the game and put the Celtics up six points after Damian Lillard missed a difficult layup try over Brown on the opposite end.

With the win, the Celtics now lead the Bucks in the season series 2-1. On April 9 in Milwaukee, they will play their final regular-season game together.

Milwaukee lost their away game 17–18.. 

Celtics win seven straight after holding off Giannis-less Bucks | theScore.com

With 32 points on 11 of 21 shots, including 6 of 10 from beyond the three-point arc, Lillard led the Bucks. Off the bench, Portis contributed 24 points and 15 rebounds. Khris Middleton finished with six assists, six rebounds, and 22 points. Despite their frequent foul problems, Brook Lopez and Jae Crowder combined for 15 points.

Without Giannis, the Celtics take a commanding lead and hold on to defeat the Bucks 122-119.. 

Without Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ margin for error was already narrow, and they couldn’t afford to give up possessions against the league’s greatest team, who also had the best home record.

And some of them, like Crowder’s inbound ball away from a timeout, Middleton’s feed to Portis that was just too high, or passes into the post that had to get past too many hands, were possibly the product of trying too hard.

After winning seven straight games—their second-longest winning streak of the season—Boston moved up to 55-14. The victory assured the Celtics of a postseason place and won the Atlantic Division. Milwaukee’s record fell to 44–25, and they will be back home on Thursday to play the Brooklyn Nets at Fiserv Forum.

The Celtics were led by Tatum, who scored 23 of his 31 points in the first half. Brown (21), Kristaps Porziņģis (17), Derrick White (23) and Payton Pritchard (19) all scored double figures as well.s.

Due to left hamstring tendinopathy, Antetokounmpo was initially doubtful to play on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the MVP front-runner traveled to Boston even though he was eventually declared out later in the afternoon.

After warming up before the game, Antetokounmpo experienced hamstring tightness, which prevented him from playing in Sunday’s Bucks victory against Phoenix. Before the Suns game, Rivers was hesitant to refer to the hamstring problem as a “injury” and mentioned Antetokounmpo would have five days off before the Celtics game. On Tuesday, Antetokounmpo participated in some “light” practice.