Tatum drops 34 to guide Celtics previous Bucks

Celtics

Just a little over 1 / 4 of the way in which by way of the season, Tatum appears to be like very very similar to an MVP candidate.

Jayson Tatum put collectively a masterful efficiency and the Celtics claimed a 111-105 win over the Bucks on Friday, bettering to 19-4 this season.

Here are the takeaways.

Jayson Tatum picked on Brook Lopez.

Lopez is a crucial defender for the Bucks – a towering determine within the paint who discourages any foray to the rim with nice success.

So moderately than having offensive gamers drive straight at him, the Celtics – particularly late – adjusted by forcing him to come back out and defend Tatum on the perimeter by bringing Lopez’s defensive task out to set a display.

That allowed Tatum to drive on the slower Lopez, and whereas it didn’t at all times end in a basket, it helped maintain the paint open.

“At halftime, we noticed what the spacing was, and it was simply, ‘Hey, when you’ve gotten probably the greatest rim protectors away from the rim, right here’s what’s accessible, and right here’s who’s going to overhelp, and right here’s what we will get,’” Joe Mazzulla stated. “And so the blokes did an amazing job simply form of executing the offensive coverages within the sport plan.”

Tatum, in the meantime, got here up large in an enormous sport but once more – 34 factors on 12-for-20 capturing (4-for-10 from three) to go together with 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Two of his assists have been related wanting dimes out of the pick-and-roll, wrapping round defenders to discover a slicing teammate.

“I imply, no person can guard him within the league,” Jrue Holiday stated. “He’s a troublesome guard.”

Just a little over 1 / 4 of the way in which by way of the season, Tatum appears to be like very very similar to an MVP candidate, and taking part in towards a fellow candidate in Giannis Antetokounmpo, he completed with extra factors on extra environment friendly capturing, extra assists and a pleasant win.

A doubtful season-first.

The Celtics had not gone a complete quarter with out a 3-pointer but this season, however they went 0-for-12 within the second, which was a part of a 17-for-53 efficiency from behind the arc for the sport. Payton Pritchard was uncharacteristically off (0-for-2) and Derrick White shot 0-for-8 from deep, persevering with his capturing woes after a 4-for-15 total efficiency towards the Pistons.

Al Horford, in the meantime, was simply 2-for-7, however he hit the most important shot of the sport late within the fourth quarter when the ball discovered him in transition for an open triple above the break that pushed the Celtics’ result in two possessions.

Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday, in the meantime, gave the Celtics sufficient capturing total, combining to go 12-for-25 from behind the arc.

As has been the case for a lot of the season, when the Celtics play the mathematics sport appropriately, they win even when they don’t shoot nicely.

Jrue Holiday had a revenge sport.

Does an enormous sport towards an previous group rely as a revenge group if you happen to appear fairly content material within the new scenario?

Either method, Holiday scored 20 factors on 7-for-14 capturing towards the Bucks and dished out six assists. His remaining bucket was his greatest one: A driving floater because the shot clock expired that pushed the Celtics’ result in 5 with 25.6 seconds remaining.

“[I] nonetheless need to win,” Holiday stated. “In between these strains, when it’s tipoff to the buzzer, I need to win.

“I like them. It’s nice seeing them. But each time I play them, and doubtless much more so as a result of they’re like my brothers. So I need to whoop their ass each time. And they know that, too. They really feel the identical method about me. I feel it’s nearly being rivals. To have the ability to change it on and off, I don’t know. It’s identical to, ‘Hey, bro, good to see you.’ Once the sport begins, it’s like, ‘Nah, we not buddies anymore.’”

The final time these groups met, the case for the Bucks deeply regretting the Damian Lillard commerce appeared stark – the Celtics attacked Lillard repeatedly, placing the Bucks in uncomfortable conditions, and Holiday regarded nice, particularly on the defensive finish.

On Friday, Lillard had a significantly better sport – 31 factors on 12-for-25 capturing. Still, Holiday offered the Celtics with protection and loads of offensive firepower on an evening when the remainder of the Celtics’ again court docket couldn’t discover the vary. In our view, the purpose stands.

Jaylen Brown and Giannis Antetokounmpo: Still not BFFs

Brown and Antetokounmpo bought into it with one another the final time the Celtics and Bucks met – Antetokounmpo hit Brown with an elbow, and when he went to shake Brown’s hand to apologize, he pulled his hand again and pretended to clean his hair with a smile. That prompted Brown to declare that Antetokounmpo “is a toddler” after the sport.

On Friday, the fireworks have been barely much less pronounced, however within the third quarter, Brown scored a scoop layup over Antetokounmpo and held his palm to the ground within the typically inflammatory “too small” gesture.

That began a minor fracas, as Antetokounmpo hit Brown with an elbow on his well past. Brown, in return, pointed in Antetokounmpo’s face, and the officers bought Brown with a technical foul.

“I assumed the elbow to the face form of unlocked Jaylen somewhat bit,” Joe Mazzulla stated. “I assumed the technical was super by Jaylen, and I assumed from there on in, it simply introduced out an edge in us, and we have been in a position to feed off that.”

Antetokounmpo’s sneaky elbow might have gone unnoticed by the officers, however as Richard Jefferson identified on the ESPN broadcast: If you hit somebody with the “too small,” try to be ready to get hit with an elbow in return.

The Bucks picked on Neemias Queta.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Celtics regarded like they may put collectively an enormous stretch, beginning off the interval with seven straight factors together with a four-point play by Jayson Tatum. That turned a four-point deficit initially of the interval right into a three-point lead.

But the Bucks stored taking and re-taking the lead by selecting on the Celtics defensively. With Antetokounmpo out, Damian Lillard referred to as Neemias Queta up into the pick-and-roll repeatedly, and he took benefit of the Celtics’ willingness to change by going straight on the large man. When Antetokounmpo returned, he picked on Sam Hauser.

The Celtics have plenty of actually good particular person defenders, and presumably, Mazzulla wasn’t significantly desirous about displaying the whole lot in his defensive arsenal in an early December sport. If Porzingis had been taking part in, Queta particularly in all probability wouldn’t have been on the ground (though he may not have made an unlimited distinction schematically).

Still, the Celtics are exhausting to choose on defensively, and it was attention-grabbing to see a group give them a dose of their very own medication.

An oddly chaotic remaining possession.

The Bucks had plenty of hassle fouling the Celtics on the ultimate two possessions of the sport once they wanted to commit a foul to increase the sport.

First AJ Green missed Jrue Holiday within the again court docket and allowed the Celtics guard to bleed 5 or 6 seconds earlier than he was fouled.

Then with 10 seconds left, Derrick White picked off a cross from Antetokounmpo to Khris Middleton, and White scampered down the court docket to the nook. Green got here flying in to foul, however White flicked a cross to Horford, who laid it in as Green reversed course to foul him.

Horford’s spouse actually wished Antetokounmpo to overlook a free throw.

Amelia Vega – Horford’s spouse – didn’t appear to really feel that TD Garden was doing its half to ensure her husband’s rival missed a free throw.

“I actually take pleasure in it for my spouse to be there rooting me on, giving me that little additional vitality, it’s good,” Horford stated. “And then having our children there, I simply take pleasure in seeing them. Just being there and having the ability to expertise this kind of life. It jogs my memory of after I was youthful.

“It was totally different, however watching my dad somewhat bit play in [the Dominican Republic] and stuff like that, and I have a look at them, and it’s form of like the identical factor. So for me, it’s fairly particular.”

The Celtics and Bucks are accomplished for the season.

The Celtics wrap up their season sequence towards the Bucks lower than two months into the season with a tidy 3-0 report.

What have we discovered concerning the two groups?

Al Horford remains to be a menace towards Antetokounmpo – a lot in order that Antetokounmpo, who was having a comparatively strong sport, hoisted a 3-pointer within the remaining two minutes moderately than driving at him (Horford, after all, responded by making a 3-pointer, and Antetokounmpo advised reporters afterward that he would “shoot it once more”).

Lillard is a pick-and-roll risk, and if the Bucks and Celtics meet within the playoffs, the Bucks might want to guarantee that he offers them much more on the offensive finish than the Celtics take from him on the defensive finish. That equation must go much more in Milwaukee’s favor than it has within the three regular-season video games.

The Bucks don’t actually have anybody for Jayson Tatum, however at this stage in his profession, it’s unclear what number of groups within the NBA have anybody for Tatum.

Jrue Holiday is a menace.

How a lot the Bucks can jell with Middleton returning to the lineup can be essential.

The benefit appears to be totally on the Celtics’ facet, and most Bucks followers would in all probability admit that in an sincere second.

“We take that proper now we’re within the sport with them, however we haven’t crushed them and we do imagine we have now an enormous stretch that we’re going to get higher,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers advised reporters afterward. “We’re going to get lots higher and they’ll too somewhat bit, however we’ll lots and so yeah, we hope to play them once more within the playoffs within the late rounds and we’ll see the way it goes.

“But proper now they’re the champs and till somebody beats them, they’re the champs.”

Happy birthday to Deuce.

As a fellow father of a 7-year-old, I hope the Tatums had an awesome day.

“I do know I wasn’t on the Jumbotron at a Celtics sport,” Tatum quipped to reporters afterward. “I feel for me and him, it’s particular that we share these moments collectively. Deuce was born December 6, 2017. That was a month and a half into my rookie 12 months. It’s loopy that now he’s seven and the way a lot time has handed.

“But it’s been actually particular. We’ve grown up right here collectively in Boston. We’ve shared plenty of cool moments and particular moments right here on the Garden. He was excited concerning the sport right now. He preferred being on the Jumbotron, so it was a reasonably cool second for a seven-year-old.”

The return of an previous good friend.

Marcus Smart can be again in Boston on Saturday night with a Grizzlies group that has been taking part in nice not too long ago, and the Celtics might want to prepared themselves for an additional robust sport after essentially the most grueling week of their season to date.

“I’m thrilled to see Smart tomorrow,” Tatum stated. “You all know the way a lot he means to this metropolis, to this franchise. Ultimate Celtic, he’ll at all times be a Celtic for all times. I had performed with him for six years – I didn’t envision a time the place I wouldn’t be on his group. So, if he does play tomorrow, it’ll be somewhat bizarre, however I’ll in all probability go on the market and sort out the s— out of him or one thing.

“But I’m excited to see him. I do know the followers are going to be thrilled to have Smart again within the constructing. So it’s going to be a particular second.”

Thanks to the NBA Cup, the Celtics will lastly get a while off afterward, taking part in simply two video games in 11 days.