A tale of two halves: Celtics fall 110-101 to the Bucks


The Celtics kicked off the night by honouring Avery Bradley with the 2015 Red Auerbach award for being the Celtics player or coach who best exemplifies the spirit of what it means to be a Celtic through performance on the court and off. He responded by scoring the first nine points for the C's who, save for Bradley, struggled to hit their shots.

The Celts made quick work of the Bucks by taking command of the game in the first minutes. But poor shooting allowed Milwaukee to go on a 8-0 run to bring themselves back into the game as Boston held an early 25-21 lead after one.

In a seesaw 2nd quarter Jonas Jerebko appeared to clone himself as he is impacted the game from all areas of the court. Jerebko put up six points, three rebounds and a steal all in the 2nd quarter. And after a 10-0 run by the Celtics O.J. Mayo led the Bucks to a 8-0 run of their own to even up the score. Things got a little chippy in the late moments of the half with a couple questionable calls going against the C's and a hard foul by Michael Carter-Williams on Tyler Zeller.

Boston took a 52-50 lead into the break.

The Bucks came out the locker room on fire going on a 12-0 run early in the quarter to take a double digit lead. Jared Sullinger made his surprise return in the 3rd quarter in a brief, rather unproductive cameo. The Celtics couldn't buy a stop in this quarter as Milwaukee put up 36 points in the quarter and had a 86-75 lead going into the final period.

Nothing seemed to go the Celts way in the fourth, not even the officiating. A carry by Giannis Antetokounmpo, a clear miss call on Jerbko to name a couple of errors by the refs. Thus, despite a spark of a comeback from the C's top scorer Isaiah Thomas and Jerbko, the Celtics couldn't close the gap.

Playoff Picture:

The loss puts the Celtics a 1/2 game behind the Miami Heat (who hold the tiebreaker) for the final playoff spot.

The Brooklyn Nets took the down the Toronto Raptors at home for their sixth straight win.

The Celtics fly up north for their next game tomorrow to take on the Atlantic Division Champion Raptors.

Boxscore: celtics.com


Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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