The Boston Celtics cruised to a 108-81 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. The loss spoiled the return of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who played for the first time since Jan. 23 after missing 15 games with a strained right calf. He finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Boston Dominates Without Jaylen Brown
Boston controlled the game despite playing without leading scorer Jaylen Brown, who was absent due to illness.
Payton Pritchard led the way with 25 points and nine assists. Rookie Hugo Gonzalez delivered career highs of 18 points and 16 rebounds, while Derrick White added 18 points and nine assists.
The Celtics knocked down 20 of 50 shots from three-point range in a dominant offensive display.
Game Flow And Key Runs
Milwaukee opened with the game’s first seven points but quickly fell behind, trailing 30-20 after one quarter. Boston stretched the margin to 22 in the second quarter on a White three-pointer and carried a 57-43 lead into halftime.
The Bucks never scored more than 23 points in any quarter and shot just 36.5 percent from the field.
Milwaukee briefly cut the deficit to nine early in the third. However, a decisive 15-0 Celtics run pushed the lead to 74-50 after a fastbreak layup by Gonzalez. Boston’s advantage swelled to 102-71 on a Pritchard three-pointer with just over four minutes remaining.
Milwaukee was outscored 25-16 in the fourth quarter to seal the lopsided result.
Season Series Update
Ousmane Dieng scored 13 points and Bobby Portis added 12 for Milwaukee.
The matchup was the third between the teams this season: the Bucks won 116-101 on Dec. 11, and the Celtics claimed a 107-79 victory on Feb. 1.
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