BOSTON (AP) – Jaylen Brown knocked down his shots in the fourth quarter. And then he knocked down Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Brown scored 13 of his 29 points in the fourth, and Jayson Tatum scored 41 for Boston yesterday to help the Celtics beat Milwaukee 139-118 in a matchup of the top two teams in the NBA.
Tatum scored 20 in the third quarter, when the Celtics turned a one-point lead into a 100-86 edge. Brown took over in the fourth, contributing on defence with a pick that sent Antetokounmpo to the floor before he bounced back up and shoved Brown in the back.
After some jawing back and forth, Antetokounmpo was given a technical foul and went to the bench. The teams played the last 3:41 without further incident.
Antetokounmpo, who fell hard on his hand recently but was cleared to start, scored 27 points with nine rebounds. Asked about his team’s ability to limit the damage done by Antetokounmpo, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said, “Limiting’s crazy. He had 27.”
“He’s a great player,” he said, “and you’ve got to be disciplined against him.”
Jrue Holiday scored 23 for Milwaukee, which lost a third straight game for the first time this season. The Celtics have also struggled lately, losing five of six before winning back-to-back games.
Still, Boston (24-10) has the best record in the league, followed by Milwaukee (22-11).
The Celtics led by 10 in the first quarter and 11 in the second, when Antetokounmpo fired back-to-back bricks from three-point range and in the middle got dunked on by Jayson Tatum.
