Rapid Recap is designed for the busiest of Celtics fans. Whether you can’t stay awake to read 10 paragraphs or your hangover is just too much, Rapid Recap tells the timeline of the game in only a minute or two.
Another Thursday, another Celtics back-to-back with the SEGABABA against an elite conference opponent. And lacking Jaylen Brown, no less. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are too much for most teams to handle, and a shorthanded Cs squad wasn’t gonna be the exception.
Kemba Walker gave it his all: After a goose-egg first quarter, he poured on 24 in the second (of 40 overall) on 60.9% shooting, plus 11 boards, 3 dimes and a block. Marcus Smart didn’t shoot nearly as well overall but was solid enough on triples to reach 24 points (plus 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block), and Daniel Theis’s 12-10-0-1-2 line didn’t come close to summing up his impact on the game. But it wasn’t enough against the 32-17-7 monstrosity of Giannis and double figures from four other hot-shooting Bucks (Middleton, Lopez, George Hill and Donte “The Whiteboy With Interesting Tweets” DiVincenzo [Google it]).
Milwaukee looked like the title contender they hope to be from jump. Boston…did not. No surprise the former jumped to a double-digit lead in less than three minutes.
https://twitter.com/MPleasing72/status/1217979999136964608?s=20
Brook Lopez’s goofy ass is Kyle Korver tonight someone just fucking kill me
— Tribune of the Plebs (@Handsome_Jake_) January 17, 2020
(As you might infer, Lopez was red-hot from deep while Boston couldn’t buy a shot.)
https://twitter.com/spartymoshow/status/1217981619778265088?s=20
Bucks are so long up front… C's are either going to have to move the ball a LOT more and pull MIL out of position, or they're going to have to win this game from the mid-range https://t.co/L2zRZhQkz6
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 17, 2020
Celtics open the game 5-of-18 from the field.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 17, 2020
Ending in a 36-20 deficit, the quarter was an utterly devastating beatdown for the Cs that seemed unlikely to reverse course any time soon.
As if to illustrate the point, Boston opens the second with a pull-up 3 from Ojeleye that goes about how you’d expect it would. https://t.co/ZoUXLrLBo2
— Anchorage Man (@SethPartnow) January 17, 2020
The fundamental nature of the failure didn’t change in Q2: Milwaukee was hitting their shots and owning the paint while Boston wasn’t.
Kemba caught fire in the 2nd quarter:
☘️ 24 Pts
☘️ 9-11 FG(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/o163MAWbKr
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 17, 2020
If not for a 24-point blitz by Walker in that second frame, the Cs would’ve been down 30 or more, instead of just 18 at the half (76-58 Bucks).
Best scoring quarter I've seen by a #Celtics player this season.
Kemba Walker: 24 points
In the worst defensive half of the season — 76 points is the most points allowed for Boston #Bucks lead 76-58 at the half
— Josue Pavón (@Joe_Sway) January 17, 2020
To start Q3, Boston tried to drag Milwaukee into the mud that had consumed their offense with slow-but-steady-wins-the-race shit: second-chance attempts, ugly but disciplined ball movement and so on.
15-5 Celtics run. C's putting up some fight after being down 27 on tail end of back-to-back.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 17, 2020
Daniel Theis was responsible for a lot of it:
Good hustle by Theis 🔨 pic.twitter.com/CJkAl36Sd0
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 17, 2020
Daniel Theis just blocked Giannis at the rim! #thisdayincelticshistory
— Abby Chin (@tvabby) January 17, 2020
Theis is ART. Theis is IMPORTANT. pic.twitter.com/hAG2TgyrDt
— Noted Downtown Jaylen “Liberation” Brown scholar (@CelticsBimbo) January 17, 2020
And suddenly:
Update: they are at 8/30 only a 3rd into the 3rd. This might actually happen and it seems to be working as they cut the deficit down to 11. https://t.co/ywVVXqnuSn
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) January 17, 2020
It was looking somewhat like a movie we’d seen before, in which momentum swung drastically in the Celtics’ direction during a third frame.
Bucks only hoops right now are accidental offense off our deflections
— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) January 17, 2020
Unfortunately, Gordon Hayward was awful in this one, unlike the last one, and they weren’t nearly out of the woods yet. But they did have SMARF:
Call it a stretch six bitch pic.twitter.com/xjTea1Xstp
— JBO (@MuppetMonsters) January 16, 2020
Grim reality set in:
Celtics had gotten deficit down to 8 when Giannis went to the bench with 4:47 to play in third. Without him, Bucks pushed lead to 20 against Boston sub lineups.
Celtics bench woes spotlighted, particularly when playing down a starter.
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) January 17, 2020
38-10 edge for Bucks in bench points.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 17, 2020
Hayward’s first field goal of the game, after 8 misses, marked Q3’s end: still a massive 106-87 Bucks lead.
The TL trading Hayward for a fanny pack of camel lights and quaaludes before the night is over.
— mandeeeee (@HoorayAmanda) January 17, 2020
I, for one, was upset enough to want to make that deal, so I get it. The momentum Boston had built continued to wane as the fourth frame began:
why is the offense running through Brad, Kanter and Hayward right now??
— Liberation (@sidesteptatum) January 17, 2020
Also, unlike in the third, Milwaukee wasn’t giving up after misses but relentlessly chasing them down to ensure their foot remained on Boston’s neck. When jumpers failed, drives and putbacks succeeded. If not for Antetokounmpo’s uneven work at the charity stripe, the Celtics would likely be down almost 20 at the frame’s halfway point, instead of about 10:
Feels like Giannis' free-throw shooting could become an important thing in the playoffs. He's 8 for 17 now. Below 62 percent for the year.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 17, 2020
My favorite part of getting my hopes up is the inevitable pain that follows
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 17, 2020
…and somehow at the very end, it was a 4-point game again with a minute left. But this one wasn’t meant to be—too many mistakes early on to bounce back from.
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