In the Celtics’ first home game of the season, Payton Pritchard attempted nine 3-pointers and missed eight of them. His stat line was one of the few blemishes on an otherwise dominant season-opening beatdown of the New York Knicks.
Boston returned to TD Garden on Monday after a brief two-game road trip. This time around, Pritchard couldn’t miss.
The backup point guard delivered one of his finest performances as a Celtic, pouring in 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting (8-for-12 from three) to power Boston to a 119-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Pritchard’s long-range heroics — which included the latest in his long line of buzzer-beating heroics — helped the Celtics withstand a subpar first half from their superstar duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Tatum, the newly announced Eastern Conference Player of the Week, had his quietest game of the young season (15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals), but Brown came alive after halftime to finish with a team-high 29 points. Jrue Holiday also scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half as Boston improved its record to 4-0.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damien Lillard combined for 66 points — more than half of Milwaukee’s total — but got little from their supporting cast, which did not include an injured Khris Middleton.
The Celtics were the highest-scoring first-quarter team in NBA history over their first three games, but they opened Monday’s by missing their first seven shots. Derrick White ended that early drought by finishing a contested layup after Al Horford rejected an Antetokounmpo shot at the other end.
White, whose clutch block in the final minute Saturday night helped Boston survive a Detroit Pistons upset bid, also hit shots on the next two Celtics possessions for a quick seven points.
Tatum found some success attacking the Bucks’ basket later in the quarter, but overall, it was a shaky opening half for Boston’s superstar duo. That was especially true for Brown, who went 2-for-8 from the floor with three first-half turnovers. Neither he nor Tatum hit a 3-pointer before halftime, going a combined 0-for-7.
But despite no starter reaching double figures until the third quarter, the Celtics trailed by just three points at halftime, 56-53. That was thanks in large part to Pritchard, who carried Boston offensively with his 3-point shooting. The backup point guard was 5-for-8 from deep in the first half, totaling 19 points in 14 minutes. His teammates were 3-for-18.
The Celtics’ stars then began to assert themselves after halftime. After Holiday opened the second half with a three, Brown and Tatum proceeded to score the next 11 points for Boston. Brown put Boston ahead 77-75 with a deft hesitation layup, then sank a tough, contested bucket over Bobby Portis to cap a 6-0 C’s run.
A delay-of-game technical foul on the Celtics — one of many questionable calls by Tony Brothers’ officiating crew in the game — briefly shifted momentum back toward Milwaukee. But White reclaimed it with a terrific stretch that featured back-to-back 3-pointers and a block on Antetokounmpo, all in the span of 49 seconds.
Another White three moments later missed its mark, but second-year pro Jordan Walsh tipped it in for his first points of the season.
Walsh was part of head coach Joe Mazzulla’s latest plan to replace core reserve Sam Hauser, who missed his third straight game with lower back pain. Against Washington, Mazzulla plugged center Neemias Queta into Hauser’s spot in the rotation. Against Detroit, he sat Queta and only used three bench players. On Monday, Mazzulla turned to Walsh, who only saw garbage-time minutes in the first three games.
The preseason standout was Boston’s second sub against Milwaukee, checking in just past the halfway point of the first quarter and again later in the third. Walsh missed two open corner threes but was more effective in his second shift, notching three rebounds plus his put-back. The Celtics outscored the Bucks by 10 points over his 12 minutes.
Pritchard then extended the Celtics’ lead with his specialty: a buzzer-beating three to close out the third quarter. The shot put Boston up 90-82, and it pulled away in the fourth, with Pritchard adding his seventh and eighth made threes. Both teams emptied their benches as the Celtics’ salted away their third double-digit win of the season.
Boston now will head out on a four-game road trip, beginning with an Eastern Conference finals rematch Wednesday night in Indiana, before returning home for one of the most anticipated dates on their schedule: Tatum and Brown’s chance for Olympic revenge against Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors next Wednesday.