Bucks at Celtics, December 6th - Middleton back

Glad Khris is back, should help the Bucks in the long term. Anyway, game starts at 6:30 PM CT, Fri 12.6.24 and will be on ESPN.

But a win for them is unlikely as Bucks are 3-6 away and Celtics are 9-2 at home. But that's why they play the games, you never know what might happen.

Packer game tonight too.

Just win!

It certainly won’t be easy in Boston but I’ll be interested to see what Doc does with A Jax and Green.  Defensively, they need both guys to get a fair amount of minutes.  If that means no Portis so be it.  

The key for Milwaukee is to keep the game close.  About a third of Boston’s games were decided by one possession or bucket.   There’s not much you can do if they hit 25 3s but they aren’t blowing everyone out.  

@Tschmack posted:

It certainly won’t be easy in Boston but I’ll be interested to see what Doc does with A Jax and Green.  Defensively, they need both guys to get a fair amount of minutes.  If that means no Portis so be it.  

The key for Milwaukee is to keep the game close.  About a third of Boston’s games were decided by one possession or bucket.   There’s not much you can do if they hit 25 3s but they aren’t blowing everyone out.  

Portis may be a problem later in the year. His defense has regressed from being below average to completely atrocious this year. He gets beat in transition and offers virtually no rim protection when he's out there. He's also regressed from being a decent defensive rebounder to getting beat constantly for opponent's offensive boards. He can still shoot, but when's out there there is no flow to the offense. It's just get him the ball and let him post up. He's very good at that, but it's like watching Patrick Ewing in the 90s.

His on/off rating is -15, which is by far the worst on the team.

Unlike Connaughton, who seems to have taken his demotion in stride, Portis is not going to respond well to losing minutes.

Ajax filling in for Middleton, who starts on the bench.  Announcer says Middleton's minutes will be limited to about 23 minutes tonight.

Tatum wrapped up Giannis's left arm.

Time for Jackson to wake up! 2 passes he could not handle that turned into turnovers.

Middleton misses his 1st shot. Next possession he hits a 3 and gets fouled.

After 1, it's Boston up 29-27.

Welp.....good game so far 🙂

Looks like Bucks 57-53 at the half

Another half to go! Tie game 63-63. "T" him up ref!!

Jaylen Brown got a technical foul on this play for taunting Giannis 😳pic.twitter.com/908xLKn2zy

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 7, 2024

Brook Lopez = National Treasure

🗣️ “He’s like royalty!”

Brook Lopez looking out for Deuce to wish him a happy birthday 🎂@Bucks and Celtics in Q3 on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/OIfKlJbZaV

— NBA (@NBA) December 7, 2024

Holy crap, Khris Middleton is actually playing?

Four triples and counting for Dame! pic.twitter.com/sxStnJBwoC

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 7, 2024

@lambeausouth posted:

Holy crap, Khris Middleton is actually playing?

Don't get excited. He's supposedly limited to 23 minutes

Pretty good hockey game has broken out between the Celtics and Bucks here at the Garden. Physical and chippy. pic.twitter.com/K42rVmFZRO

— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) December 7, 2024

Bucks up by 4 to end 3rd Q

Anyone else nervous? Or just me? 😄

Bucks up by 3, 95-92 with 7:40 left

No. It's not just you. lol

It's been a very good game so far. The Bucks are hanging tough.

Middleton has played a half way decent game. It's nice to see him back in action.

Bucks give up a blow by and Celts lead by 1 now 100-99. Timeout Bucks

Lillard with the slam!! Bucks up by 1!

Giannis attempts his first 3 of the game, of course misses, then they give up a Horford 3 in transition. FML 🤬

Lillard clanks a 3 and Holliday steps inside the arc to hit a floater. Celts up by 5 - 25.6 seconds left

3 FTs for Middleton, on the Brown foul. Makes all 3. 105-107 now.

Khris gets fouled shooting a 3 - Celts lose challenge....Khris hits all 3 FT's

Jrue at the line. Hits first FT....hits em both 4 point game.

Need to do better in the close out of the 4th Q. Bucks never could put em away

111-105 Boston wins.

@Boris posted:

Giannis attempts his first 3 of the game, of course misses, then they give up a Horford 3 in transition. FML 🤬

I wasn't able to watch the game due to a work holiday party, but why is Giannis taking 3 point shots with 15 seconds left on the shot clock in that type of game. It's almost like he has a bit of Favre in him.

I mean....he was open of course and didn't miss it by much but I'm guessing his 3 pt shooting is worse than his FT's (61%)😆

They stopped playing basketball and started chucking up home runs aka "hero ball." Just dumb

The Bucks execution in the final 2 minutes was the reason they lost this game.  Taking bad shots at the end in a close game usually doesn’t work.

It’s also frustrating because for most of the game they played pretty good perimeter defense and contested a lot of Boston 3s.  If they see this team again they can’t play Lopez that much because he was getting cooked.

A Jax and Prince absolutely need to play more against the Celtics instead.

It didn't help that the bucks missed at least 5 close in to the basket gimmie shots. Those 10-12 points would have come in handy.

With 15 seconds left , no timeouts and down by 4 the bucks had to take the three. Too bad it was Giannis who took the shot but as Tschmack said, nobody was hitting anything the last few minutes of the game.

It was the Bucks game to lose and they let the game get away. Oh well.

On the bright side. It was nice to see Middleton back.