Jayson Tatum scored 31 points with 12 rebounds and six assists to help the visiting Boston Celtics overcome a 17-point deficit and defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 113-107 on Sunday.
Payton Pritchard came off the bench to score 18 points for the Celtics, who trailed 49-32 with 9:16 left in the second quarter. Pritchard made 5 of his 8 three-point attempts.
Milwaukee scored 40 points in the first quarter, but was held to 38 points in the second half. The Bucks trailed by three points late in the game, but Jrue Holiday made two free throws with 1:35 left to extend Boston’s lead to 109-104. Milwaukee was never closer than five points the rest of the game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 43 points and 13 rebounds for the Bucks, who fell to 1-3 at home. Bobby Portis added 15 points and seven rebounds for Milwaukee and Damian Lillard had 14 points and six assists.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown returned after missing four games with a left hip flexor injury. He scored 14 points in 37 minutes, but was 4 of 13 from the field. Brown came into the game averaging 25.7 points in six games this season.
Holiday, playing against his former team, and Derrick White each added 15 points for Boston.
Milwaukee used an 11-0 run to go up 16-2 and had a 40-30 lead after the first quarter. The Bucks had a 69-58 lead at halftime.
Antetokounmpo scored 27 of his 43 points in the first two quarters. The Bucks made 63.6 percent of their field goals in the first quarter (14 of 22) and 58.1 percent of their field goals in the first half (25 of 43), but only 36, 8 percent in the second half (14 of 38).
The Celtics scored the first 12 points after halftime and took the lead for the first time with a three-pointer by Al Horford that made the score 70-69 with 9:22 minutes left in the third quarter. Boston held Milwaukee to 15 points in the quarter and headed into the final 12 minutes with an 87-84 lead.
It was the second meeting between both teams this season. Boston beat Milwaukee at home 119-108 on October 28.
–Field level media
