It happened. The Boston Celtics finally lost a game in what felt like the first time in forever. They went into Fiserv Forum on Thursday and got absolutely stomped by the spiraling Milwaukee Bucks.
Here’s what stood out:
It is really hard to win games when the opposing team benefits from the magnet ball
It’s a make-miss league, as they say. On Thursday, the Bucks made, and made, and made. It felt like it’s all they did in the second half.
More specifically, Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis, who average a combined 24 points per game, lit the Celtics on fire.
First, it was Kuzma, who brought the Bucks back to life after an impressive start from the Celtics. He went crazy in the second quarter and stayed hot through the halftime break. He wound up hanging 31 on the Cs, while missing just four shots the entire night.
Then, Portis decided he would literally never miss a shot again. He tortured Boston throughout the second half. He and Kuzma must’ve conjured the same devil magic that the Miami Heat did back in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals. Portis finished with 27 points on 11-13 from the field.
Boston had their winning streak snapped by two mediocre to average NBA players
Woof.
It is really hard to win games when you cannot score
As annoying as it is to see average players play like superstars against the Celtics, the Celtics did themselves no favors in this second half. Like, they could not buy a basket.
After putting together an impressive first 26ish minutes of this one, they fell off a cliff. Boston shot just 25.5% from the field and 11.1% from beyond the arc. I was wondering if there was something wrong with the hoop. Was it somehow at 10-and-a-half feet instead of 10? Is it skewed?
How are the Celtics missing this many shots?
It’s one thing for a team to just be cold for a night, but it’s so strange when they play well of a half then completely lose all momentum.
Bad, bad Sam Hauser game
It’s as the header reads. Sam Hauser was really bad against Milwaukee -- in a homecoming game nonetheless!
The Celtics’ sniper shot 0-10 from the field, including 0-9 from beyond the arc. It’s not like he was being asked to take difficult shots, either. He, like most of his teammates, just couldn’t catch a break in any sense.
There was a possession where he missed two threes, a layup, and a putback attempt. If you blinked, you would’ve missed it.