Doc Rivers defends Milwaukee's third straight defeat with impressive performance

The Milwaukee Bucks entered their 2024-25 season with a record of 1-3 after losing 119-108 to the mighty Boston Celtics on Monday night. The game was fairly even in the first two and a half quarters until the Celtics' strength began to show.

Backup point guard Payton Pritchard had a particularly good night off the bench, scoring 28 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the floor (8 of 12 from distance), five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“We played two terrible games and there's no excuse for that,” Rivers said of Milwaukee's shocking losses to the lottery-bound Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “But it happens. I thought we played relatively well (against the Celtics), but we couldn't sustain it tonight. But I think our guys like where we’re going.”

The Bucks are nowhere near the level of the undefeated (4-0) defending champions. That was evident by the way Boston beat Milwaukee on Monday night.

“I don’t like moral victories, but I just thought we could be that — at least for three quarters,” Rivers said. “I thought we ran out of energy a little bit. We didn’t get a lot of help from our bench tonight, so we increased the minutes.”

Midway through the third quarter of the contest, the Bucks had a 75-72 lead. But a 23-7 run by the Celtics through the end of the fourth frame gave Boston the lead for good and the game was out of reach.

“I thought we did a great job of keeping the floor wide and then all of a sudden we stopped,” Rivers said in the final frame, according to Nehm. “It was getting close. They started doubling. We didn't handle it particularly well. Great movie for us to watch.”

The Bucks' top two players, All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, both had productive 30-point nights, but only two other Milwaukee players – center Brook Lopez (13 points) and shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. (10 points ). ) – achieved a double-digit value.

Lillard led all scorers with 33 points on 7 of 15 shooting from the floor (2 of 8 from deep) and an impressive 17 of 18 shooting from the foul line. The Weber State product also recorded seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. Antetokounmpo finished the game with 30 points on 14 of 26 shooting from the floor and 2 of 6 shooting from the foul line, 10 boards and six assists (with a concerning seven turnovers).

Meanwhile, six Boston players scored in double figures, led by Jaylen Brown, who scored 30 points on 10 of 19 shooting from the field and 10 of 14 shooting from the charity stripe.

The Bucks had a big advantage in foul line shooting, shooting 26 of 31 from the charity stripe to Boston's 15 of 19. But Boston had a big advantage in 3-point shooting, going 18 of 47 from distance (38.3 percent) to the Bucks' conversion rate of 8 of 31 (25.8 percent).

The Bucks now receive a two-day reprieve. Milwaukee hopes to end its lull against the 2-2 Memphis Grizzlies on Halloween.

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