Bubble Boston popped by bubble Bucks 119-112 in Disney redux

The Milwaukee Bucks outlasted the Boston Celtics 119-112 in a close, exciting return to NBA basketball for both teams.

The moment finally at hand, the Boston Celtics restarted their season against the Milwaukee Bucks, and at least to start, looked every bit as rusty as they did against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first of their three exhibition scrimmage games last week.

The Bucks won the tip, with Wesley Matthews putting Milwaukee on the board. A quick layup was had after by Giannis Antetokounmpo, followed by him scoring on Boston’s basket by mistake.

Which was half of the Celtics’ offense before Milwaukee had gotten to 17 points, with forward Khris Middleton nailing a four-point play and center Daniel Theis fouling Mathews while shooting a trey.

Theis would help atone for his early sins by nailing a wide-open 3-pointer with just under seven minutes to go; diming up Gordon Hayward with an oop soon after certainly didn’t hurt.

A Marcus Smart 3 cut the lead to 22-17 with just under six minutes left in the frame, but the Bucks did not let up — and neither did Smart nor wing Jaylen Brown, both converting off timely steals. The Bucks would end the first frame up 33-25, much less than the 15 point lead they’d held early.

Boston cut into the lead further to open the second frame with a 3-pointer, and Smart would cut it to 34-32 at the 11-minute mark, but Milwaukee went on a run of their own capped by a Giannis trey putting the Bucks up 10.

Milwaukee kept pushing, going up by as much as 14, and a scary moment was had as Giannis and Smart both took a hard fall as the first half started to wind down.

The Celtics took out all of their centers in the half’s waning moments, briefly forcing the Bucks to play Giannis at the 5. Clamping down on defense and cutting the lead to as low as three, Boston went into the half down 64-58.

The Celtics came on strong in the penultimate frame, cutting the lead to 69-67 on a dunk by Brown, who would sit soon after picking up a pair of quick fouls.

Boston kept it close, Smart cutting the lead to one from the stripe, then tying it there a few plays later at 80, then taking the lead with a trey at the two minute mark.

Heading into the final frame, the game was tied at 87 as Tatum hit the first field goal of the game in one of his worst-shooting performances of his career.

The Bucks battled back, pushing the lead back to 9 points, but Boston answered with a run of their own, a Brown 3-pointer taking a 99-98 lead with just under seven to play.

Both teams battled back and forth, exchanging lead multiple times until Antetokounmpo appeared to foul Theis for what would have been his sixth foul … but somehow did not, only to evade being called for a charge soon after.

A Middleton trey put Milwaukee up six with a minute to play, but Brown would answer back with an and-1 layup to cut it to 113-110, with Giannis returning the favor on the other end.

Boston struggled mightily to recover, but couldn’t make up the gap in the seconds remaining, falling to Milwaukee 119-112.

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