The picture is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph from the match
This was the second meeting in five nights, the first in Boston with Tatum resting, and the second turned into a 20-point margin: the Celtics scored the first nine points of the third quarter and were never caught in a 117-97 win.
Tatum closes the first, George opens the second
Kyle Kuzma scored 14 points in the first five minutes and pushed the Bucks to a 20-6 lead, the largest advantage Milwaukee produced in the game.
Jayson Tatum scored the final 10 points of the first quarter to cut the deficit to 27-25, a stretch that stopped Milwaukee from building a second run.
George opened the second period with eight straight points; the first of his two threes in that spell put Boston ahead 28-27 and the game turned there.
Notably, the pattern was already set four days earlier, when Boston won 109-102 without playing Tatum, and the Celtics arrived in Milwaukee off a 39-point win at Charlotte.
A layup and another three from George capped an 18-0 run that took Boston out of a 20-6 hole and into a lead they did not surrender again.
The role players while Tatum sat
Boston led 58-45 at halftime and opened the third quarter with nine straight points to push the margin to 22, after which the Celtics were never ahead by fewer than 15 points.
Tatum's night was decided early enough to be cut short: 21 points, six assists and 29 minutes, with the fourth quarter handed to the reserves.
George went 11 of 18 with five threes for 27 points and finished plus-16 in 28 minutes, supplying the first eight Boston points of the second quarter.
In the wider picture, Payton Pritchard scored 12 points on 4-of-11 three-point shooting for a team-best plus-29, and Derrick White added nine points and seven assists.
Boston's frontcourt did the quiet work: Robinson was perfect from the field with four steals, and Queta filled a 13-point, nine-rebound line in 22 minutes.
The worst opening since 1993-94
At 1-9 the Bucks are in territory they have not occupied since 1993-94, when a 10-loss opening stretch preceded a 20-62 season.
Kuzma led Milwaukee with 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 6-of-13 from three, adding four rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes.
Myles Turner scored three points on 1-of-8 shooting with five rebounds and a career-high seven assists, and has shot 1-of-15 across his last two games.
The Celtics move to 8-2 and are scheduled at Philadelphia on Tuesday night before finishing the trip in Toronto; the Bucks are also on the road in New York on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the team lines tell it: 47 percent shooting, 48 rebounds, 27 assists and 12 steals for Boston against 35-of-79 shooting and 15 turnovers for Milwaukee.
Editor's take: Twelve steals, 48 rebounds and 11 points off Milwaukee's 15 turnovers show how wide this gap becomes when the game turns into a race for second chances.
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