Celtics finish off season sweep of Bucks as rivalry renewed - ESPN

BOSTON — For a third straight time this season, the Milwaukee Bucks found themselves in a competitive game with the Boston Celtics.

And, for a third straight time, it was the defending champions who made enough plays down the stretch, this time for a 111-105 victory in front of a raucous sellout crowd at TD Garden that completed a 3-0 sweep of the season series.

«We take that right now we're in the game with them, but we haven't beaten them and we do believe we have a big stretch that we're going to get better,» Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. «We're going to get a lot better, and they will too a little bit, but we will a lot.

»So, yeah, we hope to play them again in the playoffs in the late rounds, and we'll see how it goes. But right now they're the champs, and until someone beats them, they're the champs."

It would have been easy to mistake this game for one in April or May. There was great intensity on the court and in the stands, and the officials allowed physicality throughout. Despite that, the teams combined for 15 turnovers, and the stars on both sides — Jayson Tatum (34 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jaylen Brown (25 points) for Boston, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (30 points and 11 rebounds) and Damian Lillard (31 points) for Milwaukee — all made massive contributions.

The Celtics didn't have Kristaps Porzingis (injury management ahead of a game Saturday here against the Memphis Grizzlies), and Derrick White (1-for-10, 0-for-8 from 3) and Payton Pritchard (scoreless in 24 minutes) had arguably their worst games of the season. Boston also didn't get a single second-chance point (11-0 in favor of Milwaukee).

But it still wasn't enough to tip the scale in the Bucks' favor.

«It wasn't a playoff game, but it was a