Jayson Tatum said Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks bring out the Celtics' best. Apparently he wasn't lying.
Tatum scored 41 points in Boston's 139-118 Christmas Day victory over Milwaukee at TD Garden, the second-most points ever scored by a Celtics player on Christmas. Tom Heinsohn holds the record with 45.
Tatum played the entire second and third quarters, leading the way in a dominant third that saw the C's outscore the Bucks 38-25 and start to pull away. He also had five assists, seven rebounds and a posterizing dunk on Antetokounmpo that made clear he's not going anywhere in this MVP race.
"They bring out the best in us," Tatum said. "We know that's a team we're going to see pretty often. ... I got a lot of respect for (Giannis). When we're not playing, I like watching the Bucks play, and he's a big reason why."
After losing five of six, the Celtics have now won two straight, with Sunday serving as a true back-on-track performance. The Celtics shot 48.7% from three and 58.8% from the field.
What makes this even more impressive is that they scored 139 points against a top-five defensive team in the NBA, and limited the two-time former MVP Antetokounmpo to 27 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
"Limiting is crazy. He had 27," Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla said. "…We're fortunate to have great matchups for him. I thought we were disciplined in our execution."
It is important to remember that Khris Middleton didn't play, so the Celtics were able to focus primarily on guarding Giannis without the threat of Middleton. That allowed the Celtics to clog up the middle, forcing Giannis to settle for shooting uncharacteristic threes. He was 1-of-5 from deep.
The Bucks may not have been 100% healthy, but this was nonetheless an impressive win for the Celtics that kept them atop the Eastern Conference, where they now have a 1.5-game lead over Milwaukee.
