Celtics held to season low point total in loss to Bucks

With Kevin Garnett still out of the lineup due to injury, the Boston Celtics are learning the hard way that they can’t ‘phone in’ their performances no matter which team they’re playing.  On Sunday a tenacious defensive effort from the Milwaukee Bucks stymied the defending NBA champs as Boston dropped their third game in four tries 86-77 at the Bradley Center.  The victory allowed the Bucks to claw their way into 8^th place as they held the Celtics to their lowest point output of the season.

While it wasn’t a pretty game to watch, the Bucks were obviously pleased with the result of their ‘win ugly’ effort.  Milwaukee was led by Charlie Villanueva’s 19 points and 7 rebounds—11 of the points coming in a decisive 4^th quarter run that put the game away.  Richard Jefferson added 17 and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 15 points and 7 boards.  Luke Ridnour contributed 11 points and 5 assists off the bench.   After the game, victorious coach Scott Skiles was pleased with his team’s effort:

"I felt it was one of our better defensive games. It's not too often when you shoot a little over 30 percent for the game and still win the game.  I thought we played hard from beginning to end on the defensive end. We were locked in and really moving our feet on the defensive end of the floor."

The Bucks did so by holding Boston to a paltry 37.7% shooting, and as Skiles’ comment indicates even that was better than Milwaukee’s 32.6%.  The Celtics were lead by ‘double/double’s’ from both Kendrick Perkins and Paul Pierce, but they were the only Boston players to score in double digits.  Perkins scored a career high 26 points and hauled in 12 rebounds, while Pierce went for 15 points and 11 boards.  With the exception of these two performances, the entire Celtics’ box score was forgettable.   After the game, Perkins didn’t mince words when assessing his team’s performance:

"With 25 turnovers, we gave up 21 offensive rebounds, we held them to 32 percent shooting and we lost the game. We just can't win like that."

Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers echoed the sentiment:

"When you give a team 21 offensive rebounds and you turn the ball over 25 times, the fact that we had a chance to win this game is a miracle in some ways. I thought Milwaukee played harder."

Milwaukee and Chicago are tied for the 8^th and 9^th spot, though the Bucks hold the tie breaker and would get the playoff invite were the season to end today.  They face two tough games at home, however, as they’ll host the Orlando Magic on Wednesday and the Portland Trailblazers on Saturday.   They’ll then travel to Toronto for a game against the Raptors on the following Wednesday.  The Celtics are now 3 ½ games behind Cleveland in the Eastern Conference race and will play two of the next three on the road.  They’ll travel to Chicago on Tuesday, return home for a ‘one-off’ game against Miami on Wednesday and then head to Texas for a Friday night battle with the San Antonio Spurs.