Bucks at Celtics
The Milwaukee Bucks had dropped 11 straight games before running into the Boston Celtics at home on Saturday night. The Bucks will look to put back-to-back wins together for the first time this season when they visit the Celtics on Tuesday in the back end of a home-and-home set. Two of Milwaukee’s three victories are over Boston, which missed 40 of its final 62 shots in Saturday’s 92-85 setback.
The Bucks employed a zone defense on Saturday and the Celtics failed to make them pay for that tactic by missing open shots. “We moved the ball against the zone and attacked where we wanted to,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “We just didn’t make as many as we wanted to.” Milwaukee is generally the team missing more shots, ranking 29th in the NBA in field goal percentage at 41.5 percent, but is up to 43.8 percent in the two meetings with the Celtics.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), CSN New England (Boston)
ABOUT THE BUCKS (3-13): Milwaukee’s use of the zone defense was as much about its personnel as it was about Boston’s inability to hit from the outside. The Bucks were missing key frontcourt pieces Larry Sanders, Ersan Ilyasova and Caron Butler on Saturday and could be without all three again on Tuesday. “It feels good to get that monkey off your back, it really does,” coach Larry Drew said of ending the losing streak on Saturday. “ Especially the way we did it, shorthanded as we were and playing some guys out of position.”
ABOUT THE CELTICS (7-12): Boston had won three of four before running into the Bucks and is getting consistent minutes at both ends from second-year forward Jared Sullinger, who is averaging 15.2 points and 9.4 rebounds in the last five games. Sullinger is even becoming a threat from beyond the arc, though he struggled to 1-of-5 on his 3-point attempts on Saturday as Boston missed 15 of 19. Sullinger’s improvement on the other end is helping the Celtics maintain a top-10 scoring defense even after the loss of anchor Kevin Garnett in the offseason.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bucks PG Brandon Knight is 14-for-25 over his last two games after shooting 5-for-27 in his previous three.
2. Celtics G Courtney Lee (knee) missed Saturday’s game and is questionable for Tuesday.
3. Milwaukee has taken four straight and five of the last six in the series, including three in a row at Boston.