Bucks’ Adrian Griffin downplays spat with Giannis Antetokounmpo،
BOSTON — Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and coach Adrian Griffin appeared to have a heated exchange when Antetokounmpo left Wednesday’s game midway through the third quarter, but neither had much to say after the 119-116 defeat of the Bucks against the Boston Celtics. at the TD Garden.
“He wanted to stay in, I wanted to give him a break. That’s all,” Griffin said afterward. “And then I told him to stay at the table for a possession, and he immediately came back.”
Antetokounmpo had a one-word response when asked for an explanation of what happened:
“No.”
The exchange occurred with 5 minutes, 58 seconds left in the third quarter, after Antetokounmpo was called for a carrying violation. As he began walking toward the other end of the court, he looked at the Bucks bench and shook his head, then seemed annoyed that Bobby Portis was checking in for him.
Antetokounmpo then sat on the scorer’s table and had a lengthy discussion with Griffin, which ended with Antetokounmpo returning to the game on the next dead ball.
Regardless of what happened between Antetokounmpo and Griffin, what happened on the court was easy for everyone to see. The Celtics jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back, leading wire to wire. They controlled the game for the first 44 minutes before allowing Milwaukee to come back strong, as the Celtics tend to do throughout games.
Boston, now one of the NBA’s best 12-3s, led by as many as 21 and shot 17 of 42 from 3-point range. Jaylen Brown had his best game of the season, scoring 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go along with 8 assists and just one turnover.
“I feel like I’ve been doing it all season,” Brown said of his game. “It’s definitely just another part of my game that I’ve been developing. It’s a new year “It’s a new season, and I feel like I’m playing some of my best basketball, exactly how I see the court. And as I get into the flow and rhythm of things, I feel like I’ll be able to keep doing that. I think when I start, more guys will play with me, confident that I’m going to make the right read, I think we should go there a lot more.
The most important thing for Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was that he was pleased with his team’s effort. He openly criticized his players’ lack of concentration during Sunday’s victory at Memphis and Monday’s defeat at Charlotte.
For the most part, that wasn’t the case Wednesday night, as the Celtics immediately pounced on their biggest rival and didn’t let up for most of the game. And while Milwaukee outscored Boston 37-25 in the fourth and turned what had been a comfortable lead into a one-possession game in the final minute, Mazzulla was pleased with the performance.
“I was really impressed with our mindset,” Mazzulla said. “It’s something that we have to fight to maintain all the time. But I thought tonight we got our effort back, like real effort. Like, our courage, our endurance, and I thought we got back our connectivity on the offensive end where it was. It felt like every time someone touched the ball, they were ready to make a play or shoot.
“I thought the ball had a different type of energy tonight. So we have to fight for that. I know it’s a long year, but the more we can do that and complement each other, I think the more we can be dangerous. be.”
Wednesday also marked Jrue Holiday’s first game against the Bucks since they traded him for Damian Lillard just before the season started, paving the way for the Celtics to acquire him from the Portland Trail Blazers a few days later.
Holiday struggled offensively, going 1 for 8 with just one assist and two turnovers. But he still played a crucial role, as he spent the game guarding Antetokounmpo, who finished 7 of 20 shooting en route to 21 points.
“I haven’t seen that in a long time,” said Bucks forward Khris Middleton, who played a season-high 28 minutes, with a smile. “But you know, that’s what he does. He’s all over the place guarding different matchups, matchups that you didn’t think he would guard or should guard. But that’s how talented this guy is.”
While Holiday did not speak to reporters afterward, Lillard did so after playing his first match in this long-standing rivalry. Although he understood the importance of Wednesday’s game, Lillard said both teams knew there was still plenty of basketball left to play.
“We fought to make it a game, and then once we did, you don’t usually get over the hump like that,” said Lillard, who scored 27 points. “They played a game they deserved to win, and we didn’t.”
