5 takeaways: Horrific second half spells doom for Celtics in Milwaukee

The Celtics have been on a heater recently, and midway through the second quarter against the Bucks on Thursday, it appeared they were going to cruise to a sixth straight win. 

That all changed rather quickly as Boston would go on to miss 16 straight threes, losing in rather embarrassing fashion to a Milwaukee team without Giannis Antetokounmpo and who had lost 10 of its last 12. 

Here are five takeaways from the loss…

As mentioned above, it wasn’t a night where Boston just didn’t have it — it was actually quite the opposite. The Celtics connected on 10 of their first 17 threes, with Jordan Walsh and Payton Pritchard each hitting a pair to build a 21-8 lead. 

Midway through the second quarter, Boston was shooting 56% from the floor and 53% from deep, going up by as many as 14 in the quarter. 

That all came crashing down in the blink of an eye. 

Walsh was once again why Boston was finding success on both ends of the floor against the Bucks in the first half. 

The 21-year-old forward was perfect from the floor in the first half, connecting on all seven of his shots — including three triples — to score 18. Walsh also snagged three steals as his defensive energy continued to shine. 

At the half, Walsh was 27-for-32 in his last five games, good for 82% from the floor. Like the rest of the Celtics, Walsh didn’t do much in the second half, finishing with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting, but his offensive effectiveness continues to be impressive given where he was even two months ago. 

The Celtics held a double digit lead on three separate occasions on Thursday night, and all three times that lead evaporated in just minutes. 

When you have a team like Milwaukee, who have lost 10 of its last 12 and appear to be on the verge of losing one of the best players in the NBA, it isn’t hard to knock them out rather quickly. But each time the Celtics went up, they let go of the rope just enough to give the Bucks — and their half empty arena — some life. 

A big part of that was Kyle Kuzma exploding for a season high 31 points. The journeyman forward went toe-to-toe with Jaylen Brown all night, getting the better of the superstar on multiple occasions. 

Once that third double-digit lead shrank to nothing, Boston didn’t have enough to muster another one. 

As is often the story with Joe Mazzulla’s Celtics, once the threes stop going in, the ship usually starts sinking. 

That’s exactly what happened in the second half on Thursday night. 

Boston missed 16 straight triples, which is good for the fourth longest streak in franchise history.  During that cold streak the Bucks went on a 27-8 run en route to blowing out the Celtics. 

The worst shooting offender of all was probably Sam Hauser, who missed all 10 of his attempts, seven of those coming from beyond the arc. 

After scoring 67 points in the first half, Boston only put up 34 in the second half.

When you combine horrific shooting with 30-year-old Bobby Portis pouring in 27 points off the bench, it probably isn’t going to end well for you. Portis scored 18 in the second half, with two corner threes to open the fourth basically being the dagger for the Bucks. 

The forward also wasn’t afraid to go after it with Brown, even drawing a technical foul after getting a little too close for comfort. 

Portis also grabbed 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double.