What The Buck?!? Celtics Blow 17-Point Lead, Lose To Milwaukee: 88-91

Okay...deeeeeep breath....

The Celtics came out in attack mode from the outset, much as they did during last night's game against Portland. Racing out to an easy 17-0 first-quarter lead that seemed to say, "Hey, Bucks fans...if you order your food now, you can pick it up on the way home and be watching movies on the couch by halftime!"

Unfortunately for the C's, Milwaukee posted a 36-point second quarter (the Celtics scored just 21) and essentially allowed a game to break out in the middle of a runaway. As the old saying goes, "if you give your opponent life, they may wind up taking yours."

Ultimately, the Celtics allowed the Bucks to believe that they could win, and so, they did.

In the end, the C's bit off too much Larry Sanders (career-high 18 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks), Monta Ellis (17 points), Ersan Ilyasova 15 points, and Brandon Jennings (13 points, and the game-winning go-ahead 3).

It's too bad, too, because some great performances by many of the C's stepping up in the absence of Rajon Rondo, who was serving out the final day of his two-day suspension, were lost in the shuffle.

Swiss-army knife Paul Pierce led all scorers with 19 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and one block, but missed one of the final two attempts made from deep in Threeland to try and tie the game following Jennings' huge trey.

Jeff Green put together great back-to-back games for the first time this season, following up his season high 19 points against the Blazers with 18 on 8-11 shooting on this night. Jason Terry channeled his inner Rondo with a line of 15 points, 11 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. He attempted the other three from well beyond the arc as the game clock expired, to no avail. Kevin Garnett continued his remarkably steady play, posting 17 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in 33 minutes of play. Speaking of steady, Courtney Lee once again delivered great defense and contributed 13 points on 6-11 shooting to go along with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Center Jason Collins came off the bench for 13 minutes and 5 rebounds -- almost mirroring Jared Sullenger's output for the game. In an unusually low-key night, Sully demonstrated a heretofore unseen skill playing shot-blocker and registering 3 swats for the game to go with 5 rebounds and 2 points.

Playing on the second night of back-to-back games, the two teams battled to a virtual standstill on rebounds, leaving the Celtics with a rare edge on the boards -- 43-42.

The C's now drop to 9-8 on the season and are headed home to face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. The bright spot? The return of Rajon Rondo, who will be embarking upon a new streak of consecutive games played without an ejection (joking, of course!).

 Box Score

Video Recap

THE BUZZ:

Boston Celtics vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
7:30 pm
@ Boston Garden