Tatum, Brown power Celtics
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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (right) celebrating with Jeff Teague and Jaylen Brown during their season opener against the Bucks at TD Garden. Tatum drilled a go-ahead three-pointer off the backboard over the 2.11m Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LOS ANGELES • Boston forward Jayson Tatum relished the moment he banked in a game-winning three pointer over Giannis Antetokounmpo with 1.5 seconds left to give the Celtics a 122-121 National Basketball Association (NBA) season-opening victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.
Antetokounmpo, the two-time defending NBA Most Valuable Player, had a chance to tie it from the free-throw line with four-tenths of a second left, but the Greek superstar missed his second free throw after being fouled at the rim and the Celtics came away with the win on their home floor.
"Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be in that position," Tatum said of stepping up despite a relatively poor shooting night.
"If it goes down or not, that's what I work so hard for. You just want to be in that moment."
He finished with 30 points but connected on just 12 of 28 shots from the floor.
"I don't know what my field goal percentage was, but I know I played terrible," added Tatum, who also pulled down seven rebounds and handed out two assists.
"But it's a team game. Everybody contributed. It's the first one of the season, so it felt good to get a win."
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 33 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Antetokounmpo, who last week signed a five-year contract extension reportedly worth a record US$228 million (S$303 million), led Milwaukee with 35 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Khris Middleton had 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who finished the 2019-20 regular season with the best record in the NBA but fell to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Prized off-season acquisition Jrue Holiday added 25 points.
Despite the end result, Antetokounmpo led his team back from a 101-84 deficit to begin the fourth.
The Bucks opened the quarter with a 13-4 run to close the gap to 105-97, and Antetokounmpo scored Milwaukee's next 10 points, trimming the deficit to two. A Brook Lopez tip-in with 4min 22sec left tied the score at 113.
Antetokounmpo put the Bucks ahead 115-113 with 3:26 remaining, but Tatum had the Celtics back up 119-117 on a fadeaway with 1:24 to go.
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43%
Boston's Jayson Tatum's field percentage (12 of 28 shots) from the floor in Celtics' 122-121 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Holiday's three-pointer at 1:10 made it 120-119 to Milwaukee, and the game remained scoreless until Tatum's game-winning bucket.
"I think aside from the ball going in the basket, I'm not sure we could have defended Tatum much better than we did," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said on ESPN.
"I thought Giannis did a great job individually, great contest. Credit to Tatum, he banked in a three at the end of the clock."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
