The Celtics’ fourth-stringer-turned-standout heart delivered the perfect sport of his NBA profession on Sunday night time.
Twenty-four hours later, their youngest participant did the identical.
Rookie Hugo Gonzalez placed on a terrific two-way efficiency to steer the shorthanded Celtics to a 108-81 win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Discussion board.
Gonzalez has been a sophisticated metrics darling in his first NBA season — the one two gamers ranked within the high 10 in offensive, defensive and internet score coming into Monday have been him and reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — however not often stuffs the traditional stat sheet. The 20-year-old did simply that on Monday, nevertheless, setting profession highs with 18 factors and 16 rebounds whereas including three steals and two blocks in 34 minutes.
The one different Celtics rookie to hit these marks in a sport: Larry Hen in 1979.
“It simply implies that the work ethic is there,” Gonzalez, who shot 7-for-15 from the sector, mentioned in a postgame interview with NBC Sports activities Boston’s Abby Chin. “Simply attempt to preserve doing what you’re doing and preserve trusting. Clearly, it’s not going to be good. It’s not going to be like this each single day. … However simply preserve following the work that we’re doing and preserve following this path that we’re on. We’re in nice form proper now to maintain competing.”
Boston sat high scorer Jaylen Brown (sickness) and Sunday’s star, Neemias Queta (relaxation), on the second night time of a house/street back-to-back, however it confronted little resistance from the Bucks, main by double digits for practically the complete second half.
The Celtics improved to 6-1 this season with out Brown — all six wins coming by no less than 16 factors — and 41-20 total as they head into Wednesday’s residence matchup with the upstart Charlotte Hornets (7:30 p.m.).
“One of many strengths of the locker room has all the time been with the ability to win video games when guys have been out,” head coach Joe Mazzulla advised reporters postgame. “We’ve sat guys during the last three, 4 years and nonetheless have been in a position to win video games. That’s simply form of the DNA of the locker room, and also you’re persevering with to see that.”
Payton Pritchard led all scorers with 25 factors on 10-of-23 capturing off the bench after being held scoreless within the earlier night time’s win over Philadelphia. He and Derrick White (18 factors) every dished out 9 of Boston’s 31 assists. The Celtics outrebounded the Bucks 54-41 and owned a 95-74 edge in field-goal makes an attempt.
Antetokounmpo had 19 factors and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes in his first sport again after lacking the earlier five-plus weeks with a calf pressure. The remainder of Milwaukee’s roster mixed for simply 62 factors.
“I feel we’ve simply acquired our customary, and we wish to keep it each single sport,” Gonzalez advised Chin. “We don’t prefer to (make) excuses. Clearly, we’ve acquired some actually, actually necessary gamers — beginning, necessary gamers — that have been (out with) sickness or resting, and I feel we’ve acquired a extremely good spirit and we took a troublesome win after two video games in 20 hours.”
The Celtics began Nikola Vucevic and Gonzalez rather than Queta and Brown, respectively. It was Vucevic’s first begin in a Boston uniform — he got here off the bench within the first 9 video games after his Feb. 5 commerce from Chicago — and the third of Gonzalez’s younger NBA profession.
Boston’s full beginning 5 — which additionally included White, Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman — had not performed a second collectively earlier than Monday night time.
Milwaukee vaulted out to a 7-0 lead, however the Celtics responded with a 10-0 run that featured a Hauser 3-pointer and a hovering putback dunk by Gonzalez. Up one when Antetokounmpo checked out for the primary time, Boston proceeded to construct a double-digit lead in opposition to the Bucks’ second unit.
Key to that push have been two gamers who don’t have on a regular basis roles when the Celtics’ rotation is undamaged: Ron Harper Jr. and Luka Garza. Harper hit a nook three and blocked two photographs. Garza, who was pushed to the tip of the bench by Vucevic’s arrival, made two photographs on the rim and drew a foul on an offensive rebound.
Hauser closed the primary quarter by lacking a 3-pointer, gathering his personal rebound and hitting a quick-trigger midrange jumper as time expired. That highlight-reel bucket put the Celtics up 30-20, they usually proceeded to attain the primary eight factors of the second quarter to take an 18-point lead.
It peaked at 22 factors throughout a long-range scoring barrage that noticed Gonzalez, Pritchard, and White drain threes on consecutive Celtics possessions. Pritchard bounced again properly from his Sunday night time goose egg, scoring 11 first-half factors and creating one other 16 by assists. However Boston’s most lively difference-maker within the first half was Gonzalez, who sat one rebound shy of his second profession double-double at halftime.
Over the primary two quarters, the Actual Madrid product accounted for 3 of the Celtics’ six steals and 4 of their 9 offensive rebounds. He grew to become simply the fourth participant within the final three seasons to report no less than 10 factors, 9 rebounds, three blocks and one steal earlier than halftime, becoming a member of Karl-Anthony Cities, James Harden and Victor Wembanyama.
The Celtics went chilly because the half wound down, scoring simply 5 factors within the remaining six minutes, and had bother defending the full-speed Antetokounmpo drives that made up most of Milwaukee’s offense. The Bucks’ unicorn large man scored seven of the primary 9 factors of the second half by himself to chop his staff’s deficit to 59-50.
However Boston responded with a 15-0 run full of extra successful performs by Gonzalez. The younger wing hit a 3, blocked a 3, scored a slicing layup off a slick bounce cross from White and drew two offensive fouls, together with one on Antetokounmpo beneath the basket. The 6-foot-6 Gonzalez — who guarded Luka Doncic and LeBron James in the course of the Celtics’ Feb. 22 win over the Los Angeles Lakers — additionally compelled Antetokounmpo right into a midrange miss with stingy on-ball protection.
Harper halted a 10-0 Bucks response together with his second 3-pointer of the sport, and the Celtics entered the fourth quarter with a cushty 83-65 cushion after Pritchard transformed a high-arcing 21-footer within the remaining second of the third.
Boston managed the ultimate interval and completed the sport with its three G Leaguers — rookies Amari Williams, Max Shulga and John Tonje — on the ground.
