Up 22, Then Down One. The Celtics Needed Paul George and Derrick White to Survive a 1-7 Bucks Team
With Tatum resting and Pritchard out with an eye abrasion, Boston blew most of a 22-point lead before closing 12-5. They're 5-0 at home.
Let's call Wednesday what it was: a game the Celtics should've had wrapped by halftime, and nearly gave away. Boston beat Milwaukee 109-102 at TD Garden, per the AP via WCVB, and moved to 5-0 at home. The Bucks fell to 1-7 and 0-4 on the road.
Jayson Tatum sat for rest, the first game he's missed this season. Payton Pritchard missed the fourth quarter with what the team called a right eye abrasion. So the closers were Paul George and Derrick White.
How it almost went sideways
Boston led by 22 in the second quarter and 21 at halftime. Then Tyler Herro scored 18 of his 25 in the third, Milwaukee ran 26-12, and it was a single-digit game. Ryan Rollins dunked to make it 91-89 with 8:17 left. Then George threw it away out of a timeout, Nate Ament went the other way for the tying layup, and Ament's free throw gave the Bucks their first lead, 92-91.
That's a team without its franchise star in the post-Giannis era taking a lead in your building. Not great.
How they fixed it
White answered with a three-point play that made it 102-97 with 2:22 left, and Boston closed on a 12-5 run over the final three minutes. George finished with 25 points and five threes. White had 24 and seven assists. Baylor Scheierman gave them nine points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Boston shot 16 of 39 from three, 41%.
Dez's take
A win's a win, and George bailing himself out after the turnover counts for something. But you can't let Herro go 18 in a quarter against a 1-7 team. Watch the Pritchard eye. If he misses time, the bench gets thin fast.
Additional reporting
Tyler Herro scored 18 of his 25 points during the third quarter for the Bucks, who fell to 1-7, including 0-4 on the road. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 18 points. Baylor Scheierman had nine points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Celtics, who survived a scare after being pushed by one of the NBA’s weaker teams.
Boston never trailed through three quarters, opening a 22-point advantage in the second quarter, leading by 21 at halftime and eight entering the fourth. Milwaukee’s best stretch came during the third quarter, with a 26-12 run to make it a single-digit game. When Ryan Rollins slammed home two of his 13 points, the Bucks trailed 91-89 with 8:17 remaining. George threw the ball away coming out of a timeout, with Milwaukee’s Nate Ament racing the other way for a layup that tied it at 91.
The Bucks took their first lead of the game at 92-91 when Ament hit a free throw. With leading scorer Jayson Tatum watching from the bench, and Payton Pritchard missing the final quarter with what the team called a right eye abrasion, the Celtics’ search for late-game offense was answered when White converted a hoop-and-harm sequence that put Boston up 102-97 with 2:22 left.
Boston outscored Milwaukee 12-5 over the final three minutes. The Celtics shot 41% from three (16 of 39) and improved to 5-0 at home. Tatum (rest) was sidelined for Boston for the first time this season. The All-Star forward was coming off a 19-point game during Monday’s 109-93 loss to the Houston Rockets.
What we still don't know
The team hadn't said whether Pritchard will be available next game.
The developments described above are drawn from contemporaneous reporting by WCVB/AP. As of Thursday morning, with Tatum resting and Pritchard out with an eye abrasion, Boston blew most of a 22-point lead before closing 12-5. They're 5-0 at home. Boston Uncut will update this account if primary agencies release additional records, schedules or statements that change the public facts. Readers seeking the underlying documents should consult the linked sources, which carry the full quotations and agency attributions used here. Where allegations appear, they are labeled as allegations; where vote totals or rankings are cited, they reflect the figures published by the named outlet or agency at the time of reporting.
Coverage of "Up 22, Then Down One. The Celtics Needed Paul George and Derrick White to Survive a 1-7 Bucks Team" sits alongside related Massachusetts and national developments this week. The factual spine of this story remains the linked reporting; any interpretation beyond those facts is limited to describing what the record does and does not yet show. Unanswered questions noted above are not speculation — they are gaps in the public record as of the most recent updates reviewed for this article on 2026-11-05.
Public agencies and courts often release follow-up statements days after an initial announcement. This article reflects the record available Thursday. It does not assert motives that officials have not stated, does not invent quotations, and does not treat complaints or charging documents as findings of guilt. Where numbers come from unofficial election returns or preliminary investigative findings, that status is noted in the sourcing.
