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This was the second meeting in five nights, the first in Boston with Tatum resting, and the second turned into a 20-point margin: the Celtics scored the first nine points of the third quarter and were never caught in a 117-97 win.
A 20-6 start and an 18-0 answer
Kyle Kuzma scored 14 points in the first five minutes and pushed the Bucks to a 20-6 lead, the largest advantage Milwaukee produced in the game.
Boston's first quarter ended 27-25 behind because Tatum took the closing possessions, scoring the period's final 10 points to keep the gap inside two.
Paul George supplied the first eight points of the second quarter, and his three-pointer in the opening minute gave Boston its first lead at 28-27.
A layup and another three from George capped an 18-0 run that took Boston out of a 20-6 hole and into a lead they did not surrender again.
Notably, the pattern was already set four days earlier, when Boston won 109-102 without playing Tatum, and the Celtics arrived in Milwaukee off a 39-point win at Charlotte.
The role players while Tatum sat
The third quarter settled it: a 9-0 start to the period made it 22 and the final score read 117-97.
Tatum finished with 21 points on 6-of-19 shooting, 5-of-11 from three and six assists, and spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench.
George led all starters with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-10 from distance, plus three rebounds, one assist and two steals for a plus-16 rating.
In the wider picture, Payton Pritchard scored 12 points on 4-of-11 three-point shooting for a team-best plus-29, and Derrick White added nine points and seven assists.
Mitchell Robinson scored 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting with seven rebounds, four steals and a plus-19 in 18 minutes, while Neemias Queta added 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
The worst opening since 1993-94
Milwaukee fell to 1-9, a start that is the franchise's worst since 1993-94, when the Bucks lost 10 of their first 11 games and finished 20-62.
In addition, Kuzma's 27 points were the only sustained offense the Bucks could name, delivered on 6-of-13 from the arc after his fast start.
Turner finished with three points, five rebounds and seven assists, the last a career high, after going scoreless in Friday's NBA Cup loss to Toronto.
Boston shot 45-of-95 for 47 percent and 18-of-48 from three, outrebounded Milwaukee 48 to 36, recorded 12 steals and turned 15 Bucks turnovers into 11 points.
Boston's trip continues in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, while Milwaukee travels to New York the same evening trying to end a start already measured against 1993-94.
Editor's take: Turner's career high came in assists on a night he shot 1-of-8. Playmaking is not the complaint; the shot attempts are the trend.
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