The Boston Celtics saw a full-team effort in their win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night at TD Garden.
Franchise cornerstones Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown lived up to their billing, combining to score 59 points in Boston's 23-point Game 2 victory. The Celtics also received contributions from their bench, as Grant Williams turned in one of his best games as a professional, and Payton Pritchard helped fill the void left behind by Marcus Smart.
Given everyone and everything that factored into Boston's first win of this best-of-seven series, issuing a singular game ball would not be an easy exercise. But former Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins took on the task after the game.
"Game ball goes to Ime Udoka," Perkins tweeted. "He leaned in on his team in the film room, made the adjustments and went back to the same park they got bullied, hit the bully in the mouth and took their ball back! Carry the hell on…"
Udoka certainly would be a worthy game-ball recipient, as he set the tone for the Celtics well before tipoff Tuesday night. The first-year head coach stressed the message Boston needed to send in Game 2 not only to get itself on the board in the best-of-seven set, but also to let Milwaukee know what kind of series this is going to be.
After three days off, the Celtics and the Bucks will reconvene on Saturday night at Fiserv Forum for Game 3.
