Why Celtics Felt Need To ‘Create Chaos’ Before Defeating Bucks

BOSTON — It took a wild and chaotic back-and-forth exchange with the Milwaukee Bucks for the Celtics to continue their undefeated head start to the season on Monday night, but the chaos was completely intentional.

Besides enduring a Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo combining to score 63 points, plus the absence of Sam Hauser (back), the Celtics also needed to navigate the mayhem that erupted in the third quarter. Boston was charged for a delay-of-game and issued a technical foul, just before Jayson Tatum, too, was hit with a technical foul from the officials. Lillard went to the line to put Milwaukee ahead, 80-79, which provided a late-game challenge for the Celtics.

It was, however, a challenge head coach Joe Mazzulla welcomed with open arms.

“We were just like, let’s try to create as much chaos as we can. That was it,” Mazzulla explained after the 119-108 win. “That’s what we felt like the environment needed at the time. It was let’s just create chaos so we’re just going to create it. And then we just created the chaos together, went through the chaos together. Responded pretty well.”

Mazzulla added: “Nobody had any idea what was going on, right? Just chaos. Yeah, that’s perfect. That’s exactly what we needed.”

Soon after the Celtics cooked up a plate of homemade chaos, the energy shifted. Derrick White knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions and blocked Antetokounmpo’s layup attempt at the other end. Payton Pritchard, the master of quarter-ending buzzer beaters, closed out the frame by drilling a last-second three over 6-foot-5 Delon Wright, to give Boston a 90-82 lead.

Bucks head coach Doc Rivers hung his head and clenched his knees in disbelief as Pritchard infused the Celtics bench — and fans — with energy.

“I think we definitely were looking to kind of get going,” Jaylen Brown said. “I think in the first half, we were kind of dragging our feet a little bit. Wasn’t playing to our standard and I think in that third quarter we had a little bit more of a spark about ourselves.”

Boston rode its third-quarter momentum for the final 12 minutes of regulation, going on a 29-21 run to take a 16-point lead with 1:49 minutes left to play. Mazzulla immediately unloaded the bench and pulled all Celtics starters from the floor, signaling the premature ending to Boston’s first clash with Milwaukee.

It’s only been four games, but the Celtics have already experienced blowing teams out, battling through a nail-bitter and turning a hard-fought rival battle with a conference foe — and the officials — into a double-digit victory. Not a bad start to a title defense, especially with Kristaps Porzingis not present.