BOSTON — Jaylen Brown summed it up simply enough when he said the Celtics had to be smarter — smarter with their shot selection, smarter with their pace, smarter with the multitude of things they did wrong on offense in Game 1.
And no one took it more to heart than Brown on Tuesday night in Game 2. The wing scored 25 of his 30 points on 9-of-10 first-half shooting and staked the Celtics for the rest of the night on their way to a series-tying 109-86 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in their Eastern Conference semifinal series at TD Garden.
Though forced to play without an ailing Marcus Smart (right thigh contusion), the Celtics jumped out early, and thanks to a more balanced attack, never trailed. Jayson Tatum picked up the second-half pace in a rougher scoring half on the way to 29 points. Grant Williams found open shots all night on the way to a 21-point performance that included 6-of-10 3-point shooting.
The Celtics raced to a 26-point lead early in the third quarter, but Giannis Antetokounmpo (28 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) cut the Celtics lead to 12 points with two free throws with 4:30 left. But Tatum circled out to the corner and buried his fourth 3-pointer of the night — a shot clock buzzer beater — for a 97-82 lead.
The Bucks continued to threaten, cutting the margin to 13 on two Jrue Holiday (19 points) free throws. But Brown put back a Payton Pritchard downtown miss for a 99-84 lead with 3:25 left. Antetokounmpo answered with his 28th point of the night, Tatum hit two free throws, and came back off an Antetokounmpo turnover with a corner three for a 104-86 edge.
Grant Williams (21 points, five rebounds) buried his sixth 3-pointer to put it out of reach with 1:58 left.
Antetokounmpo scored 18 of Milwaukee’s 26 third quarter points, with the Bucks making minor progress in cutting the Celtics lead to 83-66 by the end of the quarter.
Tatum had 19 points, Brown 25 — all in the first half — by the start of the fourth.
Brown hit his sixth 3-pointer for an 88-70 lead with 10:28 left, Williams hit his fifth 3 of the night three minutes later to answer a brief Bucks spurt for a 91-73 edge, and by the time Tatum drove with 5:50 left, they had a 94-78 edge.
Grayson Allen cut the margin to 14 points with 5:30 left, Pritchard and Brown missed from downtown, and with 4:30 left, Antetokounmpo cut it to 12 with two free throws.
Brown’s 25-point first half was a classic that staked the Celtics to a 65-40 lead. Antetokounmpo (2 for 12) took more shots, finished the half with five points, and was mainly limited to jumpers.
Antetokounmpo scored the first eight Milwaukee points of the third quarter, though the Celtics were matching his output down the other end with, among other things, Tatum’s third 3-pointer of the night.
The Celtics finally hit a cold stretch, missing five straight shots to go along with three turnovers during a 10-0 Bucks run that included six points from Antetokounmpo, and cut the Celtics lead to 72-56.
But the Celtics answered with an extended 11-4 burst for an 83-60 lead, and included a Robert Williams transition dunk set up by Tatum’s steal and dish, followed by Tatum transition finish off his second straight steal. Milwaukee ran off the last six points of the quarter, cutting the Celtics lead to 83-66.
