The picture is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph from the match
Kyle Kuzma's 14 points in the opening five minutes were the most Milwaukee would get for free; Boston answered with an 18-0 run built by Tatum and George, then held the lead for 74 percent of the game in a 117-97 rout.
Tatum closes the first, George opens the second
For five minutes on Sunday the Bucks looked like the better team: Kuzma collected 14 of his 27 points in that stretch and Milwaukee led 20-6 early in the first quarter.
Jayson Tatum scored the final 10 points of the first quarter to cut the deficit to 27-25, a stretch that stopped Milwaukee from building a second run.
George opened the second period with eight straight points; the first of his two threes in that spell put Boston ahead 28-27 and the game turned there.
The 18-0 finished with a George layup and one more three, and Milwaukee went from 14 points up inside five minutes to trailing before halftime.
In the wider picture, 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.
58-45 at the half, 22 up in the third
Boston led 58-45 at halftime and opened the third quarter with nine straight points to push the margin to 22, after which the Celtics were never ahead by fewer than 15 points.
Tatum's night was decided early enough to be cut short: 21 points, six assists and 29 minutes, with the fourth quarter handed to the reserves.
George went 11 of 18 with five threes for 27 points and finished plus-16 in 28 minutes, supplying the first eight Boston points of the second quarter.
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.
Boston's frontcourt did the quiet work: Robinson was perfect from the field with four steals, and Queta filled a 13-point, nine-rebound line in 22 minutes.
Where a 1-9 start leaves the Bucks
At 1-9 the Bucks are in territory they have not occupied since 1993-94, when a 10-loss opening stretch preceded a 20-62 season.
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.
In addition, 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.
The team lines tell it: 47 percent shooting, 48 rebounds, 27 assists and 12 steals for Boston against 35-of-79 shooting and 15 turnovers for Milwaukee.
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: Two meetings, two Boston wins, by seven points and by twenty: the Bucks have not yet found a version of this matchup they can control.
Sources and reporting time:
