Celtics move within two games of the top-seeded Bucks in the East following 140-99 alienation

Jayson Tatum scored 40 points, Jaylen Brown added 30 and the Boston Celtics routed the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks 140-99 Thursday in what is likely to be the Eastern Conference Finals in two months.

The Celtics (53-24) shot 22 of 43 from 3-point range to move within two games of the Bucks (55-22) in the Eastern Conference standings. The Celtics won the season series with the Bucks 2-1, which would give Boston the tiebreaker if both teams finish with the same record.

Boston’s performance in those three games with Milwaukee should give the Celtics plenty of confidence that they could knock out the Bucks again if they meet in the postseason.

The Celtics beat the Bucks in seven games in last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals, despite having their backs against the wall after falling 3-2 in the series.

At the time, Milwaukee was sorely missing its second-highest scorer, guard Khris Middleton, who was averaging 14.5 points per game in the postseason before spraining his medial collateral ligament against the Chicago Bulls in the first round.

Celtics forward Jaylen Brown scored 30 points, and Boston moved within two games of Milwaukee, who are the leaders of the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics also beat the Bucks 139-118 in Boston on Christmas Day and lost 131-125 in overtime on February 14. The Celtics did not face Brown, Tatum, Marcus Smart or Al Horford in that overtime loss.

Milwaukee took a hit both on the floor and in the standings. Middleton left the game midway through the third quarter after taking an elbow to the face from Brown. The play resulted in a charging foul on Brown and caused Middleton to receive stitches to his upper lip.

Boston built a 114-74 lead in three quarters, causing most of both teams’ starters to sit out the entire fourth quarter.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 24 points.

This coincided with the Bucks’ most lopsided loss of the season. They lost 142-101 in Memphis on December 15. Wednesday night’s matchup was also Milwaukee’s toughest loss against its Northeast rivals.

The Bucks were playing a night after a 149-136 win at Indiana in which they shot a season-high 62.4 percent from the floor, with Jrue Holiday scoring 51 points and Antetokounmpo adding 38 points, 17 rebounds. and 12 assists.

This was the first time an NBA team had one player score at least 50 points and another had a triple-double with at least 35 points in the same game.

Milwaukee found things a bit more difficult on Thursday.

Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 24 points in 25 minutes but shot 11 of 27 from the field

Bucks forward Khris Middleton goes down after taking an elbow to the face from Brown in the third quarter.

Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer has a lot to ponder if his team will face the Celtics later in the season, possibly in the playoffs.

Antetokounmpo shot just 11-for-27, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Holiday began his night by hitting a 3-pointer, but went 1-for-7 the rest of the way and finished with just six points.

After the first eight and a half minutes of the game featured nine lead changes and five ties, the Celtics took control going 29-9 in the final seven minutes. Boston capped that streak by scoring 13 straight points.

Boston didn’t let up the rest of the night.

Milwaukee’s Thanasis Antetokounmpo was ejected with 1:25 left to play for a headbutt on Boston’s Blake Griffin. The header came after Griffin committed a flagrant 1 foul against Antetokounmpo.

Griffin tried to make fun of the incident by trying on Brown’s protective mask, shortly after.

Up next for the Celtics is a home game against the playoff-chasing Utah Jazz on Friday. In their only previous meeting this season, the Celtics lost 118-117 at Utah on March 18.

The Bucks host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. The Bucks are 1-2 against the 76ers this season, including a 133-130 home loss on March 4 that snapped Milwaukee’s 16-game winning streak.