Boston Celtics at Milwaukee Bucks

Jayson Tatum scores 23 in second half to rally Celtics to a 113-107 victory over slumping Bucks

Tatum put the Celtics ahead for good by hitting two free throws with 5:51 left as Boston erased a nine-point halftime deficit.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored a season-high 43 points for the Bucks, who have lost eight of nine. Antetokounmpo also had 13 rebounds and five assists.

Payton Pritchard added 18, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White had 15 each and Jaylen Brown scored 14 for the Celtics. Brown returned after missing four games with a hip injury.

Bobby Portis scored 15 for Milwaukee.

Takeaways Celtics: Pritchard, who scored 28 points in a 119-108 victory over the Bucks on Oct. 28, kept Boston in the game by scoring 17 in the first half. Tatum took over from there with 23 points in the second half.

Bucks: Milwaukee took a 16-2 lead in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game, led by at least eight points for the entire first half and went into the break with a 69-58 advantage after its highest-scoring half of the season. But the Bucks scored just 15 points in the third, their lowest total in any quarter this season, and couldn't recover.

Key stat Milwaukee's Damian Lillard scored 14 points but shot 1 of 8 from 3-point range. He's 1 of 12 from beyond the arc over his last two games.

Up next The Celtics host the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, the same day the Bucks host the Toronto Raptors.

Regular Season Series

BOS leads series 2-0