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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- Antoine Walker couldn't have picked a better time to register his first triple-double in over two years.
|  | | Even some tough defense by Ray Allen couldn't slow Antoine Walker, who had his first triple-double in two years. |
Walker scored 30 points, pulled down a season-high 19 rebounds
and had 10 assists Wednesday night to lead the Boston Celtics to a
112-101 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, avenging an earlier loss
to the Bucks.
The Celtics have won two in a row after dropping 12 of their
previous 15 games. In November, the Celtics squandered a 21-point
lead and lost 114-112 to the Bucks.
"I think it's the best game I had because we won," Walker
said. "I scored 49 (this season), but we didn't win that game. I
think it was my best game as a pro."
It was the fourth triple-double of Walker's career and his first
since Feb. 1, 1998, against the Houston Rockets.
"It was a great victory for us. Antoine Walker was nothing
short of spectacular in every phase of the game. He did a wonderful
job, had to play point guard at times, got rebounds. It was by far
his best game of the season and it was much needed," Celtics coach
Rick Pitino said.
The Bucks, losers of eight of their last 10, were outrebounded
65-38.
"They outrebounded us and outworked us tonight. A lot of
rebounding is heart, and our heart was very soft tonight in a game
which was very important for us to win. It disgusts me," Bucks
coach George Karl said.
Milwaukee led by one point to start the fourth quarter and went
up 91-88 on Sam Cassell's hoop with 9:32 left. Less than three minutes later, the Celtics took a 96-91 lead on Paul Pierce's
3-pointer from the wing.
Pierce's dunk with 5:05 remaining gave the Celtics their largest
lead of the game, 102-93.
Kenny Anderson scored 15 points and had a season-high nine rebounds. Pierce added 20 points for the Celtics.
Ray Allen led the Bucks with 28 points, including 22 in the first half. Scott Williams and Cassell each added 14 points.
"It's hard to explain what happened to us," Allen said. "The
third quarter started and we all just stood around.
"We were said to have the easiest schedule after the All-Star
break, but for us it's been a lot of headaches."
The Bucks led 66-65 in the third quarter before the Celtics went
on an 8-1 run, capped by an Adrian Griffin layup off a Walker pass,
to put the Celtics in front 74-67. Milwaukee rallied to move in
front 84-83 at the end of the third quarter on Tim Thomas'
alley-oop dunk from Vinny Del Negro.
The Bucks used an 18-8 run midway through the second quarter to
take a 59-52 halftime lead.
Game notes
Milwaukee starting center Ervin Johnson missed the game
with acute back spasms suffered during warmups. Backup forward Mirsad Turkcan skipped the Boston trip and is day-to-day with an injured right foot suffered in the Bucks' 111-78 victory over
Atlanta on Monday night. ... Celtics forward Danny Fortson has
started four straight contests. Fortson was traded to Toronto for Alvin Williams and Sean Marks on Feb. 9, but the trade fell through when Williams failed his Celtics' physical.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Milwaukee Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 112
Milwaukee 101
Philadelphia 107
Vancouver 90
Washington 118
New York 113
Detroit 130
Denver 116
New Jersey 115
Portland 103
Orlando 103
Chicago 67
Toronto 95
LA Clippers 94
Sacramento 105
Charlotte 92
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