After allowing 58 first-half points, the Celtics held the Bucks (21-25) to just 33 after the intermission. Milwaukee, which had four straight games with 30 or more assists entering the night, had 17 at the half but recorded just six in the second half.
Kevin Garnett chipped in 16 points and 10 rebounds, Brandon Bass added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 10 points and 14 assists as the Celtics improved to 4-3 on their eight-game odyssey on the road.
Brandon Jennings led the Bucks with 19 points but also had five of the Bucks' 15 turnovers. Ersan Ilyasova had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
"The first half they were really turning the corners off the pick-and-roll with Monta (Ellis) and (Mike) Dunleavy, so we wanted to take that away. I thought once we took that away it was to our advantage because we kept them on the perimeter instead of attacking the basket."
-- Pierce on the Celtics' halftime decision to switch on all picks.
The Celtics finished with 11 blocks, one off their season high, as they constantly kept the Bucks from getting to the basket. Reserve center Greg Stiemsma, a native of Randolph, Wis., who played at the University of Wisconsin from 2004-'08, had five of the blocks.
The Bucks the Celtics for 58 first-half points while shooting 49 percent. At halftime, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers decided to switch on every pick. The Bucks scored just 13 points in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth quarter.
"We switched on everything, which we never do. I mean, we literally never do that. They were killing us in the first half. Scotty (Skiles) was running great stuff. The way we looked at it, switching couldn't have been any worse than what we normally do. That was a big change. It's unusual for us to give in that quickly, but we thought we needed to do it and I thought it made a big difference defensively for us."
Doc Rivers
Pierce made 10 of 15 shots, including all three of his 3-pointers, and Keyon Dooling, who played for the Bucks last year, went 4-for-4 off the bench for the Celtics.
After shooting 49 percent (24-for-49) in the first half, the Bucks shot just 29.3 percent (12-of-41) in the second half.
With this being the first game of the Bucks' only three-games-in-three-nights set of the season, Bucks head coach Scott Skiles cleared the bench with 1:33 left and his team down 98-87.
Not only did Stiemsma block five shots, he also had four steals and six points in 24 minutes.
Ellis had 13 points and seven assists, and Udoh finished with two points and 10 rebounds. ... Skiles was hit with a technical foul with 9:25 in the first quarter after officials missed an apparent goal-tending call when Garnett swatted Jennings' floating shot. ... Rondo drilled a half-court shot at the end of the first quarter, but it was a split-second after the horn. ... Rivers picked up a technical foul with 4:34 in the fourth quarter protesting a no-call under the basket that led to a Bucks fast break. ... The Bucks led, 58-56, at the half. It was their biggest lead of the game.
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