Celtics make history with flawless fourth quarter that led to epic comeback in Game 4 against Bucks

MILWAUKEE — The Celtics entered the fourth quarter of Game 4 trailing by seven points and effectively had their season on the line as a 3-1 series deficit was staring them in the face against the reigning champions.

From there, the Celtics played their best offensive quarter of the season, erupting for 43 points to help pull away for 116-108 victory.

“You get on your hot streaks and a lot of them are great looks, wide-open shots,” Ime Udoka said of the period. “We talked about multiple paint touches and their defense will dissipate and we got those wide-open looks. The other piece was getting stop and get running in transition. We got some easy baskets as well. I’m not sure who said it, but someone’s point where they start to fade a little bit, we want to push the tempo and make them work in the half court. That was a time we really increased touching the paint as much as we could, getting favorable matchups, but having them in scramble mode got us a lot of wide-open shots.”

How did they manage to pull off the 12 minutes of magic after failing to score 30 points in any of their first three quarters? A closer look at the numbers show a quarter that may end up being the best stretch any team plays during this postseason.

The Celtics shot 84 percent from the field: This is the most impressive stat of the bunch and was easily Boston’s best shooting quarter of the postseason. The team went 16-of-19 overall from the field, and 4-of-5 (80 percent from 3-point range). The team had nine assists in their final frame on 16 makes and perhaps most importantly had just one turnover. That limited Milwaukee’s transition opportunities, allowing Boston to get shots up on possession at a time they were red hot from the floor. The mark was a postseason career-high for the team.

Al Horford was perfect in the period: The 35-year-old scored 16 of his playoff career-high 30 points in the final frame, going an incredible 6-of-6 from the field in the period. All in all, he took eight shot attempts (including a pair at the free throw line) and made them all, none more impressive than his dunk on Giannis Antetokounmpo that helped Boston tie the game at 80 with 10 minutes left in the quarter. The Celtics gave up a first round pick to land the big man this season in a move many questioned at the time. However, he was the best player on the floor when it mattered for Boston in this frame, securing a win for the Celtics when they desperately needed it.

Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart combined for 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting: The duo had their share of struggles in Game 3, missing key shots that could have given Boston the edge in the series. They made up for it in a big way during crunch time however, taking the Celtics to the finish line after Horford got the Celtics back into the game in the early part of the quarter.

Derrick White played all 12 minutes: The reserve guard had not been much a factor this postseason before Game 3 against the Bucks with his offensive struggles. However, Ime Udoka elected to downsize late, going with a smaller three-guard look over Grant Williams and a two-big lineup. The tactic helped spread the floor out offensively and forced Milwaukee to stick with smaller lineups themselves to better match up with Boston’s guards and speed. White stayed in the background during much of the scoring outburst but delivered his second straight strong game of the postseason with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

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