On Saturday, the Celtics (15-10) met with the local Boston media after conducting a practice at the Auerbach Center in Brighton, MA, marking their first time answering questions since the postgame of Thursday night’s 116-101 loss to the Bucks in Milwaukee, WI.

The Celtics struggled to score in the second half at Fiserv Forum, snapping their five-game winning streak against a team that had lost 10 of their previous 12 games.

Boston started strong with a series of threes, but Milwaukee, still without Giannis Antetokounmpo, kept the game close and eventually took control.

After halftime, the Celtics’ offense stalled. Boston scored just 13 points in the third quarter and couldn’t recover, while the Bucks turned a tight game into a double-digit lead.

The Celtics missed their first 16 three-point attempts in the third quarter. Their shots just wouldn’t go in, and the Bucks took advantage.

Boston made only 12 of 47 shots in the second half, including just 3 of 27 from three-point range.

That ain’t gonna cut it in today’s NBA, folks.

Missed opportunities and Bucks’ fast breaks turned a close game into Boston’s roughest offensive half in weeks.

With all that said, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said Saturday that he has no lingering concerns about his team moving forward.

Despite the loss, appreciation was in the air from starting center Neemias Queta on Saturday, as his standout performance so far in 2025-26 has been a major reason why the Celtics are in the position they’re in right now - sitting as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference as of publishing.

“I don't think there's a moment where I don't think about it like that,” Queta said on Saturday when asked if he was grateful for how successful his season has gone through 25 games on the schedule. “I’m always appreciative of the opportunity. You know, it's not every franchise, it’s the Boston Celtics.

“It’s the biggest franchise in the NBA. We’ve been here for so long, the most winningest team. And I try not to [think about it] because I got to play a game every other day, and you can’t be thinking about it like that. Otherwise, you start playing tentative and you start thinking about other stuff. The best thing I can do is play basketball.

“At the end of the day, I’m the starting center for the Celtics. It’s a great benefit, it’s a great privilege. But still, I gotta play basketball, and that’s really the main thing.”

He might be grateful to have this job, but Celtics fans are equally grateful for his play in the middle through mid-December.

In his first full season as the team’s starting center in the wake of Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet all departing this offseason, Queta is averaging 10.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 blocks on 65.2% shooting from the field - a massive improvement from where he was as a depth piece at best during his first two seasons with the team.

Milwaukee was the first of a final four-game set of tough games that closed out an extended tough stretch for Boston before diving into an extended weaker part of the schedule.

Here’s what the Celtics next three games looks like:

- December 15 vs. Detroit (20-5)
- December 19 vs. Heat (14-11)
- December 20 @ Toronto (15-11)

After that December 20 game against the Raptors, things get a lot easier for Boston:

- December 22 vs. Pacers (6-19)
- December 26 @ Pacers
- December 28 @ Portland (9-16)
- December 30 @ Utah (9-15)
- January 1 @ Sacramento (6-19)
- January 3 @ Clippers (6-19)
- January 5 vs. Bulls (10-14)

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From Control to Collapse: Celtics’ 116–101 Defeat Ends Win Streak At 5

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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.