Milwaukee, WI
The Boston Celtics Are Facing The Milwaukee Bucks At The Perfect Time
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo takes a shot over the Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown throughout … [+]
Getty Photos
So far as the still-resting Boston Celtics have been involved, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls may have performed a full seven video games and worn one another out within the course of. Sadly, the undermanned Bulls simply weren’t as much as the duty of extending their sequence on Wednesday, falling behind early in what ended up being a 116-100 Milwaukee win.
Milwaukee’s reward? They now should face a well-rested and at last wholesome Celtics workforce. No different workforce had a extra spectacular first spherical than the Celtics, who accomplished their sweep of the Brooklyn Nets all the best way again on Monday. That’s proper, Boston can have practically a full week of relaxation beneath their belts earlier than their Jap Convention semifinals sequence begins on Sunday afternoon.
One of the best information for the Celtics is that, reportedly, the Bucks will likely be with out Khris Middleton for a lot of the sequence. Some of the underappreciated gamers within the NBA, no one is aware of Middleton higher than these Celtics, who’ve continuously discovered themselves on the fallacious finish of his most memorable scoring nights. Nonetheless, Middleton sprained his MCL throughout the sequence in opposition to the Bulls, that means—in the interim—the Bucks must survive with out one of many league’s most infamous Celtics-killers.
In the meantime, the Celtics are lastly operating into some good harm luck. Beginning heart Robert Williams returned from his meniscus harm throughout the Nets sequence and now has gotten some additional relaxation as he continues to work his means again to full energy.
The Celtics, in different phrases, are going through the Bucks on the actual proper juncture. They need to be favored given this, however that’s by no means to say that they’re going to have a straightforward process in opposition to this Milwaukee workforce. The Bucks didn’t lose in opposition to Chicago after they misplaced Middleton and, in reality, solely ended up enjoying a single extra sport than Boston of their first-round postseason sequence.
That shouldn’t precisely be surprising, as a result of Milwaukee has Giannis Antetokounmpo, and so long as that is true they’ve a shot at successful a sequence in opposition to anybody. He’s a 12 months faraway from dragging Milwaukee to a championship and he as soon as once more was an MVP finalist throughout the common season, though Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid each have higher odds this time round. Within the Bucks’ sequence in opposition to the Bulls, he averaged 27.5 factors, 14.5 rebounds and 7 assists.
So, sure, Antetokounmpo’s supporting forged is barely thinner with getting older veterans like Brook Lopez and Jrue Vacation now pressured into bigger roles than the workforce would seemingly hope. That also doesn’t imply that in the event you requested the Celtics privately, a few of them may need been hoping for the Bulls to have in some way discovered a approach to survive after falling behind 3-1.
As a substitute, Boston gamers should keep in mind what Marcus Good stated after the Celtics swept the Nets: “We have now to have the mentality that we’re not the very best workforce,” he stated, “as a result of when you get that mentality that you just’re the very best workforce, you begin to get complacent and dangerous habits begin to kick in.”
That’s for his teammates to fret about, nonetheless. For the remainder of us, there’s no hurt in admitting that the Celtics may have been handed a a lot worse second-round opponent than a Milwaukee workforce that will likely be with out its second-most vital participant, presumably for the whole sequence. The Bucks would possibly simply cease right here.