The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics meet in the playoffs for a third time in five seasons, but the Eastern Conference rivalry dates back the 1974 NBA Finals, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in Milwaukee.
Nowadays, NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo looks to defend his title in Milwaukee but without the help of longtime teammate Khris Middleton, who is sidelined with an MCL sprain and is expected to miss the whole series.
As for Boston, they’ve shown just how powerful their defence can be — on top of housing Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum and Grant Williams’ defending of Kevin Durant helped the Celtics sweep a Nets team that was supposed to wreak havoc on the East.
Season series: 2-2 split
Quick Tape (after Round 1)
Bucks: 4-1 | No. 13 offence | No. 1 defence | No. 1 net rating
Celtics: 4-0 | No. 3 offence | No. 10 defence | No. 7 net rating
Betting Futures
To win series: MIL +168, BOS -200 (Courtesy FanDuel at time of publication)
To win championship: MIL: +850, BOS: +420
Bucks Starting 5: Jrue Holiday, Wesley Matthews, Bobby Portis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez
Bucks Bench: Khris Middleton (Inj.), George Hill, Grayson Allen, Luca Vildoza, Pat Connaughton, Serge Ibaka, Jevon Carter, Jordan Nwora, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Rayjon Tucker
Celtics Starting 5: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams
Celtics Bench: Derrick White, Grant Williams, Daniel Theis, Payton Pritchard, Aaron Nesmith, Nik Stauskas, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, Juwan Morgan, Malik Fitts
Pulse of the Bucks
The pulse of the Bucks seems pretty obvious when Antetokounmpo plays for them. Scoring 27-plus points in four out of five games in the series against the Bulls, not only is he a big man in the paint and able to attack the rim, but he also made the Bulls’ defence pay from long-range.
However, their real pulse is the way they balance out completely and don’t just have to rely on Antetokounmpo — which is also a concern with Middleton’s injury. The three-time All-Star averaged 20.1 points and 5.4 assists per game for the Bucks, one of their primary offensive producers and could make tough shots in isolation, and also one of their best wing defenders.
Milwaukee still has Holiday to rely on, who had an impressive Game 4 performance with 26 points, including shooting 5-of-8 from the three. Even when Holiday struggled to make shots in Game 5, Milwaukee’s ability to contribute from the bench with Connaughton and Allen helped them cruise to a 25-point victory.
Pulse of the Celtics
When your defence is good enough to make 12-time All-Star Kevin Durant look pedestrian, that is easily the pulse of your team. Durant even called the Celtics the best defence in the league.
The key is that Boston plays a switch defence: someone is always ready help, they close out space, are athletic enough to recover, and don’t make mistakes — they cause them. With a combination of Tatum, Brown, Williams and Smart all seeing time covering Durant, they used their length, quickness and overall versatility no matter who was guarding.
Robert Williams missed two games of the series with a torn meniscus, but the Celtics get their best interior defender back for the full series against Milwaukee, a player who can block shots and can be a backup for any player who manages to get past one of Boston’s other tough defenders.
Key matchup to watch
Giannis Antetokounmpo vs. Jayson Tatum. Both players are able to disrupt the game on both sides of the ball, as the Greek Freak shot 56.8 per cent from the field in the first round of the playoffs, and is the best player in the series and a likely MVP candidate this season.
Tatum, however, has proved in the way he handled his own first round series that he is a top-calibre player just like the rest and will be the main focus of all of Milwaukee’s defensive schemes after averaging 29.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists on top of his stellar defending.
Both teams have impact players who will also make a difference — Smart versus Holiday, Brown versus Allen — but after the first-round series that both Tatum and Antetokounmpo had, all eyes will be on those two to carry their respective teams.
Bucks win if …
They can get past the Celtics defence. The scary part about Boston is that they don’t just have big men with length and agility who can move with Antetokounmpo and shut him down, they have that agility and length no matter who is on the court and can hold some of the league’s top scorers to 30 per cent shooting from the wing or the paint. They disrupt, they cause turnovers and they are relentless for four quarters, which causes offences to implode. If the Bucks can find the rim through a top-tier defence, they can win.
Celtics win if …
Shutting down one of the best players in the league is a start, but even past Antetokounmpo, who will be their main focus of attention, they need to win all minutes when he doesn’t have the ball. Not having to worry about Middleton is a huge weight off the Celtics’ shoulders that gives them more room to focus on Antetokounmpo, but the Bucks bench will push offensively and the Celtics will need to shut down every scoring angle the way they did with Brooklyn as Holiday and Allen will be able to cause problems scoring as well.
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