NBA Playoffs 2022 on Sunday, 01.05.2022
the Boston Celtics against the Milwaukee Bucks now offered the chance to knock off the defending champions. Moreover, the conditions for an opening win couldn’t be better for the C’s.
For as I will discuss in my Celtics Bucks tip, the visitors will be missing a key player whose absence due to injury will hit the Green and Whites, who are not exactly strong across the board, hard.
The Boston Celtics have come a long way in the last 365 days! Whereas last year the C’s failed to beat the Nets in the playoffs, this time the New Yorkers were literally tarmacked 4-0 after games.
The Brooklyn squad was not as well-staffed as it was at the start of the season, but it still took a lot to take Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving – two of the best players of their generation – out of the game so consistently.
Boston’s much-vaunted defence could now once again make the difference. Furthermore, they must be credited with partial success before this Series even begins!
Injury to Khris Middleton so bad that he will not be able to play against the Celtics. This will have a devastating impact on the Bucks’ game!
Without their best forward, the defending champions lack another defender to defend against the advances of Brown or Tatum. Not to mention the fact that Middleton is also an indispensable element on the way forward.
The only question I have is how convincingly Giannis Antetokounmpo will perform. After all, the Bucks’ manageable underdog chance of success stands or falls with him. But if the centre only has an average evening, it won’t be enough.
The biggest difference between the two franchises lies in their respective ability to defend their own basket successfully! This, by the way, is the main reason why I think the home side will win in the end.
I assume that the more complete team will prevail in this game – and that is currently the home side. As the evening progresses, it should also be a low-scoring game, with not too many points scored.
The Bucks will lock down their own perimeter – as they did against the Bulls before – but offer the opponent many opportunities for open threes. Chicago even got an average of 25 open threes per game, but could only convert 30% of them.
The Celtics can do a lot, but converting three-pointers is not necessarily one of their strengths. With the exception of Grant Williams, they don’t really have a three-point specialist who can consistently take advantage of these gifts – so a lot of missed shots are inevitable!
By the way, the last meeting took place right before the start of the playoffs and went 127-121 to the Bucks – however, two important points have to be pointed out here.
Firstly, the game was played in Milwaukee and secondly, the defending champions benefited from an outstanding Khris Middleton, who scored 22 points that night and was still in good health.
However, with the circumstances being entirely different this time around, it should come as no surprise that the C’s are the clear favourites to win the opener with average Celtics Bucks odds currently at 1.60.
Conclusion: It’s going to be a battle of attrition with the better defence winning out in the end. Personally, I expect that to be the home side’s, especially as Khris Middleton is out on the opposite side.
However, the forward is an indispensable part of the Bucks’ game and will leave a vacuum that the defending champions’ shorthanded squad will not be able to fill.
Much will also depend on how Giannis Antetokounmpo finds his way into the game. But if the Greek doesn’t have a King Kong night at the board, a victory for the Celtics at the end of a low-scoring game is probably the only conceivable scenario.
