NBA Playoffs 2022 on Wednesday, 04.05.2022
According to our NBA Playoffs schedule, the opening game of the Conference Semifinals went to the defending champions! The Boston Celtics must now win against the Milwaukee Bucks in their last home game for the time being in order to avoid falling behind early.
In the meantime, I have analysed Game 1 thoroughly and made a Celtics Bucks prediction that makes me confident. Because according to my tip, the visitors will once again have the upper hand in a game dictated by the defences.
It was the low-scoring game I expected, but the Bucks surprised me a bit with their win in Game 1. Even without Khris Middleton, the leading bookmakers did not expect the defending champions to do so well.
The opening game made it clear once again how good Giannis Antetoukonmpo really is. The two-time MVP was the man of the match with 24 points, 12 assists and 13 rebounds – and possibly the one who will lead the Green-Whites to the title again.
Because the Greek is even better than last year during the playoffs in the categories points per 36, rebounds, assists, blocks and free throws! Will the Celtics be able to adjust to him better in the second home game?
A quick analysis of the first game, meanwhile, makes it clear that I was spot on about one thing: The Bucks stiffened on the game plan they had already shown against the Bulls and declared their own zone a no-go area.
Boston subsequently got many opportunities to strike from beyond the 3-point line. But as expected, the home side converted too few threes, especially since they don’t really have a distance specialist in their ranks.
The Celtics were really forced to make three-pointers and also fired 50 attempts during the evening, but only 18 of them found their target! Milwaukee therefore has every reason to use the exact same tactics.
Significant for the Bucks’ dominance in the zone is a comparison of the Celtics’ success rate from inside and beyond the three-point line. Logic dictates that two-pointers should actually come easier because of the shorter distance!
This assumption is usually true, but Game 1 is an exception. Boston converted 36% of its three-point attempts but only 29.4% of its throws inside the arc.
This again impressively shows how well the duo consisting of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez made every throw of the C’s from near the basket a challenge.
Add to that the Celtics’ 18 precious ball losses, which were the result of the visitors’ 11 successful steals!
After the opening game, it should not have escaped the notice of the knowledgeable basketball fan that the Bucks dominated in two crucial ways – and that was in the areas of physicality and experience!
The superior physicality ensured that players like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown ran against a green and white wall whenever they tried to get near the basket! The difference in experience, on the other hand, affected the home side in the game-deciding phases.
For superstar Jayson Tatum scored a respectable 21 points in the end, but most of them the Bostonian made towards the end of the game when Milwaukee let him have a little more. In the first half of the game, however, the superstar only converted nine points!
Despite the impressive display of power by the defending champions, the leading bookmakers don’t seem to want to deviate much from their Celtics Bucks odds already called in Game 1.
Accordingly, the Celtics enter the race with win odds of around 1.55, while the odds for the opposite course of play are currently being offered at around 2.55 – one more reason why I’m sticking with another win for the visitors!
Conclusion: The Bucks started like fire and managed to rattle the Celtics early on with a convincing mix of nerves and muscle. Tatum only got into the game late, while Jaylen Brown was completely out of his depth.
The visitors will stick to the same game plan tonight, forcing Boston to make a lot of throws from beyond the arc. That will frustrate the C’s as they prefer to score their points from the zone.
However, the defending champions will designate this as a no-fly zone tonight as well. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez will make sure that Boston will once again have to realise that there is no getting past this duo.
My Celtics Bucks tip: The visitors win again!!
