clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Bucks/Celtics: Preview

Bucks (26-52, 16-23 road, 13th East) @ Celtics (62-16, 33-6 home, 1st
East)

Gametime: 6:00 PM CT
TV: FSN Wisconsin/League Pass/NBA LP Broadband
Radio
: 620 WTMJ/Stream Free @ NBA.com

Bucks Stats: Offense 22nd (102.1 pts/100 poss), Defense 29th (109.3), Rebounding 12th (.506 rr), Pace 17th (93.7)
Celtics Stats: Offense 11th (107.6 pts/100 poss), Defense 1st (96.0), Rebounding 3rd (.520 rr), Pace 19th (93.4)

Bucks Lineup: Ramon Sessions / Michael Redd / Desmond Mason / Charlie Villanueva / Andrew Bogut
Celtics Lineup: Rajon Rondo / Ray Allen / Paul Pierce / Kevin Garnett / Kendrick Perkins

Bucks Injuries: Mo Williams has missed three straight games with an abdominal strain. Yi Jianlian is out for the season with a sprained MCL. Charlie Bell is out with a right knee sprain. Jake Voskuhl is day-to-day with a sore ankle.
Celtics Injuries: None.

07/08 Series: 3-0 Celtics. The Celtics beat the Bucks 104-82 in Boston on Dec. 14. The Celtics won again by a score of 99-77 at the Bradley Center on March 16. The Celtics won again on Tuesday at the Bradley Center, 107-104 in OT.

Key Points:

  • The Bucks trail the Celtics by 36.0 games. 36! That means the Bucks could play an additional entire 82 game season, and at the rate they win, wouldn't catch the Celtics in the win column even if the Celtics didn't play any additional games.
  • Following their win over the Bucks on Tuesday, the Celtics fell to the Wizards 109-95 the next night. The Big Three even played big minutes, and combined for 63 points. Paul Pierce scored 28 points including 6-10 from outside. But the normally solid supporting cast didn't help much, with no one hitting double digits in scoring.
  • The Bucks have lost four games in a row, their fourth such streak since February. In those same two and a half months they've failed to string together even three straight wins. They are 8-23 in that span, plummeting to 26-52 and another last place finish in the Central.
  • The only real questions for these teams are who the Celtics will play in the first round and what draft pick the Bucks will get in the lottery. The Celtics will find out first, as only a week remains in the regular season and the Hawks are three games behind the Raptors and two games ahead of the Pacers, meaning they are the odds-on favorite to suffer a first-round loss at the hands of the Celts.
  • In his last ten games, Andrew Bogut is averaging 2.4 blocks, good enough for third in the NBA in that span. On the downside, his 3.6 turnovers in the past ten games also place him third overall.
  • Green Bandwagon has more on tonight's opponent. Also check out Celtics Blog, Loy's Place, Red's Army, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald.