The Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Detroit Pistons 127-104 in Game 4 of their first round matchup to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they’ll face the Boston Celtics. The Bucks entered the postseason as the top seed in the East while the Celtics entered the playoffs as the fourth-seed in the Eastern Conference. Both teams were the first two to advance in the NBA playoffs after sweeping their opponents.
Milwaukee presents a daunting challenge for Boston with MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo an elite slasher and transition threat. The Celtics, moving a burly big man in Aron Baynes beside Al Horford in the starting lineup, are an elite rim-protecting team with 5.3 blocks per game (10th in the NBA) in the regular season but had troubles in the back half of the season with their transition defense.
Furthermore, the Bucks are an excellent three-point shooting team, making 13.5 threes per game (2nd in the NBA), with the firepower to keep up with the Celtics despite not having quite the level of talent of Boston top-to-bottom. Milwaukee averaged 118.1 points per game in the regular season, the highest mark in the league, while the Celtics averaged 112.4 pints per game (24th in the NBA).
The lanky defense of the Bucks also figures to give Celtics superstar Kyrie Irving some issues in scoring at the rim, which could necessitate Boston sharing the ball more than they did in the first round in order to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
