Bucks vs Celtics NBA Basketball Odds, Analysis & Pick with major injuries in both teams

It’s a potential preview of the 2024 NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night in the first game of an ESPN doubleheader as the Milwaukee Bucks visit the Boston Celtics, although there are some injury concerns on both sides and the NBA odds are thus TBA.

MyBookie NBA Expert Analysis Milwaukee vs Boston | NBA Week 22

How to Bet Bucks at Celtics NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Wednesday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: TD Garden
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
NBA Odds: Celtics -9 (total 223.5)

Bucks vs Celtics Season Series

Wednesday is the third of four meetings between the schools this regular season and they split the first two. The most recent one was Jan. 11 in Milwaukee and the Bucks rolled 135-102. Bobby Portis and Giannis Antetokounmpo combined to score 20 straight points during a 25-0 spurt midway through the first half. The Bucks led by as many as 43 points in Jrue Holiday’s return to Milwaukee, and their 75-38 lead at the break was their fourth-biggest halftime advantage in franchise history. Portis scored 28, Antetokounmpo added 24 and both players had 12 rebounds. Boston allowed its highest point total of the season and rested all its starters for the entire second half. Boston leads the all-time series 117-111 and 74-41 at home, winning the past six there.

Why Bet on Milwaukee Bucks?

Will the Bucks have superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo available? The former MVP went through pregame shootaround Sunday, and Doc Rivers said that he expected Giannis to be available to play vs. Phoenix, but Antetokounmpo was ruled out because of this hamstring issue that he has been managing for a while. And yet the Bucks won anyways. Giannis did practice Tuesday so that bodes well for this game.

Milwaukee did see the return from a long injury absence Sunday from former All-Star Khris Middleton. He finished with 22 points and seven assists. Appearing in a game for the first time since February 6, Middleton was limited to 25 minutes but looked sharp, shooting over 50% from the field while finishing second on the team in assists.

Damian Lillard also stepped up big with 31 points, 16 assists and five boards. He topped 30 points for the third time in the last seven games while setting a season high in assists. It was the first 30-point, 15-assist game in Bucks history and tied a career high in handouts for Lillard. It was the fourth time in his career he had 16 in a game. The veteran point guard has 11 double-doubles on the season, and three of them have come in March as he’s averaged 24.8 points, 8.9 assists, and 4.1 boards on the month. Milwaukee is 16-1 this season when Lillard scores at least 30 points, 9-2 when he has at least 10 assists and 22-0 when he shoots at least 50% from the field.

“I just wanted to come out and be in attack mode, really,” Lillard said of Sunday’s effort. “I didn’t really think to myself I have to score a bunch of points., I just knew I had to be a problem for the defense, getting into the paint, getting them in rotations, making them have to help and that’s just how I played. I kept making the right play and guys just made shots.”

Bobby Portis had 31 points and 10 boards in the upset of the Suns. The double-double was the 11th of the season for Portis while the 31 points tied his best scoring performance of the season — he also erupted for 31 against the Pistons on Dec. 16. The 29-year-old has scored at least 20 points four times in the last 10 games as the Bucks’ primary second-unit threat, a stretch in which he’s averaging 16.9 points and 8.5 boards while shooting 53.4 percent from the floor.

The Bucks made a season-high 24 three-pointers on Sunday, including 18 in the first half – tied for the most threes made in a half in NBA history. Lillard and Malik Beasley are tied for the team lead with 191 made threes on the season. Only Ray Allen with 229 in 2001-02 and with 202 in 2000-01 has made more threes in a season for the Bucks.

Sunday’s game was the NBA-best ninth time this season the Bucks scored at least 140 points. Only Denver in 1981-82 with 10 had more in a season. Averaging a franchise-record 120.7 points this season, the Bucks are 9-0 when scoring at least 140, 18-1 when hitting at least 130 and 31-4 when scoring a minimum of 120.

Bet Milwaukee to Win
Daily Line NBA Men

Why Bet on Boston Celtics?

About time the Celtics played a good opponent. They blew out a bad Wizards team on Sunday and then did the same to a bad Detroit team on Monday despite playing without star Jayson Tatum along with Jrue Holiday and Al Horford. I’d expect all three back here.

Derrick White had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and completed his first career triple-double when he passed to Payton Pritchard, who hit a 3-pointer with 6:25 to play.

“I’m not usually one that tries to chase stats or whatnot, but I saw that I was one away,” said White, who also recorded his 5,000th career point with a 3 in the final quarter. “I’ve been close a lot of times, so I wanted to try and get it this time. Shout out to my teammates.”

White became just the second Celtic this season to log a triple-double, joining Jaylen Brown, who recorded 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on Jan. 21 at Houston.

“It’s great for him. I’m happy for him,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said of White’s achievement. “He’s continuing to grow as a two-way player on both sides of the ball … The triple-double is an example of who he is as a player, but it doesn’t show how great he is on both ends of the floor.”

Brown had 31 points and seven boards on Monday. His usage has been off the charts in his last five appearances, with him posting 32.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals while connecting on 52.5 percent of a whopping 24.4 shots per game. On the season, Brown ranks in the 72nd percentile among all players by generating 1.058 points per possession.

Kristaps Porzingis had 20 points and eight boards in just 21 minutes. The Celtics held Porzingis more than eight minutes under his season-long average of 29.8 minutes per contest in his return from a five-game absence due to a right hamstring strain. Because Boston now holds a huge advantage over Milwaukee for the top record in the Eastern Conference, Porzingis and the team’s other key rotation players could be subject to occasional rest days and/or lightened minutes loads over the final month of the regular season.

Payton Pritchard took full advantage of a spot start Monday and finished with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting to fall just five points shy of tying his season high. He canned five of his nine attempts from distance and also sank both of his free throw attempts on the night.

The Celtics are on pace to post the third-highest net rating in NBA history at 11.7, trailing only the 1995-96 Bulls (13.4) and the 1996-97 Bulls (11.8).

Boston shoots more 3-point field goals than any team in the NBA as it is attempting 42.6 3-pointers per game, three more than any other team. Only eight other teams are shooting more than 37 3-pointers per game. The Celtics probably aren’t going to break the single-season record for 3-point shots taken — 45.4 per game by the 2018-19 Houston Rockets — but they will be close. The Celtics made history Monday against the Pistons by hitting 20 or more 3-point shots for the fourth consecutive game. No team had ever done that.

Bet Boston to Win
Daily Line NBA Men

Bucks vs Celtics Expert Prediction

Celtics 120, Bucks 114

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