The Bucks Are Favorites Heading into The East Semis Against Boston

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons

As the Eastern Conference Semifinals are officially now set, the Bucks have already opened as the heavy favorite in the East to knock off the Boston Celtics and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. This should come as no surprise the Bucks have the best odds to reach the Conference Finals, even over Celtics, Sixers and Raptors.

There’s no doubt this Boston Celtics team is not the same team the Bucks saw last year in the playoffs when they battled for seven games and Boston eventually came out on top. Yes, this Celtics team was even without its best player in Kyrie and Gordon Hayward. Don’t get me wrong, I think this Celtics team is very dangerous especially as an underdog. I would feel more comfortable playing the Raptors or Sixers in this round, instead of facing Kyrie, Brad Stevens, and an experienced Boston crew. Of course, the year the Bucks lock up the one seed, they end up having to go through Boston in the second round, because of the Celtics underperforming throughout the regular season and finishing in the four seed.

Even though the Celtics swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round, I don’t think that series was a good indication of how this Celtics team has been really playing all season long. Sure, the Pacers are a good overall team, and had a great regular season despite losing their star in Oladipo early on, but the Pacers clearly didn’t have enough talent to hang with really any of the top four teams in the East in a seven-game series. The regular season was a mess for the Celtics, filled with drama, uncertainty about their superstar’s future, and simply not living up to expectations all season long and underperforming. 

Enough with the Celtics talk. The Bucks have been simply the better team all season long. After all, Milwaukee has had one of the best point differentials in NBA history, has been the best team in the league so far, won 60 games, has a completely different system with coach of the year Mike Budenholzer, and has been in the top five in offense and defense all season long. Not to mention, “Scary Terry” has completely faded off and eventually came back down to reality after having the best series of his life against the Bucks last playoffs.

Oh, and don’t forget the Bucks are getting back a HUGE piece against the Celtics with Brogdon ready to go, after he’s been out for over a month. While the Bucks are looking forward to adding their glue-guy back into the mix, the Celtics are preparing to play without theirs, as Marcus Smart doesn’t seem like he’s going to be a go for at least the first couple games.

The MVP of the league is ready to feast, homecourt at the Fiserv and Deer District is ready to go-off, and Boston will for sure remember Eric Bledsoe’s name this time around. Let’s ride this momentum right into the Eastern Conference Finals Milwaukee! Fear The Deer!