Boston Celtics (2) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (7) Preview

The injury depleted Boston Celtics will take on the Milwaukee Bucks in a 2 vs. 7 playoff series. Without Kyrie Irving or Gordon Hayward, can the Celtics generate enough offense to win games in the playoffs? Or will Giannis  Antetokounmpo be able to win his first playoff series in his career? 

The Milwaukee Bucks, like many other teams in the NBA have under performed. At the beginning of the season, they were projected to be as high as the fourth seed in the East. Early on in the season, things were looking great. They traded Greg Monroe and his albatross contract along with two picks for Eric Bledsoe. And while Bledsoe is a fantastic player, he is not the perfect fit for the Bucks. He cannot really space the floor and is ball dominant, taking possessions away from Antetokounmpo and Middleton. Despite this, they will still have the best player in the series in Giannis, which is always an advantage. 

Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics entered the 2017-2018 season with title aspirations. They had traded for superstar Kyrie Irving and had signed another all star in Gordon Hayward. Unfortunately, Hayward suffered a gruesome injury in the first game of the season, which has sidelined him for all of this year. While the Celtics have been one of the East's best teams since then, they have been hit by the injury bug. Irving is out for the playoffs, Theis, a solid backup big is out for the playoffs  and Smart is still questionable.

With all that being said, I still believe in Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics. They have one of the best defenses in the league and can still score because of the likes of Tatum, Brown, Horford and Rozier. Brad Stevens is just such a great coach and has a great system that he can just plug in players and be successful. However, this series will be extremely competitive. 

I have the Celtics winning in a hard fought 7 games.