9 Charlotte (Hornets hold tiebreaker) and a 1.5 game lead on No. People will question Denvers defense, even though its played at a top-10 efficiency with Jokic on the floor. Game Flow; The Nets potentially ending up at No. Long story short: The Bucks' will sew up the No. Way to find a way to win Celtics. 2022 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals Bucks vs. Celtics League Champion: Golden State Warriors Finals MVP: Stephen Curry (31.2 / 6.0 / 5.0) 2022 Playoff Leaders: PTS: Jayson Tatum (615) TRB: Al Horford (214) AST: Jayson Tatum (148) WS: Jimmy Butler (3.8) On this page: All Games in Series After the defending champs dispatched the Chicago Bulls last night, the Eastern Conference Semifinals is set between Milwaukee and Boston. Kawhi Leonard is playing more and more like the player who was dominant in both the 2019 and 2021 playoffs, the latter of which had solid title potential until he got hurt. After scoring 10-plus points just twice in his first 22 games this season, Griffin has been in double-digits twice over the last three games. A daily roundup of Boston Celtics news from Celtics Blog, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Jayson Tatum ejected in ugly Celtics loss to Knicks: I just told him this was probably the best officiated game Ive been a part of. They also scored 11 points off seven Celtics turnovers. 2 BOSTON CELTICS (51-31, 4-0) vs. No. Free trial Game Time: 7 Please enter a valid email and try again. Whether that happens is pretty much a toss-up, as the Cavs and Heat could be locked into their seeding by the time they play the Nets and Hawks, respectively. src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=674090812743125&ev=PageView&noscript=1"/>. So I figured out how I can manage to get back out with the guys. So here they were Friday night with all those bad memories, on the road, against the NBAs defending champions and the two-time Most Valuable Player, facing elimination. And so, that's a long way of saying the Celtics would claim the No. 2 seed and could rest their starters in that season finale. First to the Floor: are the Knicks a bad matchup? And after a so-so early start to the season (by his standards), Embiid has picked up his play considerably on the defensive end of the floor the last few months. If the Celtics beat Chicago and the Raptors can win at least two of their last three, Toronto will land in the 4-5 matchup with the Bulls slotted at No. Boston is the only team in the top five in both offensive and defensive rating. Eastern Conference Playoff Teams. Milwaukee was without reserve guard Grayson Allen (left hip soreness), but Bobby Portis scored 17 points off the bench for the Bucks. The sleek, smooth-shooting forward had a Giannis Antetokounmpo sort of game against Giannis Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee (.617) trails both Miami (.652) and Boston (.638) in conference win percentage. Portis tied it with a three with 2:12 left, setting up a lengthy final stretch that featured two long delays for blood cleanup and an equipment malfunction. While the Bucks have not clinched the Central Division, they do hold a commanding 3.5-game lead over Chicago, in case that tiebreaker is needed at the end of the season. I agree to receive the "CBS Sports HQ Newsletter" and marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers), and other information from CBS Sports and the Paramount family of companies. The Celtics ran their offense to get Tatum into favorable matchups. Which team holds the tiebreakers over the other contenders? Giannis Antetokounmpo looked to help the Bucks advance, but a superstar performance from Jayson Tatum forced Game 7. The Sixers have three games against teams over .500 (Charlotte, Cleveland and Toronto) and four games against teams not only under .500 but all under .400 as they face Detroit and Indiana twice. 9:38 pm ET, at To get to Embiid's 30.4, Giannis would have to average over 47 points over his final two games. . For a team that has struggled to shoot the ball all series, that was a perfect time to find their shooting stroke. The Celtics led by 12 points at one point in the third quarter, but the Bucks made a huge run and hit several clutch shots late in the fourth quarter to take a 116-113 lead with 7.4 seconds remaining. But with Kevin Durant healthy and Kyrie Irving just cleared to play in home games, they are not a typical first round matchup for one of the top teams in the conference. 3 seed would be pretty important to each of these teams, as it would mean landing on the opposite side of the bracket from Phoenix, which would delay a potential matchup with the No. I agree to receive the "CBS Sports HQ Newsletter" and marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers), and other information from CBS Sports and the Paramount family of companies. Miss those and we're potentially talking about a. 2 seed would mean home-court advantage in a potential 2-3 second round series, which is a big deal with these teams so closely matched. In late January, after returning from the health and safety protocol and playing in eight straight games veteran guard George Hill appeared on the injury report with neck soreness. Again, all of this is moot if the Bucks just win their final two. Had a couple cortisone shots to see if itll work. 7 spot in the playoffs and a matchup with the No. 2 seed by way of the fourth tiebreaker if it beats Memphis and Milwaukee splits its final two. Will Russell Westbrook still be starting? There were plenty of reasons for the Celtics' collapse, a number of which have been detailed above. And so it went. The Sixers are in an interesting spot following Tuesday nights loss to the Bucks. If they split, and the Celtics win their final game against the Grizzlies, a complicated tiebreaker scenario between Boston and Milwaukee would activate. He played nearly 43 minutes and logged a plus-21. 2 seed and could rest their starters in that season finale. Theres only one problem with that: The road team has won four of the six games so far. Thats how the two 51-31 teams wound up seeded second and third, respectively, with the Bucks getting their preferred first-round clash with Chicago while the Celtics had to face Brooklyn (a presumably tougher foe at the time). If KD and Chris Paul can stay healthy, its hard to see this team losing. If they lose to the Bucks on Thursday, though, Milwaukee will own the tiebreaker and likely drop Boston to No. The . The Celtics (50-31) have one game left in Memphis on Sunday while the Bucks headed right to the airport to play Detroit on Friday and then wrap the regular season in Cleveland on Sunday for a matinee. 6. 2 seed. ET on Thursday, April 7. He shot 3-of-6 from beyond the arc Tuesday and has hit nine of his last 16 3-pointers. Instead, the Bucks were able to hang around. Miami has six games remaining in the regular season, with just two at home (they are 27-12 at home this season) and four on the road (21-16), including one back-to-back. The Celtics split their season with the Sixers (2-2) as the two also remain in contention for the Atlantic Division title with Boston holding a slim 0.5 game edge at this point. Holiday had seven points in that stretch, which pushed a 38-37 Bucks lead to 51-40 with 5:03 left in the half. After Portis put the Bucks ahead with 11.4 seconds remaining, the Celtics still had a chance to win the game or at least go back in front. Mike Muscala leads the Celtics with 10 points in the 1Q vs. the Bucks#bleedgreen pic.twitter.com/M5XZQZZTiy. CLUTCH HAUSER HITS THE 3 pic.twitter.com/m51ELo5Yvp Rather, it was that they resorted to the methodical and predictable late-game offense that plagued them early in the season. If a team settles for the No. Bucks: vs. Celtics, at Detroit, at Cleveland Sixers: at Toronto, vs. Indiana, vs. Detroit Boston has by far the hardest schedule, although the Grizzlies are locked into the Western Conference's No. First published on April 7, 2022 / 8:27 AM. To catch that number, Giannis would only need to average 37.4 over his final two. FantasyPros considers the best player values for DraftKings and FanDuel NBA DFS. Los Angeles Clippers. Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook's lines around the Bucks vs. Celtics odds, and make our expert NBA picks and predictions.. pic.twitter.com/nicRRPGuEF, Bruised. The Celtics launched 43 and made 17, with an 8-of-15 opening barrage. Boston has two games remaining -- Thursday in Milwaukee and Sunday in Memphis -- while the Bucks (vs. Celtics, at Detroit, at Cleveland) and 76ers (at Toronto, vs. Indiana, vs. Detroit) each have three. In the regular season and even in Milwaukees first-round series against Chicago, guard Grayson Allen was a helpful, pesky kind of player. Sometimes you miss shots, but that wasn't the issue for Boston. Milwaukees best offense in the series has come in transition. I spoke to a specialist; youre going to have pain playing with it no matter what," Hill said. The challenge for the Celtics will be trying to help White keep up this level of play when Smart is back in the lineup. Boston forced overtime with a high-arcing 3-pointer from Sam Hauser. The NBA's Noches ne B A celebration starts in March, where teams will commemorate fans and players across Latin American and U.S. Hispanic communities. Of course, there is another question that looms over this race in particular and its about a team that currently sits in eighth place in the conference and will likely need to go through the Play-In Tournament to secure its playoff spot the Brooklyn Nets. There are teams trying to get into the Play-In Tournament (7-10 seeds in each conference), there are teams trying to rise out of the Play-In and secure a guaranteed playoff spot (1-6 seeds in each conference), then there are the battles for playoff position, home-court advantage and securing tiebreakers that may be necessary come April 10. A win at home over Boston tonight would see the two teams level on overall record, but there are a plethora of tiebreaker scenarios up in the air before the season comes to an end. Well get guys some ice and shower and recovery and as a staff and a sports performance staff well visit about it and decide what we want to do given tomorrow nights game and a early game on Sunday.. Battled. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Bucks are 33-18and Boston is 33-19at the moment. Milwaukee Bucks (62-20) Boston Celtics (59-23) Philadelphia 76ers (55-27) Thats something we talked about, Tatum said. All Rights Reserved. @PicknSaveStores Photo of the Night pic.twitter.com/B4gn9HmX0H, AL HORFORD OUT OF NOWHERE pic.twitter.com/KUyuzYpU98, giannis with a three off the offensive rebound. 131. Its unstoppable.) Beautiful.. From our standpoint, from the players standpoint, we want to be healthy, playing our best basketball, Middleton said. 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