Milwaukee Bucks: Breaking Down Their Remaining Schedule
Season Finale In Boston
The final game of the season for Milwaukee is one that could have fascinating implications for both teams involved. The Bucks will travel to the TD Garden in Boston for the second time in as many weeks to face the Celtics.
For Milwaukee, the baseline may be making the playoffs. Depending on how things go over the next few weeks, the simple math may be that Milwaukee just needs a win. A Boston team playing at its normal level is a tall, but not insurmountable, foe.
The Bucks took the Celtics to overtime in their first and only meeting earlier this season.
The Celtics may not be playing at that level, however, if they are locked into their seed and resting stars for the postseason. A Boston team playing without Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford and Jae Crowder is a very different sort of foe and one a locked-in Milwaukee squad should roll right over.
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The fascinating wrinkles come if Milwaukee is assured of a playoff spot, but these two teams are lined up to play each other. Both teams may wish to both rest their players and not give the other team a hint of their strategies to overcome them.
This could happen with anything from a 1-8 matchup to a 3-6 matchup, as both teams are currently in fungible positions with their seeding.
There is even the twist of the two teams deciding if they want to play each other. A scenario where if Boston wins they avoid a team — be that Milwaukee, Miami, Detroit — could play a role in whether the Celtics push hard for a win.
Would Milwaukee be a team the Celtics want to play or avoid?
If Milwaukee enters the final night of the season in position to make the playoffs, they will have done their job well over the next four weeks. For a team that was once reeling and losing sight of the playoff race to be in this position with four weeks to go is an accomplishment already.
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But it is an accomplishment that means little to this team if they don’t close the deal. The next step comes Wednesday in Los Angeles as Milwaukee seeks a season sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers.