Milwaukee Bucks: 5 keys to second round series vs. Celtics

4. Bucks’ defense holding up

This may seem obvious, but it’s important in what might become a defensive slugfest. Slowing down the Pistons, especially with a hobbled Blake Griffin who only played two games, is a lot easier than slowing down Irving and a Celtics squad that has multiple players that can put up 30 points on any given night. The Bucks were the NBA’s best defensive team this season, but when they lost, they gave up more than 100 points in all but one of their losses.

The Celtics were the 10th-best team in the NBA this season on the offensive end of the floor, and they can get hot any night. Hayward, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are all scorers at heart that can put points up at will at times. If each of them is feeling it, can the Bucks slow all of them down? Irving is going to be a nightmare we’ll cover later, but the role players can cause havoc if the team is focused on stopping Irving while the others do all the damage.

The Bucks take a ton of 3s, but if those shots aren’t falling, is the defense going to be able to keep them in the game? If not, they could easily drop a game or two to be down in a hurry. If they can keep up their league-leading defensive play from this season though, they have a great chance of moving on.