Celtics at Bucks – NBA Predictions: On Saturday the Milwaukee Bucks host NBA Atlantic Division champs the Boston Celtics (8:30 p.m. Eastern) at the Bradley Center. These two teams will see plenty of each other in the coming days as Boston, will probably be playing the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs beginning next week. But the Bucks are now forced to forge ahead without Center Andrew Bogut, who took a tumble last week and is down and out for the season with a mangled arm.
This is an important game for both teams, not only because both are in a battle for playoff seeding, but because the probability of them meeting each other in the first round of the playoffs is relatively high. In fact, if the playoffs began today, they would be first round opponents.
If that's how the seedings fall when the NBA schedule ends next week, these two teams will be plenty familiar with each other. Ironically, they're scheduled to meet each other twice in the final five days of the season, once in Milwaukee (tonight) and once in Boston (Wednesday).
The teams have split their season series entering tonight's game, as both have notched wins on their home court. Milwaukee won the latest matchup, an 86-84 thriller on March 9 that took place in the Bradley Center, the site of tonight's game. Boston's win came all the way back on Dec. 8 in the Garden, when they took down the Bucks by a score of 98-89 thanks to Rajon Rondo's near-triple-double.
After the injury to Andrew Bogut, the Bucks have called on 14-year NBA veteran Kurt Thomas—and he’s answered the call in a big way. In his three starts at center, Thomas is averaging 6.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals per game. Thomas has set a season-high in each of his last three starts, grabbing 14 boards against Chicago on 4/6, scoring 12 points versus New Jersey on 4/7 and dishing out four assists last night in Philadelphia. Thomas also tied a season-best with three blocks last night. The Bucks have won all three of the games that Thomas has started at center and are 5-0 in the last four games that he’s logged 25 or more minutes (6-2 this season).
The Celtics were defeated 106-96 by the Wizards last time out, as 11-point favorites at home. The 202 points made it OVER the posted total of 195. Rajon Rondo had 17 points with six rebounds and 12 assists in the loss.
Carlos Delfino poured in a game-high 23 points to help the Bucks defeat the 76ers 95-90 on Friday. The Bucks failed to cover the 5-point spread, while the teams played UNDER the posted total of 193. Luke Ridnor netted 18 points for the Bucks, and Brandon Jennings chipped in with 16 points in the win.
NBA Picks: The Celtics are still playing for keeps and should have an advantage over the Bucks with Bogut missing. Take Boston +1.
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