Bucks V. Celtics Preview: A Series for the Ages

When the Milwaukee Bucks finished off the Chicago Bulls in five games with little resistance on Wednesday night, all of us NBA fanatics had one thing on our minds, a series matchup with the Boston Celtics.

The matchup already has fans excited, nervous, and ready for the first game on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. However, before this highly anticipated seven game duel tips off there are a few storylines that need to be previewed…

How does Boston stop Giannis

I think it has been a long time coming that Giannis should be recognized as the league’s best and most unstoppable player. After a four year period where Giannis racked up back to back MVP’s, multiple All-NBA selections, a defensive player of the year, and the cherry on top, a finals ring and MVP trophy, there should be no one else that rivals him for that claim. However, the Celtics just proved they are not afraid of anyone with that type of recognition, after sweeping KD, Kyrie, and the Nets they fear no one. But, Giannis is a completely different beast than KD and Kyrie combined and he never stops working or competing. The only hope a team like Boston has for containing a superstar like the Greek Freak is either getting him in foul trouble, something he’s gotten a lot better at avoiding since his entry into the league, or praying to the heavens that he gets injured. Knowing this, head coach Ime Udoka and the C’s should take a more realistic defensive approach by trying to stop Giannis’s supporting cast. A task that is not as easy as it might seem as that group includes the highly underrated Jrue Holiday, two value guys in Grayson Allen and Bobby Portis, and a soon to return Khris Middleton. The Celtics are the best defensive team in the NBA, no questions asked, but this Bucks group in the playoffs is built like no other team the Celtics have faced before.

will Tatum continue to Shine

After averaging approximately 30 points and 7 assists a game against the Nets in round one, NBA fans are clamoring to see if Jayson Tatum will continue to escalate past stardom and into superstardom, something that can only be achieved by success at the highest stage, and that stage will certainly be set in this first round. As Tatum goes, so do the Celtics, and with Jayson continuing to score at a prolific rate, as he’s done thus far, and facilitate at a rate better than anyone could have predicted, this Celtics team should look to go far while Tatum continues to stay hot.

How many games does the series last

The short answer is seven, that’s also the one that I’m sure every NBA fan is rooting for too so they can get a full dose of this great matchup. But with that aside I can’t see this series being over before six games, these teams are just too good to get swept or lose in five games. But, I think the series will follow a pattern of last years tantalizing second round matchup where the two best teams in the east, like this year (Brooklyn and Milwaukee) met and dueled in an incredibly intense series that happened to have one of the single best basketball games I’ve watched. This series can and will go to a seventh game before a winner is decided, the two best teams in the conference will not be ousted in less then seven games in my opinion.

Final thoughts and predictions

This will be hands down the best series this years playoffs will have to offer, and every single game will be hotly contested as both these squads have great defensives. I know I’m excited to tune into every single game this series has to offer, as I’m sure each one will carry its own finals level intensity. Ultimately, I like the Bucks to win in seven. This Celtics team is better than anyone thinks they are, and they are a hard team to bet against, but Giannis is undoubtedly the best player in the world and it’s harder to bet against a talent like him in a seven game series