The Boston Celtics finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but injuries have oddsmakers wondering how far they can go. The Celtics have been without star Gordon Hayward for nearly the entire season and also won’t have star Kyrie Irving the rest of the way. Boston should still be favored in the first round and it will be interesting to see how well it plays against the No. 7 seed Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee was able to knock off Boston recently and that could give the Bucks confidence to pull out the series upset. This is one of the more intriguing first-round matchups in the East as the Bucks will have the best player on the court.
The Celtics should be the choice to move on to the second round but it could be a struggle in NBA basketball wagering.
Game 1 of this NBA Playoff Series will be held at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for every game of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.
Odds Analysis
Boston finished with a better record than everyone but the Raptors in the Eastern Conference but it has worse odds to advance to the NBA Finals than Toronto, the Cleveland Cavaliers and also the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Celtics went 55-27 this season with a record of 50-30-2 against the spread. Boston went 22-17-2 against the spread at home this year. The Celtics are 30-25-2 attempting to cover as the favorite on the year.
The Bucks finished the regular season with a record of 44-38 straight up and 35-46-3 against the spread. Milwaukee has gone 22-18-1 against the spread on the road this year. The Bucks are 15-18-1 against the spread as the underdog.
Injury Report
Irving was hoping to get back for the playoffs but a knee injury has ended his year. He joined Boston this offseason and was a key piece in the team’s fantastic regular season but his absence has really curbed the Celtics’ high-end potential.
Irving averaged 24.4 points, 5.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds per contest. He shot 49.1 percent from the field and 40.8 percent from three-point range. The Celtics are a good defensive team and have nice depth, but the loss of Irving takes away their offense-starter and superstar.
It will be interesting to see if Boston can overcome the loss of Irving as well as Hayward early and make a postseason run.
Previous Meetings
The Celtics and the Bucks met four times during the regular season and split the victories in those games. Milwaukee won the most recent matchup on April 3rd, albeit against a depleted Boston lineup.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with a double-double in that game as the Bucks beat the the Celtics, who were without Irving, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Shane Larkin, 106-102. The Bucks also won the first matchup of the year between these teams, behind another big double-double from Antetokounmpo, on October 18th.
The Celtics beat the Bucks in a low-scoring affair a couple weeks later on October 26th and then again on December 4th, winning 111-100 at home. Antetokounmpo had 40 points in that December 4th loss and, now without Irving, Boston will have to do a much better job limiting the superstar in this series.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The Celtics could be living on borrowed time because of these injuries. The Bucks have a decent team but it’s not great, and in this situation Boston still has enough talent to come away with the series win and move on to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The home court advantage in the seventh game is big because it might take Boston that long to clinch this series. Take the Celtics in seven in one of the most competitive series of the first round in NBA basketball betting lines.
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