NBA Christmas: Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Boston Celtics head for Milwaukee to face the NBA champions, the Bucks. This is one of five NBA Christmas games, and arguably the most interesting for many of the fans. The basketball community is still questioning whether the Cs can bounce back and start playing as expected. So far, Tatum, Brown, and the company have been underachieving greatly, and apparently, the chemistry in the team is damaged. On the other hand, despite all the absences, the Bucks are pushing well. We need to point out that their decision to sign Boogie Cousins is one of the best moves in the entire league.

Preview

Boston Celtics (16-16, +260) have subsequent wins and losses in the past five matches. To make this worse, all of them took place at the TD Garden, meaning that the Cs missed a nice chance to make their record much better and go a few places up the ladder in the East standings.

The most recent meeting they had was against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it ended with a 111-101 win for Ime Udoka’s unit. The Cs limited the guests from Ohio to only 39.1% of shooting from the field, which was the main reason for the victory.

Jaylen Brown scored 34 points and had six boards, while Robert Williams III posted a double-double with 21 buckets, 11 boards, and even had seven assists. Tatum was a bit slower, with 18 buckets, grabbing nine boards and adding five assists. All of the Cs players played in this event.

Milwaukee Bucks (21-13, -300) posted back-to-back triumphs, even though Giannis wasn’t available. The Greek Freak is in health and safety protocols, but the Bucks have propper replacements for him, as well as Bobby Portis, who is also unavailable.

Of course, we are talking about DeMarcus Cousins, who played very well in the past few games, reminding us all how big of a talent he has. In the latest victory, against the Dallas Mavericks on the road, 102-95, Boogie dropped 22 points, had eight boards and four assists, all that in 28 minutes on the floor.

The other two superstars, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday were at their usual level. Middleton had 26 points with seven assists and five boards, while Holiday scored 24 buckets having seven assists and five rebounds. These three guys were the only ones with double-digit points among the Bucks.

Head to Head Games

These two teams already played twice this year, and surprisingly for many, the Cs have won both matchups. The first one was after an OT, 122-113, while the second ended 117-103 for Boston. Both took place at the TD Garden.

Prediction

Even without Giannis, the Bucks are looking better and more consistent than the Cs. Plus, in the past few games, we’ve seen that Cousins plays at the top level, and easily covers up all the gaps inside and around the paint. The Bucks are a defensively better team than the upcoming rivals, and that is another reason why we believe that the champions won’t have trouble solving this matchup in their favor. It would be a big surprise to see the Celtics beating them three times in a row.

Pick: Bucks Win

Here are the previews for other NBA Christmas games.

Warriors and the Suns

Nets vs. Lakers