Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics playoff series will be a grind

The Milwaukee Bucks will have to go through the Boston Celtics next in their quest to repeat as NBA Champions.

It will not be an easy playoff series. Then again, no one said winning a championship would be easy. We saw that last season.

The Celtics are playing their best basketball, and Boston might be the best team in the NBA right now.

They are 24-6 in their last 30 games and swept the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The Celtics barely broke a sweat in that series against a team that features Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Making the road even tougher to travel is that the Milwaukee Bucks will have to play without All-Star Khris Middleton.

Middleton suffered the knee injury in Game 2 during the first-round series against the Chicago Bulls.

Middleton was outstanding in last year’s playoffs. He had a great Eastern Conference semifinals against the Nets. He was exceptional in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks when the Bucks were missing Giannis Antetokounmpo for the last two games.

Middleton was the go-to player in crunch time, so the Milwaukee Bucks will have to rely more on Giannis in tight games.

The Milwaukee Bucks can still advance against the Boston Celtics without Middleton, but it will not be easy

The defensive effort shown against the Bulls will have to be there in the semifinals. If the Milwaukee Bucks play defense like they did in the regular season, they will be looking at an exit from the playoffs.

The Bucks were 14th in the league in defensive rating and 15th in points allowed. The defense has gotten much better in the playoffs as the Bucks have the best defensive rating in the league right now at 94.4.

Boston averaged 111.8 points per game during the season, good for 12th in the NBA. They had the eighth best effective field goal percentage in the league.

The reason the Bucks’ defense will have to be extra sharp is because Boston’s defense will make it difficult for Milwaukee to score. Boston was the second-best defense in the NBA this year in points allowed and defensive rating.

That is why this series will be a grind

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to be a dynamic duo for the Celtics. Tatum averaged 29.3 points per game in the first round of the playoffs.

The Celtics also have Al Horford back, and he knows how to slow down Giannis Antetokounmpo on offense. Also, not having Middleton available means Giannis will have to take the majority of guarding Tatum or Brown. That means Giannis will have to exert more energy than normal, and that could affect his offense.

The Milwaukee Bucks are going to need Giannis at his absolute best.

The Celtics feature Marcus Smart, who won NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He has the ability to give Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen a hard time on offense.

How can the Bucks cool off the Celtics?

The Bucks come into the series as the underdog, according to the Wynn Sportsbook. The Celtics also have the home-court advantage that also plays into their favor.

The Milwaukee Bucks have the championship mettle. Last year they went through a grinder of a series with the Nets in the semifinals. They then had to get by the hottest playoff teams in the Hawks and the Phoenix Suns.

Being battle-tested will help the Bucks. Also, they won those series with Middleton, so they will need other players to step up.

Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton have to shoot like they did in Games 3-5 in the first round. If they shoot as they did in Games 1-2, the Milwaukee Bucks could be looking at an early exit.

Bobby Portis has to continue to play well, and Brook Lopez has to splash a couple of threes.

Giannis or Holiday will have to make buckets in crunch time. The Bucks will have to be stout defensively to win in seven. This matchup has a playoff classic written all over it, and it will be whoever is left standing in Game 7 that will advance.