On April 28, the first group of teams in the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals was released, namely the Bucks, who had just eliminated the Bulls, and the "Green Army" Celtics, who swept the Nets a day earlier. The start time of the first match between the two sides has also been determined, and will start in the early morning of May 2 at the TD North Shore Garden Arena in Boston. With the Celtics outperforming the Bucks in the regular season, the Green Army sits on home field advantage. From the comparative analysis of the strength of the two sides' squads, recent status, injuries and other aspects, this will be a fierce and suspenseful series, and even whoever wins will become the hottest team to win the championship this season. Although it is difficult to predict the outcome, the main theme of the Celtics "Twin Star" Tatum and Jaylen Brown vs . "Alphabet Brother" Giannis Antetokounmpo will not change, and in the end, the Celtics have a slightly better chance of struggling to qualify, and the series will at least play game six.
The Celtics and Bucks are ranked second and third in the East of the regular season, and at the end of the regular season, the Celtics have not relaxed, but fought with all their might, and now understand why they are doing this, a higher ranking, you can win one more home advantage, and in the playoffs, especially in the semifinals, this critical stage, standing in the familiar arena, there is support, encouragement and shouting from the fans, the heart is steady, when the scene is evenly matched, the time and place are favorable and may be able to add some weight to the balance of victory. Now, this favorable condition on both sides belongs to the Celts.
The two teams have played each other four times in the regular season, winning two games each. But one of the biggest destabilizing factors has emerged, coming from the Bucks. The team's "second boss" Middleton, because of the sprain of the medial collateral ligament of the left knee in the second round of the playoffs with the Bulls, the recovery from the injury is not optimistic, the time is longer than expected, it is likely to be unable to play in the entire semifinals, which has a huge impact on the team, and the offensive organization is missing a key link. If the Bucks can't pass the Celtics, Middleton will have to wait until next season to come back, and it's really not the right time for him to be injured. As for the Celtics, the composition of the main framework players are basically healthy, and they all performed vividly against the Nets in the first round of the playoffs. From this point of view alone, the Bucks are unfavorable.
Tatum is in the limelight
Compared with the leaders of the two teams, the Celtics are Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum, the two players are the 2016 and 2017 draft tanhua, known as the "Green Army double probing flower", just look at this name is quite scary, their performance in recent seasons is indeed worthy of their draft status when they entered the league, there are not many players who are stronger than them in the same period. In particular, Tatum, young and energetic, can often play the key man in the game, and the first round of the playoffs against the Nets showed his strong psychological quality and excellent skills. In the four games between the Celtics and bucks in the regular season, Tatum played three of them, averaging 31.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, shooting 47.1% from the field and 44.4% from 3-point range, all of which were higher than the season average. That is to say, he will burst out of greater energy and confidence when the team needs himself most in key games, which is worthy of the trust of fans and teams.
There is no doubt about the ability of "Alphabet Brother" Antetokounmpo, who is even hailed as the best player in the league today, and he is the strongest guarantee that the Bucks won the championship last season and this season all the way to this day and successfully passed the first round of the playoffs. His performance against other teams is not much to say, just look at the data in the regular season against the Celtics, "Alphabet Brother" also played in 3 of them, averaging 28.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, shooting 53.4%, but the 3-point shooting rate was 0% (0 of 9), and all four data were lower than the season average.
Alphabet Brother shoulders a heavy responsibility
In these three games, Antetokounmpo scored well, shooting higher than Tatum, and his strong body made him more comfortable when attacking close to the basket, but when he had to shoot outside, his long-range shots that he was not good at were a bit of a drag. Defense and pressing for key players are precisely the Celtics' strengths. In the first round of the playoffs, even Durant, a superstar known as the "God of Death" on the court, was tortured by the "Green Army" to greatly reduce its power. The defensive strategy against Antetokounmpo has long been built in the mind of "Green Army" coach Udoka.
The overall feeling is that in this upcoming Eastern Conference semifinals series, the Bucks are slightly careless, the possibility of being eliminated is slightly greater, and it is difficult to achieve the defense of the title. And the team that wins in the end will be the strongest contender for the championship this season.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin