On May 1, Beijing time, expert Dalton Sell wrote an article detailing the five major pairs of Celtics and Bucks, looking forward to this series.
1. Gvi and Horford defend the alphabet brother
This is the most important alignment, no one can defend the alphabet brother alone, it is foreseeable that the alphabet brother will encounter two or even three people in this round of the series, but the main players with him should be Grant Williams and Al Horford.
This season, the Gwe defensive alphabet brother accounted for 62.4% of the team's rounds, the highest in the team. Brother Alphabet faced him, 4-of-10 shooting, and scored 10 points, including 3 times outside the three-point line. In addition to Gwe, veteran Horford will share the pressure on his defence.
2. Smart defends Holliday
Smart rewrote history this year, becoming the first defender to win best defensive player since Payton in 1996. In Middleton's absence, Holliday became another major offensive point for the Bucks, and Smart's defense of Holliday became quite important.
The two had plenty of time to play each other in the regular season, with Smart defending Holliday accounting for 70.2 percent of the team's round. Holliday faced him on 5-of-10 shooting, with 12 points and six assists and just two turnovers. In the first round of the series against the Bulls, Holliday averaged 16.4 points per game and shot 34.5% from three-point range. I believe that this encounter, Smart will not make the opponent feel relaxed.
3. Holliday defends Tatum
The Bucks' number one candidate for Tatum is Holliday, who defended Tatum 95.6 percent of the team's rounds in the regular season, with Tatum facing Holliday on 6-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-9 from three-point range, 18 points. In addition, Tatum also made 3 mistakes.
In the first round of the series, the Bulls players faced Holliday defense on 21-of-68 shooting, including 6-of-21 from LaVine and 8-of-21 from DeRozan. Players who defended opponents on at least 30 shots in the playoffs, Holliday limited opponents to the best shooting percentage in the league, shooting only 30.9% from the field.
4. Matthews defends Brown
After Middleton's injury, Matthews was the team's starter and he played an important role on the defensive end. This round, he is likely to take on the role of defending Brown. In the regular season, Matthews defended Brown for 37.6 percent of the team's rounds. Brown faced him on 4-of-8 shooting and scored 10 points.
However, in the first round of the series, Matthews defended well, and DeRozan faced him with 11 of 29 shooting, scoring only 33 points. Matthews' tireless defense caused Great Trouble for DeRozan.
5. Lowe defends Big Lo/Portis
Lowe is one of the league's best defensive interiors this season, and in the regular season, Big Lo was absent for a long time, with limited time for the two to play. However, Lowe and Portis have been in a long position, and he defended Portis for 72.7% of the team's rounds. Against Lowe, Portis scored 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting, but lost all six long-range shots.
This round down, Big Lo and Portis' outside three-pointers will be the Bucks' regular weapon. Both had good three-point performances in the first round, with Da luo shooting 33.3 percent from three-point range and Portis shooting 36 percent from three-point range.