Are The Bucks Overachieving Through The First 14 Games?
Review The Bucks vs Celtics Betting Trends For ESPN's First Game on Wednesday
The Milwaukee Bucks will hit the road to take on the Boston Celtics in an intriguing Eastern Conference matchup on ESPN.
The Bucks are sitting at 10-4 on the NBA season and are currently on a five-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Celtics are 11-3 but just watched their winning streak end against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
Boston has a couple of key basketball players listed as game-time decisions for this game. Will that affect the Celtics in their home game against the Bucks?
The Celtics are currently -4.5 against the spread, with the total for this NBA game at 236.
Will Milwaukee continue its winning streak, or will the Celtics return to the winning column?
Take a look at the Bucks vs Celtics betting trends for ESPN’s midweek Eastern Conference matchup.
Bucks vs Celtics 
Day/Time:
Location: TD Garden
Streaming: ESPN
Bucks vs Celtics Betting Trends
The Bucks might be 10-4 on the season. However, Milwaukee has only gone 5-8-1 against the spread this year. The Bucks are in danger of falling to .500 on the road, sitting at 4-3 on the season away from home.
However, the Bucks have hit the Over in nine of 14 games so far this 2023-2024 NBA season. The Over has hit in Milwaukee’s last two games.
On the other hand, the Celtics are 5-0 at home straight up. They’re also 6-6-2 NBA against the spread, despite having an 11-3 record.
Meanwhile, the total has reached the Under in seven of 14 basketball games. The Over has hit in six games, and one total was pushed and voided. The Celtics defeated the Bucks last time out, 140-99, on March 30, 2023. The Celtics were two-point underdogs and won that game by over 40 points. But both NBA teams were very different a year ago compared to now.
Jrue Holiday’s Reunion
The Milwaukee Bucks shared some great memories with Jrue Holiday. Holiday and the Bucks won a Championship together. But that didn’t stop the Bucks from dealing Holiday to the Boston Celtics in a multi-team deal to land Damian Lillard from the Trail Blazers.
Before this game, the media asked some of the Bucks’ players about seeing Holiday in a different uniform in this game.
Bobby Portis said it would be awkward. Meanwhile, Khris Middleton said that it’ll be weird.
Holiday meant a lot to the Milwaukee program. But landing Lillard was the only way to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo happy. This will be a fun reunion for Holiday and the Bucks.
Boston’s Embarrassing Loss to Charlotte
In the NBA off-season, Jayson Tatum talked to a group of kids about making it into the NBA. He tried to share what it takes to succeed and get to the top.
In that speech, he name-dropped the Hornets and said that when the Celtics play the Hornets on a Monday night on League Pass, you still have to go through the motions and work hard, even when nobody’s watching.
It all came in full circle.
The Celtics lost to the Hornets in overtime on Monday night, 121-118. That was only Boston’s third loss of the season.
While there were some clock issues, the Celtics should’ve never allowed this game to be as close as it was.
Milwaukee’s Defense Needs Work!
The Milwaukee Bucks are 10-4 on the season. However, the defense hasn’t played at a high level this year. Instead, the Bucks have allowed 116.6 points per 100 possessions, the 24th in the NBA this season.
The defense has also added only 12.6% of turnovers on the year. That’s good for just 27th in the NBA. Beyond that, basketball teams are shooting an effective field goal percentage of 54.1% and earning nearly 28% of offensive rebounds against the Bucks this season.
Milwaukee has limited foul shots. But that’s about all they’ve done well consistently through the first 14 games this season.
Meanwhile, the Celtics have scored 118.8 points per 100 possessions while shooting an effective field goal percentage of 56.5%. Both of those rates are top-five in the NBA. The Celtics are also top-five in turnover percentage offensively, giving the ball up just 13.3% of the time.
The Celtics don’t typically dominate the glass and won’t get to the foul line at a high rate. But the rebounding will improve if Al Horford and Derrick White are back in the lineup for this game.
On the other hand, the Celtics are one of the NBA’s best defensive teams. Boston won’t earn a high rate of turnovers, but the Celtics are just as good as the Bucks at limiting foul shots. The Celtics have also limited teams to 25.2% of offensive rebounds.
That’s critical, knowing the Bucks have earned only 23.8% of offensive rebounds this season.
The Bucks are shooting the ball effectively and scoring at a high rate. Still, the Celtics have played some of the best defense in the NBA this year.
This could be the matchup that we see in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Both teams will be on the NBA schedule playoffs.
However, per the Bucks vs Celtics betting trends, one of our NBA picks today includes the Celtics at -3.5.
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