The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks go head to head in a deciding game seven on Saturday night to see who will make it into the second round of the NBA playoffs. The series is tied 3-3 so far, and the home team has won every single game, so if the Bucks want to make it into the second round, they will have to break the six-game trend we have seen in this series so far. From what we have seen so far when this young Celtics team is on their home court, that doesn’t appear to be likely.
The winning margins have been six, 14 and five so far for the Celtics when playing at home, and that trend can continue here. While we have seen the Bucks play well on their home court, including when they won by an impressive 24 point margin in game three, they have failed to match those performances when travelling to Boston.
One thing going in the favour of the Bucks is that they will be able to approach this game without any pressure on them, that is firmly on the Celtics right now. They are the highest seed in this one, and the team expected to deliver, there is a lot of talk about this Celtics team not only this year but also for many years to come and this could be the first playoff run that this team embarks on. They are sure to learn a lot, and the deeper they go this season, the more it will benefit them down the line.
The Celtics are missing many of their star players, so their playoff run will eventually come to an end, it is highly unlikely they will go on to win a championship. However, they do have enough in the locker to beat the Bucks in round one and progress to the next round. We have seen them struggle on the road, but that is exactly what the Bucks have also done, so home court advantage can decide this and that means the Celtics will come out on top. With the Bucks needing to push hard late on, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Celtics win this one with ease in the end, and I am taking them to win this game by a margin of 8-12 points.
