Free NBA Pick: Celtics vs. Bucks NBA Odds
Looking for Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks free NBA picks & NBA Odds? NBA betting sees the Celtics taking on the Bucks on Friday, May 13th, 2022 at Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Celtics Bucks matchup.
2022 NBA Playoffs Handicapping Round 2
(2-3) Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks (3-2)
Date: Friday, May 13th
Time: 7:30 PM (ET)
Venue: Fiserv Forum Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
NBA Moneyline Odds: Celtics +111 | Bucks -118 (Bet Now!)
NBA Betting Odds: Bucks -1.5
NBA Betting Total: 211
The first-round series between the two-seeded Boston Celtics and third-seed Milwaukee Bucks continues on Friday, May 13th, with the defending champions seeking to clinch their berth in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The teams split the 2021-22 season series 2-2. Boston holds the all-time advantage having won 114 times of the club’s 223 regular-season meetings.
This is the seventh occasion these clubs have met in the postseason with the Celtics also owning the advantage of winning five series although the Bucks took their last meeting in 2019 winning 4-1 in the semi-finals.
Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum has vacillated between strong outings and tough matches with the extra attention the Bucks are putting on him. In Game 5, he led the Celtics with 34 points, six rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a block but struggled from deep (2 of 11).
Jaylen Brown also had a strong offensive effort with 26 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
While Boston led by 14 points in the final frame they weren’t able to hang onto the lead and having to defend Giannis Antetokounmpo without Robert Williams available seemed to take a toll.
Specifically, Al Horford who registered a double-double of 22 points and 15 rebounds in Game 4 was held to eight points in Game 5 while Grant Williams was held scoreless.
Marcus Smart (15) and Daniel Theis (11) were the other double-figure scorers but the former made two mistakes at game end that were directly related to the loss.
Robert Williams (knee) is listed as day-to-day while Sam Hauser (shoulder) is expected to miss a few weeks.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Celtics Marcus Smart may have won the Defensive Player of the Year award but it was Jrue Holiday who offered the two biggest defensive plays of Game 5.
Smart was under the basket and appeared to be set up for a lay-in when Holiday came out of nowhere to block his shot and had the presence of mind to knock the ball off the Celtics guard out of bounds.
After Bobby Portis got the putback on a missed Antetokounmpo free throw to extend the Bucks’ lead to three Holiday again made a pivotal play by stealing the ball from Smart.
As noted it’s Antetokounmpo who seems to have the greater stamina and is wearing down the Celtics defenders. He served up another double-double of 40 points and 11 rebounds plus three assists, a steal, a block, and one very important 3-pointer at game end.
Holiday struggled from the field shooting 9 of 24 to collect 24 points adding eight rebounds, eight assists, a steal, and two blocks. While the Bucks guard wasn’t efficient he did connect on four of his seven 3-pointers.
Bobby Portis also had a big night serving up his own double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds including seven on the offensive glass. Pat Connaughton added 13 points as the other double-figure scorer.
Khris Middleton (knee) is out indefinitely.
NBA Betting Trends:
- Boston is 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games.
- Milwaukee is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games at home.
- The total has gone OVER in 13 of Boston’s last 20 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Milwaukee’s last 10 games.
- The Celtics are 6-0-1 ATS in their last 7 games as a road underdog.
- The Bucks are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a favorite.
Free Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks NBA Prediction
Key categories continued to be a factor in Game 5 as the Bucks won rebounding and had a major advantage on the offensive glass (16 to 5) which led to second-chance scoring opportunities.
Boston won both the fast break scoring (15-7) and points in the paint (50-44) but it seemed like the Bucks simply wore down the Celtics as they won the final frame 33 to 21.
Once again, the team who won the perimeter held the advantage and in Game 5 it was the Bucks who shot 44.8% (13 of 29) versus the Celtics shooting 32.3% and hitting three fewer long balls (10 of 31).
This series hasn’t followed the typical pattern of home teams winning with three of the five games being won by the road squad. The Celtics will try to extend that trend as and force a Game 7 back in Boston.
And while the Celtics looked fatigued at game end on Wednesday, they’ll be the more desperate team and it just feels like this series is meant to go the distance.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Celtics +1.5
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