Despite a flurry of reports piggybacking of an original report by The Athletic that Khris Middleton had been officially ruled out for the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Milwaukee Bucks weren’t making any such declaration as they prepared to take on the Boston Celtics in the best-of-seven affair which gets underway at noon Sunday in Boston.
Middleton has been sidelined since spraining his left MCL late in Game 2 of Milwaukee’s first-round series against the Bulls. The team said at the time that Middleton would be re-evaluated in two weeks and head coach Mike Budenholzer said Thursday that the plan hadn’t changed.
“There’s nothing new on his timeline,” Milwaukee head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “When we have something to update you with, we will. So, there’s nothing new.”
Which means regardless of Middleton’s long-term availablity, he won’t be on the floor for either of the Bucks’ first two games against the Celtics, putting the onus on his teammates to help make up the 20.1 points he averaged in 66 regular season contests.
“We all accept the responsibility,” center Brook Lopez said. “We’re all ready to score, ready to step up. Like I said earlier, it’s going to be different every different night, whoever it is. I think we’re all ready for that challenge.”
Middleton has firmly established himself as Milwaukee’s No.2 scoring option behind Antetokounmpo but his absence will be most noticeable on the defensive end where he finished the regular season with a 112.1 rating — the third-best mark of his career.
“I do think he’s underrated in what he does defensively, including in big stretches of games, important moments, guarding the best wing,” Budenholzer said. He takes a lot of pride in being a good defender. Also a little bit underrated, his size, he just does a lot of things, gets hits, gets rebounds, can start the break from a rebound. And he’s smart. He’s a good communicator. I think he helps guys out there. He sees and feels things at a high level defensively. There’s lots of things we miss on that end of the court.”
The Bucks aren’t strangers to playing shorthanded. A rash of early injuries and battles with the COVID-19 protocol forced Milwaukee to adjust to playing without its full roster for much of the first half of the season, with Middleton himself missing a significant portion of time due to a positive test and then a knee injury.
Milwaukee went 7-9 during the regular season without Middleton, averaging 110.8 points in those 16 contests. And they fared well without him against the Bulls, too, averaging 115.4 points while allowing just 92.0 over the series’ final three games.
“I think our defense has stepped up,” Bucks guard Wesley Matthews said ahead of Milwaukee’s series-clinching, 116-110 victory in Game 5. “Everybody’s stepped up in his absence. Obviously you can’t just have one person fill what Khris does. Khris is an all-NBA player, he’s an all-star, he’s all that. And, the team is going to have to be there in his loss. And (defense) gives us the best option to do that, the best way to do that and play against a non-set defense, play in transition and keep that ball flying across the perimeter, driving, attack, close out, share and make winning plays.”
Of course, the stakes this time are just slightly higher and the opponent a bit more formidable.
Boston brings a 13-game winning streak into Game 1 after sweeping Brooklyn in the first round and led the NBA with a 106.6 defensive rating during the regular season thanks in large part to the work of Marcus Smart, who was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.
On offense, Boston averaged 113.5 points per game against Brooklyn with Jaylen Brown leading the way by averaging a postseason career-high 23.1 points.
“It’s the playoffs,” Budenholzer said. “Every round is new challenges. Each team is unique and players are unique and different. Hopefully just I think the activity, the competitiveness it took against a really good Chicago team, you’ve got to take that and apply it and be our best going against Boston.”
The Bucks and Celtics split their four regular season meetings with each team winning its two home contests.
Eastern Conference Semifinals
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) Milwaukee Bucks
- Game 1 (at Boston): Sunday, Noon (ABC)
- Game 2 (at Boston) — Tuesday, at Boston (TBA)
- Game 3 (at Milwaukee) — Saturday, at Milwaukee (TBA)
- Game 4 (at Milwaukee) — Monday, May 9 (TBA)
- Game 5* (at Boston) — Wednesday, May 11 (TBA)
- Game 6* (at Milwaukee)— Friday, May 13* (TBA)
- Game 7 (at Boston) — Sunday May 15* (TBA)
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