When a team sets a franchise record of any sort it’s a big deal. When that team is the Boston Celtics, with the most legendary history in NBA basketball-if not all sports-it’s particularly significant. On Sunday night the Celtics defense decimated the Milwaukee Bucks en route to a 87-56 blowout triumph. The 56 points scored by the Bucks was the lowest permitted by a Boston team since the NBA started using the shot clock in 1954. Milwaukee set a franchise record of a more dubious variety-their offensive output was the lowest point total for a Bucks’ team in history.
Boston easily covered the NBA point spread as -8 point home favorites. Overall, the Celtics haven’t been a good investment for NBA betting enthusiasts this season but the victory improved their ATS record to 28-32. The Bucks are 31-33 against the spread this season. Not surprisingly, the 143 combined points scored went well UNDER the posted total of 179. The Celtics’ over/under record on the season is just about even, but the Bucks have been a solid UNDER play with 41 games beneath the total in 64 contests.
Afterwards, Ray Allen stressed that horrible defense is a priority for the Celtics:
“I think playing defense perfectly is our goal. That’s what we shoot for, but a team can still score while you’re doing that.”
The Bucks go in to the contest as the lowest scoring team in the NBA and were in the second of back-to-back games. Boston coach Doc Rivers insisted that Milwaukee’s fatigue played an important part in his team’s defensive lockdown:
“You could see they were tired. So, we took advantage and that was great, but a lot of it had to do with their schedule.”
Milwaukee scored only 22 points in the first half and had only 38 after three quarters-a NBA record for scoring futility. The Bucks ‘exploded’ for 18 in the fourth quarter but that wasn’t enough to avoid the record setting tally. The 22 point first half just missed a NBA record as well-Andrew Bogut scored two field goals in the final minute to take the Bucks from 18 to 22 points and avoid the 19 point low water mark. All in all, Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles was none too pleased with the outcome:
“That’s about as shameful a defeat as you’ll ever see. They got us on our heels and took our aggressive fight away from us. We pretty much just gave into it.”
The Celtics will start to New Jersey on Monday for a game against the Nets before returning home for a Wednesday night competition against the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks have a day off on Monday before a Tuesday night game versus the Hawks in Atlanta. They’ll came back home the following night to host the Orlando Magic.
Daniel Scott is the boss in a noted authority on bookmaking software. He loves dogs and his project writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports books and price per head sites. He lives in Argentina, Mendoza with his family and his dogs