The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks are on a collision course to meet in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals.
Don't believe us? Well, why don't you take that up with ESPN, who is already prognosticating the potential matchup with games left on the NBA's regular-season schedule.
The Bucks and Celtics are locked in to the Eastern Conference's No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, putting them on track to eventually meet with an NBA Finals berth on the line. Of course, both teams have to get there first. Milwaukee and Boston will meet the two teams who eventually come out of the third-annual play-in tournament in the conference, before taking on the winners of the 3-6 and 4-5 matchups should they come out on top in round one.
Despite all of that, there are some who are already planning and giving their opinions on the potential Bucks-Celtics matchup.
"I like the Bucks. Slightly!" ESPN analyst Tim Legler said on "Get Up!" on Thursday. "I think that's got seven games written all over it and the fact that the Bucks would have home court is a major difference. They didn't last year and Boston went in (to Fiserv Forum) and won Game 6 in which Jayson Tatum had 46 points and then clinched it at home. Now Milwaukee would be able to do that on (its) home court."
Legler didn't dismiss how good the Celtics are, though. In fact, he heaped praise on both squads while simultaneously dunking on the Philadelphia 76ers.
"These are by far the two deepest teams in the Eastern Conference," Legler said. "They have star power at the top and each of them have significant role players that for quarters are capable of being the best player on the floor. That is why they're different than Philly, who beyond their top couple of guys and (Tyrese) Maxey, there's a real drop off in terms of impactful players."
The Celtics have had the Bucks' number over the last two seasons, winning eight of the 14 total matchups. Though Legler doesn't see that continuing this postseason, Boston fans probably like their chances.
