The Boston Celtics will be desperate for a win to avoid elimination from this year’s playoffs when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in Game 5 of their second-round series as 9-point underdogs on the NBA odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Boston has struggled since opening the series in Milwaukee with a decisive 112-90 victory. The team has been dominated in three subsequent outright and against the spread losses, and now faces a must-win situation going into Wednesday night’s Celtics vs. Bucks betting matchup at Fiserv Forum.
The Celtics have been unable to contain the Bucks’ offense since picking up the win in Game 1 as eight-point road underdogs. The team surrendered an average of over 119 points per game over Games 2-4, capped by a lopsided 113-101 loss in Game 4 as one-point home chalk.
That worrisome trend comes in stark contrast to the stingy defense the Celtics played in the five games prior to the start of this series, including their four-game sweep of the Indiana Pacers when they surrendered an average of just 91.4 points.
With just one straight-up victory in their past seven visits to Milwaukee the Celtics have tumbled on the NBA playoff series prices, where they are now pegged as lengthy +1800 underdogs. The team has also plummeted to the bottom of the NBA championship odds, where it now sit as +12500 longshots.
Conversely, the Bucks’ stock at the sportsbooks has skyrocketed since their Game 4 victory in Boston, and with good reason. Milwaukee has gone 7-1 SU through eight playoff contests, and has regularly rewarded bettors by covering the spread in each of their seven victories.
The Bucks also remain one of the most consistent teams in the NBA, going 19-7 SU in 26 outings since suffering their lone consecutive SU losses of the season during a western road swing back in early March.
Not surprisingly, the Bucks have vaulted to a short -50000 bet on the NBA series prices and have continued to close the gap on the Golden State Warriors on the NBA championship odds as a +300 wager.
The one concern facing Milwaukee remains the team’s uneven play at home of late. The Bucks have gone 4-3 SU in seven home dates since the beginning of April, covering in just three of those contests. However, Milwaukee remains a -450 wager on the game line odds to close out the series with a SU win Wednesday night.
