The Celtics Dominance & Middleton Injury Make Bucks Underdog

• Khris Middleton’s injury has greatly reduced the odds that the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics.
• The Celtic’s dominant performance against the Brooklyn Nets in round one proved their dominant season wasn’t a fluke.

BOSTON – The Eastern Conference semifinal matchup between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks became official last night after the Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 116-100. Even after their dominant first-round victory, the defending champion Bucks are still sizable underdogs against the Celtics.

Odds To Win The Series: Milwaukee Bucks Vs. Boston Celtics

• Milwaukee Bucks +170
• Boston Celtics -200

Middleton Injury Hurts Bucks

The Milwaukee Buck’s three-time NBA All-Star Khris Middleton got hurt during Game 2 of the Bucks series against the Bulls. Reports say that his MCL sprain is bad enough that he is expected to miss the entire series against the Celtics.

The left MCL injury of Bucks All-Star Khris Middleton is a Grade 2 sprain and he is expected to miss the entire second-round series vs. Celtics, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The recovery of Grade 2 MCL places a potential Conference Finals in jeopardy for him as well.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 28, 2022

Middleton is an elite player for the Bucks and will be sorely missed. The Celtics have had the best defense in the entire NBA since January 1st, and the Bucks just lost their second-leading scorer. NBA betting fans have clearly noticed.

Sportsbooks Buying Celtics Greatness

Legal online sportsbooks had both the Celtics and Bucks favored to win their first-round series, but a look at the betting odds as each series went along shows just how impressive the Celtics were.

Odds For Each Team To Win Their Series Before Each Game

Game	Celtics	Bucks
1	-140	-1100
2	-220	-3000
3	-360	-250
4	-3000	-1400
5	N/A	-10000

The Celtics were expected to be in a difficult series against the Brooklyn Nets, but they flat-out dominated. Looking back maybe that shouldn’t have been unexpected, but their dominance has clearly influenced their odds to win this series and to win the NBA Finals (second shortest odds now at +350).

News tags: Boston Celtics | Brooklyn Nets | Khris Middleton | Milwaukee Bucks | NBA Playoffs