That was an embarrassing loss last night. Utah, a losing team on the road, came into Boston and won by 18 points in a game Boston was supposed to win by 7. That loss snapped Boston's 10-game winning streak. We expect the Celtics to be fired up here as a result. Milwaukee lost to Boston in December 104-82. That can often spell revenge motivation in the next game. But, that is negated by what happened last night. In fact, home teams revenging a 20+ point blowout loss are just 45-84 (35%) ATS the past decade when facing a team off an upset loss. Boston takes care of business vs. weak teams as they are 10-2 ATS this season on the road vs. losing teams. We like the Celtics in a double-digit win. We also like the first-half UNDER. We think Boston will show an extra effort on defense, especially out of the gate, after giving up 110 last night. The Celtics are 20-9 UNDER this season in the first half when facing poor defenses (those allowing 100+ per game). The Bucks are 29-16 UNDER in the first half the past two seasons to a total in this range (100-105). They are also 12-3 UNDER after having allowed opponents 50%+ from the field in two straight games, as they also try to batten down the hatches after some embarrassing defense. Boston and the first-half UNDER here.
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