Milwaukee at Boston

The Boston Celtics escaped Game 1 in overtime in a game that played within 12 points the entire game. The season was cruel to Boston right from the start, when newly acquired star Gordon Hayward was lost for the season just five minutes into the first game of the season. Most thought Boston would struggle the rest of the way, but Brad Stevens runs a good system, and Danny Ainge has done a great job assembling a team that fits perfectly into Steven's coaching philosophy. The injury-plagued season continued when their best defender Marcus Smart went down, followed by Kyrie Irving's complications of what was considered to be minor knee surgery, but an infection has left him on the sidelines. Put it all together and Boston lost 182 starter (or key players) games to injury, and that includes 132 from their two All-Star players and best defender who are still out. Despite all that, Boston is the #2 seed, won 55 games, and Stevens should be Coach of the Year. The Irving injury has placed Boston in most minds to be a non-factor the rest of the way, but hold on. Boston is 16-8 without Irving, and 9-3 SU at home, as well as 8-3-1 ATS. Then there is the #2 seed edge, 3-0 ATS this year, now 254-183-5 ATS all games, including 139-92-1 ATS at home (.602), and 132-85-1 ATS as home chalk (.608). When these two seeds have been worse than .736, it goes to 124-73-1 ATS (.629), and as a single digit home favorite 114-63-1 ATS (.644). Finally, when you throw in off a home favorite win (the tendency is to believe the team off the loss will bring more, but debunked here), it is 41-20-1 ATS (68%). These #2 seeds are also 9-1 ATS as a home favorite of -3 or less. Play on Boston.