NBA Basketball
2026-03-02 - Boston Celtics at Milwaukee Bucks
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Basketball
Monday 2nd March 2026 - Scheduled 7:30pm
12:30pm (British Time)
Preview
As they continue to pile up the wins and quietly go about their business, the Boston Celtics (40-20) have moved alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers as the favourites to come out of the Eastern Conference. This is quite a remarkable position considering most felt the injury suffered by Jayson Tatum in the Playoffs last year would have meant a season of transition for the Boston Celtics to prepare for his return.
Rumours continue to swirl that Tatum is on track to rejoin the squad during the post-season, although the chemistry built up by the current group of Celtics is one that most would like to see undisrupted. Bringing in someone like Jayson Tatum would need adjustments made by all, whilst also figuring out whether the superstar is up to his full level of output.
That is a question for another day and the focus right now is continuing to play with rhythm and tempo.
Chasing down the Detroit Pistons for the Number 1 Seed in the Eastern Conference is not going to be easy as the games begin to tick down in the regular season, but a top four Seed will make the Boston Celtics comfortable.
They are shooting the ball pretty well having won six of the last seven games, but Boston are backing that up with strong Defensive intensity that is suffocating opponents. Three of the last five opponents have not cracked 98 points, and Boston continue to surprise the layers as shown by the recent 6-1 record against the spread.
Boston travel to the Milwaukee Bucks (26-33) who are still playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo and who have suffered back to back blowout defeats. Those have left them 3 games out of the Play In Tournament position and will weaken the position with Antetokounmpo in the off-season having come close to having to trade him away before the deadline.
There has just been a real struggle to find any consistency on either ends of the court and the last couple of defeats will have really hurt.
Doc Rivers was not very impressed with the movement of the ball and the manner in which his players settled for shots that have a poor chance of finding the bottom of the bucket. That cost them against the struggling Chicago Bulls and it is going to take some effort to remain competitive against this momentum filled Boston team.
Milwaukee had picked up some momentum before the crushing home loss to the New York Knicks on Friday and they have now lost three of the last five games.
These two teams have split two regular season meetings, but the most recent was won by the Boston Celtics by an almost 30 point margin a month ago. They are not likely to reach that margin again, but the Celtics have the momentum and the consistency to pull away in a road win on Monday.
Prediction
Lay the points with the road favourite in this NBA regular season game.
The Pick :
Milwaukee Bucks 98-109 Boston Celtics
