Don’t get too near the deer
Bucks could cause problems in playoffs
BOSTON – Take it from Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens.
He believes the Milwaukee Bucks, who lost, 112-94, to the Celtics on Wednesday night, will be a tough out in the playoffs, even though they are facing the Toronto Raptors, a team with an all-star backcourt and a well-balanced lineup.
The league announced times and dates for the opening games and No. 6 Milwaukee will meet No. 3 Toronto at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Air Canada Centre, with the game televised on ESPN.
“There’s not a team in these nine that you say, ‘Man, I’d like to play them,’ ” Stevens said of the nine contenders that have battled for eight East playoff spots.
“All are really good teams. Ultimately, I think the Bucks are really scary with their length, athleticism. They fly around on defense.
“Offensively, they do put you in tough spots. I think they’re one of the best in the league of taking advantage of matchups. And they have a lot of potential matchup advantages with the size they have.”
The Bucks will need everything they can muster against the Raptors, featuring all-stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
Toronto also added two key players at the trade deadline when they acquired Serge Ibaka from Orlando and P.J. Tucker from Phoenix.
“They’re tough, no matter who they’re playing,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “They’re wellcoached with (Dwane) Casey. They’ve been together through the battles.
“There’s nothing new you can throw at them. They have a core of veteran pieces. Tucker and Ibaka are there now. They’re deeper and they’re better.
“We’ve got to play a perfect game to be able to beat them on the road.”
Lowry has returned from a right wrist injury and that required surgery. He played in the Raptors’ final four regular-season games, including the season finale at Cleveland on Wednesday. Casey said he chose to use his regulars to “go into the playoffs with momentum.”
Kidd has coached a sixth-seeded team against a third-seeded Raptors team before. It happened in Kidd’s first season as a coach in 2014 when he led a veteran Brooklyn Nets squad to a 4-3 series victory over the Raptors.
Brooklyn won Game 7 at the Air Canada Centre, surviving when Paul Pierce blocked a shot by the Raptors’ Lowry in the final seconds to preserve a 104-103 victory.
This is a much younger team Kidd is coaching now, with its primary stars being 22-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo and 25-year-old Khris Middleton. The Bucks’ starting point guard is rookie Malcolm Brogdon.
Toronto won the season series, 3-1, taking a pair of lopsided victories at the Air Canada Centre. The games in Milwaukee were much different, with the Raptors edging the Bucks, 105-99, on Nov. 25 and Milwaukee winning, 101-94, on March 4 with Middleton in the lineup after missing the first three games while injured.
“The seeding just tells you who you’re playing,” Kidd said. “Everybody is 0-0 and it’s the first team to 4.
“A lot of times there are upsets. There have been 1-8 upsets. It’s just a matter of you playing your best basketball at the right time and you’re healthy.”
Kidd clearly was thinking about the health component when he made the decision to rest Antetokounmpo, Middleton, Matthew Dellavedova and Tony Snell for the regular-season finale.
The four players stayed back in Milwaukee while the Bucks closed the season against the Celtics at TD Garden.
“It was an opportunity to give those players a chance to catch their breath before the playoffs start,” Kidd said.
Brogdon was in the starting lineup along with John Henson. Both have missed time with recent injuries, with Brogdon out five games with back tightness and Henson out 10 games after spraining his left thumb.