Bucks at Celtics
THE STORY: The Boston Celtics still have a chance of snaring home-court advantage in the first round. The question is, do the Celtics care enough about it to play their ailing players in the regular-season finale vs. the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. The Celtics need to win and have Atlanta lose to visiting Dallas to have home court against the Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs. Boston sat out most of its top players in Tuesday’s 78-66 win over Miami.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, YES, FS Wisconsin, CSNE
ABOUT THE BUCKS (31-34): Milwaukee saw its chance for a .500 season go by the boards in Wednesday’s 90-85 home loss to Philadelphia. Brandon Jennings scored 19 points and rookie Tobias Harris had his first double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Due to injuries, the Bucks had only nine players suit up for the game. Among the missing were shooting guard Monta Ellis, center Drew Gooden and forwards Carlos Delfino, Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
ABOUT THE CELTICS (38-27): Boston sat Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen against the Heat - leaving seldom-used Sasha Pavlovic to score a season-high 16 points in the win over Miami, which also was without its marquee players. Rondo and Garnett are expected to be back in the lineup against the Bucks. Swingman Marquis Daniels had his second straight strong outing off the bench with 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals to put himself in the postseason rotation mix.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. The Celtics have won five straight meetings with the Bucks, including both this season.
2. Wednesday’s loss guaranteed Milwaukee will finish with a losing record for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.