By Jake McCormick
It’s looking more and more likely that the Milwaukee Bucks will face off against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. If that happens, Saturday night’s game was an indication that the series will be a Gladiator-esque battle.
There are very simple reasons behind Boston and Milwaukee’s recent displays of a lack of affection towards each other: The Celtics like to push, and the Bucks will always push back. In the last two meetings at the Bradley Center between these teams, there have been a total of seven technical fouls and one flagrant.
“They’ve got a little bit of a brash overtone to their team, obviously they’ve won a championship, so they’ve got a right to feel that way,” Jerry Stackhouse said. “We’re going to step up and match them every way we can. If that’s who we wind up playing in the playoffs, it should make for an entertaining series.”
On March 9, Brandon Jennings wasted no time letting Glen Davis know what he thought of Davis’ hard foul, and jawed with Kevin Garnett on the way to the locker room after the Bucks’ win.
Saturday night, Davis received a rousing reception of “You’re a baby!” from Squad 6 after he knocked Kurt Thomas in the head on his way to the basket and complained to the refs when Thomas received a flagrant for getting too physical with Davis on the other end.
Stackhouse and Paul Pierce also got into a scuffle in the backcourt going for a ball, and Skiles got booted after berating the refs for figuratively donning green and white uniforms. Even John Salmons was in the refs’ ears more than once, and you know things are going to boil over if Salmons and Thomas are at the center of the controversy.
“I explained my side of it, although I don’t really have a ‘side,’ there was no ‘side,” Skiles said. “It happens. My guys were going at it pretty hard right there and I wanted to come to their defense.”
Part of the reason there’s a high level of chippiness between these teams is because of their similarities. The Bucks and Celtics rely on physical defense as a top priority to break an opponent down to the point where a low shooting percentage can still win the game.
The emphasis on trading punches turns Boston/Milwaukee games into combination boxing/chess matches. If both teams are playing well, the scoring remains fairly low as they look for that lowered guard to throw an upper cut to the jaw. Add in the adrenaline flow and intensity of the playoffs, and this becomes the most entertaining first round Eastern Conference matchup.
“Just from the last two games that we played them, it’s going to be a fist fight,” Jennings said. “Boston is like the big bully from school; it’s going to be crazy in the playoffs.”