The defending champions Milwaukee Bucks will take the No. 6 seed Chicago Bulls in the first round of the Eastern Conference NBA playoffs on Sunday, April 17 and you can watch the live streaming coverage on TNT and Watch TNT online.
Milwaukee comes in as the No. 3 seed behind the MIAMI HEAT and BOSTON CELTICS in East and I am expecting the reigning world champion to navigate its way through this round and stay on course to defend the championships.
When these these two teams met in the regular season, the Bucks dominated to completely sweep the series 4-0 so Giannis Antetokounmpo and company should be able to take care of business in this first round fixture.
Chicago, though, will not just lay down and let the favorites beat up on them so fans can expect an exciting first round contest, even though it isn’t expected to long series.
No. 3 MILWAUKEE BUCKS (51-31) vs. No. 6 CHICAGO BULLS (46-36)
Season series: Bucks, 4-0.
Milwaukee Bucks vs Chicago Bulls Story line: The defending champion Bucks will play their closest rival in Round 1, with Milwaukee and Chicago separated by only about 90 miles. Reigning NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo found a new level in last seasons playoffs, and now Milwaukee begins the task of trying to go back-to-back.
The Bulls were 28-15 when the Bucks Grayson Allen took out Chicagos Alex Caruso on a play at the rim, causing the Bulls guard to break his wrist. The Bulls went 18-21 the rest of the way, playing without Caruso for much of those contests.
Key matchup: Milwaukees Khris Middleton vs. Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan. Both are good enough to simply take over games on their own, and the Bulls need DeRozan to be great in this series to have a chance.
Prediction: The Milwaukee Bucks are being back to take care of the Chicago Bulls in 5 games.
